All Saints' Day is chance for Church to reflect on those already home

Published: November 5, 2005

By Father Raphael Kitz, OCD

In the Steven Spielberg movie, “E.T.,” there is a touching scene in which the extra terrestrial, with a sad face and a tear in the eye, points upward and murmurs home, home. His anxious longing was to return home with his loved ones to find rest and happiness. This popular image can be used to express the Christian longing to go back home and be at rest in God’s house before his face and be embraced by his love.

St. Paul speaks of this desire quite simply by saying that he wants to depart and be with Jesus, or to be at home with the Lord. St. Augustine talks about the same truth in words that are very familiar, “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” On Nov. 1 we celebrate the feast of All Saints. We recall and rejoice with the members of the Church triumphant, who after a long and difficult pilgrimage have entered into their rest and are now at home with the Lord in the New Jerusalem.

It is good to recall that the celebration involves not only canonized saints, but also all those who have shared the life and love of Jesus. This includes those we know and love, our parents, brothers, sisters and friends and all those unknown to us who through the millennia have finished their pilgrimage and are now seated at the banquet of eternal life.

Besides celebrating All Saints, we are recalling and rejoicing the entire year in the gift of the Eucharist, which is our food and drink as make our pilgrimage back home to our Father’s house. There is, of course, an intimate connection between All Saints and the Bread of Life. All of those who have arrived at their final destination have lived by and traveled with this food. In reflecting on the word, “Eucharist,” it is important to be aware that it is the Risen Lord present, but concealed, or hidden under the simple signs of bread and wine.

The Living One in the depth of our being is acting by his Spirit and leading us to the Father. We, the Church militant, receive the Lord as our food, drink and strength as we journey through the wilderness of this world to the promised land of heaven. It is not a question merely of some private devotion, but of a communal celebration in which we pray and become one body with Christ and are sent on a mission to the whole world.

When we think of the souls in purgatory or the Church suffering, undergoing its final purification before seeing God face to face, it might be helpful to think of the suffering faithful departed in the final phase of their journey home. We wouldn’t say that they receive the Eucharist, but that in some mysterious and wonderful way the Bread of Life is still their food.

The Risen Christ is still with them, but, still concealed and hidden. There is no face to face. Perhaps their most painful suffering is precisely this desire to see and be with the Lord for all eternity. The celebration of All Saints brings to mind the article of the Apostle’s Creed in which we profess, “We believe in the communion of saints,” of all those united to the Crucified and Risen Lord, whether here on earth, in purgatory or already at home.

Father Raphael Kitz, OCD, is novice master at Marylake Monastery in Little Rock.

This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic November 5, 2005. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.