A reflection for All Saints Day - Nov. 1, 2021
One in the Body of Christ: “Like all Saints, you have been blessed.”
In accordance with our theology of the Communion of Saints, we believe we are all, living and the dead, one in the Body of Christ. “Just as each of us has one body with many members – and these members don’t have the same function [but truly affect each other] –so all of us, in union with Christ, form one body. And as members of that one body, we belong to each other.” (Romans 12.4-5.)
Into eternity, all of us remain connected. Elizabeth Johnson, reflecting on the Trinity wrote: “…her [Sophia] creative activity involves a continuous energizing, an ongoing sustaining of the world through the board sweep of history. She is the giver of life and lover of life, pervading the cosmos and all of its interrelated creatures with life.” (She Who Is pg. 142). We remain a Communion of Saints ad infinitum.
And, for each of us, we offer this reflection.
I praise the Saints who have graced us:
the Great Saints, Francis and Teresa and the gang;
but especially the Lesser Saints,
those who have humbly, perhaps unknowingly,
shed light in our lives.
I am grateful for the people
who have blessed you—yes, you, dear reader,
who have loved you more than necessary,
who have taught you and forgiven you
and shown you what love is possible.
I give thanks for those who endured silently
and those who showed you how to rise up and shout.
I bless those who didn't yell at you,
and showed you a new path.
I thank God for the saints whose brokenness,
whose imperfections, faults and failures
showed you what a glorious light can shine
in a cracked lantern.
For all who have helped you know your belovedness
I give thanks, because now you, dear one,
are sanctified, too: chosen as Love's vessel,
no more deserving or adequate or worthy than others,
but loved, and chosen as Love's vessel.
May you know with certainty that you can't know
who you have blessed, but that, like all Saints,
you have.
www.unfoldinglight.net with permission Steve Garnaas-Holmes
