By Emmanuel Gandu
HIGHLIGHTS
+ Introduction
+ Who is a Saint, who is a sinner
+ 5 Saints who struggled with sin
+ You too can become a Saint
+ Significance of All Saints Day in Christendom
+ Why honour the Saints. Why observe All Saints Day
+ When did the observance/practice begin
+ Happy Solemnity of All Saints
INTRODUCTION
1st November every year is set aside by the Catholic Church to commemorate the feast of All Saints.
This discourse is an attempt to amongst others, highlight the fact that a sinner can make it to Sainthood.
The “twin paradox/unholy alliance” school of thought investigates.
WHO IS A SAINT, WHO IS A SINNER
The world is habited by personality lifestyles that shapes the ultimate human being.
One either start up a good person and ends up a saint or sinner.
Likewise, one may start up a sinner and ends up a saint.
Because the challenges of life presents themselves in diversity of ways, one may have to take responsibility for his/her destiny.
Therefore, every kind of challenges you face, the choices, and decisions you make are driven by YOU.
A saint is a person who did ordinary things in extraordinary ways.
A saint offered his/her life in sacrificial Service to God and humanity, and by pursuing acts of holiness in both thought, deeds, motive, and practice.
As a result, he/she has been chosen and set apart by God, is justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and is sanctified by the spirit of God.
However, in every saint there was a sinner, and in every sinner there is a saint.
Because we are human, we may find ourselves doing the things we may not like, or we have not intended to do.
Unfortunately, we are entrenched in a world of crime and criminality, lust, deceit, greed, corruption, murder, hatred, injustice, and all sorts of vices that makes us unholy and hence unworthy.
5 SAINTS WHO STRUGGLED WITH SIN
(1) Saint Augustine:
Before his conversion, Augustine lived for years in sexual immorality with prostitutes and women of the streets. He had a concubine and fathered a son.
His mother, Monica did not give up on him, praying day and night for God to change her son. God’s hand manifested.
In his famous prayer, Augustine even asked God for chastity. But not yet. Then, God’s grace changed the direction of his life. The rest of the story is one of the most powerful theologians in human history – St. Augustine of Hippo.
(2) St. Mary of Egypt:
Her traditional biography says she spent 17 years living as a prostitute.
Then, during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem she encountered a moment of profound conversion, and spent the rest of her life in radical penance.
(3) Moses the Black:
Moses was a violent criminal, a robber, and murderer.
Having realized the sinful nature of his life, he worked hard to make amends.
He eventually became a desert Monk, a Priest, and a model of extraordinary humility.
(4) Saint Camillus de Lellis:
As a young soldier, Camillus became consumed by gambling. He lost his money, became a destitute, and even lost clothing through his addiction to the game.
Then he encountered Christ and became one of the church’s great servants of the sick.
(5) St. Mark G. Tianshang:
Mark became addicted to opium after using it for an illness. His opium addiction had a bad influence on his friends.
However, he fought this addiction for decades, repeatedly bringing his weakness to confession and continuing to live his Catholic faith.
He eventually died a martyr with his family.
YOU TOO CAN BECOME A SAINT
Some of the saints we know today lived a life marked by lust, others by the sin of sexual immorality, violence, murder and all kinds of criminality, gambling, addiction, and all types of vices.
Yet God gave them a second chance because they made a U Turn. God turned these sinners into saints. So never make peace with your sins. Bring them to Christ. Fight, repent, return, and persevere. Open a new chapter of you.
Your struggle can become part of your path to sanctity, then Sainthood.
Lamentably, we however find ourselves drifting apart from Godliness.
Sin is the greatest burden for man towards attainment of sainthood, but with constant struggle in the flesh, efforts, and repentance, we hope for not only God’s unmerited justification but His glorification in heaven.
ALL SAINTS DAY AND IT’S SIGNIFICANCE IN CHRISTENDOM
All Saints day in Christendom is a day commemorating all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, who have attained heaven.
It is a day of celebration in remembrance and honour of all the saints of the church with prayers, meditation, and supplication.
It is a feast, actually a solemnity observed on 1st. November by the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Methodist Church, and other Orthodox Christian denominations.
WHY HONOUR THE SAINTS, WHY OBSERVE ALL SAINTS DAY
Saints are honoured because their example encourages that every Christian is called to holiness.
Besides, the church celebrates all who have attained the glory of heaven.
They include the Canonised Saints and the countless holy men and women known only to God.
Equally important is that it’s a Solemnity in the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar.
This Christian celebration of All Saints day is derived from the belief and doctrine that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven i.e. the ‘Church triumphant’, and the living i.e.. the ‘Church militant.’
In Catholic theology and even some of the other denominations, the day commemorates all those who have died and attained sainthood in heaven including those we know and those we do not know, those who are famous or those obscured.
During this celebration we give thanks to God for their lives and deaths, then ask for God’s mercy, and the saints’ prayers of intercession for us the living.
WHEN DID THE OBSERVANCE / PRACTICE BEGIN
From the 4th. Century, feasts commemorating all Christian martyrs were held in various places, and on various dates.
This were mostly fixed around the time of Easter and Pentecost.
As time went by, Pope Gregory IV in the 9th Century (837) approved the holding of the commemoration of All Saints on 1st November every year.
Happy Solemnity of All Saints
