November 1st marks the feast of All Saints’ Day.
What are we celebrating on this day and what really makes for… a SAINT?
Theologians and religious teachers have their own definitions and explanations.
Personally, I find in the Response to the Psalm for this feast a description which I find meaningful.
Those who can ascend the mountain of the Lord are:
“Those who search the face of the Lord.” (Ps.24:6)
SAINTS are people who, in their lives, have been searching for the face of God and who now see him face to face.
We must admit that we cannot really imagine what this is: seeing God face to face.
And yet, it has a long tradition as we read about it in the book of Exodus where we are told:
“The Lord spoke to Moses face to face” (Ex.33:11).
In the Book of Numbers, God himself affirms:
“My servant Moses is at home in my house;
I speak with him face to face” (Num.12:8)
What strikes me in this text is that Moses is still a member of the People of God… on earth!
He has not yet passed to… the other shore, to what we now call ‘eternal life’.
Moses is living on this earth as we all do.
The logical conclusion is that already NOW we can see God!
Face to face?
Certainly not in the way which this will be possible when we have entered the world of the living-for-ever.
And yet… for those truly searching for him, God does reveal himself, shows something of himself already now.
And I believe that he does so in a very… personalised way, adjusting himself to each one’s personality…
While we celebrate the lives of so many who have now reached the place we are all making for, we can already celebrate this special gift of God to all of us, ‘saints-in-the-making’, searching for the face of God.
Source: Image: elisabethhagan.com