Carrying Our Cross Reminds Us to Live Holy Lives

On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church commemorates all the saints–all of the Holy People of God who make up the “great cloud of witnesses” whose faith shows the world the power and love of God.  In his homily, below, Fr James Graham talks about how Christ tells us how to be saints.

Carrying Our Cross Reminds Us to Live Holy Lives

Homily for All Saints (First Sunday after Pentecost)

Hebrews 11:33-12:2…………….Matthew 10:32-38, 19:27-30

Today the Church celebrates the Sunday of All Saints.  This means all of the holy women and men before us—and with us (including us)—and following us.  It does not mean just the “official” saints whom the Church has canonized and who appear on the calendar.  It means all of God’s “holy ones.”

Our English word “saint” comes from the Latin word “sanctus,” which simply means “holy,” but, depending on how it’s used in a sentence, can also mean “holy one” or “holy person.”  When our English translations of the New Testament say “saints,” as in “the saints in Jerusalem,” they actually should say “holy ones” or “holy people.”

Clearly, when the Letter to the Hebrews talks about all the faithful people of Old Testament times, who struggled and suffered and persevered because of their faith in God, it doesn’t mean officially canonized saints.  The author calls them “a great cloud of witnesses” who surround us.  And when we live holy lives, we join that “great cloud of witnesses.”  Then, with them, we inspire and encourage and pray for people around us and people who will come after us.

In today’s reading from the Gospel according to St Matthew, Jesus tells us what we need to do to be saints.  It sounds clear, but the meaning is hard.  If we cut through all the words, we find that the Lord is saying that we have to love God more than anyone or anything else, and that has to be the rule for every thought and decision and action in our lives.

When our Lord Jesus Christ says, “Don’t think I’ve come to bring peace; instead I bring a sword,” He does not mean that God wants violence and war.  Jesus means that He came to cut us free from our easy attachments to the things of the world.  Those attachments—to family, friends, comforts, amusements, entertainments, jobs, and so on—give us peace because we’re used to them.  We don’t have to work too hard at them, so we’re at peace.  And they’re not bad things in themselves.  They are good things unless we love them more than we love God.  We have to love them as part of our love for God—and we have to be ready to give them up, if we must, for God’s sake.

It’s not likely that we will be called on literally to sacrifice our lives or our families for the sake of God.  But we do have sacrifices to make.  And when we put father or mother or brothers or sisters or sons or daughters ahead of God, we are not living the holy lives that Jesus calls us to live.  Going to a bridal shower instead of to church . . . attending a child’s soccer game instead of church . . . going to brunch with visiting relatives . . . taking the family to Disneyland or Las Vegas instead of going to church . . . sitting down at the computer to finish that project for the boss or that paper for the professor instead of going to church—these are not essentially bad things, but making them more important than God is not a holy way of life.

Jesus says we’re not worthy of Him if we don’t take up our cross and follow Him.  Remember that He carried the Cross willingly, knowing the good that would come from it.  God transformed the Cross from an instrument of torture and death into a trophy of victory over sin and death.

This is the spirit is which we carry our crosses and follow Christ.  He goes first.  He has already won the victory.  We get to share that joyful and glorious victory by sharing, to a very limited extent, in Jesus’ suffering.

Joining the great cloud of witnesses and carrying our crosses reminds us to live holy lives—taking care of our families, helping the poor, showing mercy to others, praying for people in need, sharing the blessing of a smile or a kind word.  And we can do this because the sword of Jesus Christ has cut us free to give thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and to ages of ages.  Amen.