To All the Saints I’ve loved Before (Solemnity of All Saints)

Fr. Manuel Flores, SJ
Solemnity of All Saints
November 1, 2018

Did you ever hear that cute and witty saying:

“To think of the saints in heaven, Oh what a great glory!
But to live with the saints on earth, that’s another story!”

There is just one little problem with cute quote above: it is not true! In fact Teresa of Avila, who is among the wisest of all the female saints instructs her sisters: “The more saintly you are, the more sociable you must be.” In another place Teresa writes, “From sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!”

Today we literally celebrate “all saints day”: the famous, the obscure, the unrecognized, and most especially those whom we knew who have personally touched our lives. Or to paraphrase that karaoke bestseller “to all the saints I’ve loved before.”

We joyfully remember these saints first, to thank them for their goodness and kindness and second, to allow their beautiful example of service, sharing and sacrifice to inspire us who are still continuing our journey in this “valley of tears.” That is perhaps the one common thread in the lives of these unrecognized saints; remembering their example inspires us to be better persons, to go beyond ourselves.

Let me share with you some of the saints I have known whose memory quickens my heart by their heroic goodness and kindness.

Paul Finster SJ

I was a Jesuit seminarian then in1982 teaching in Ateneo de Davao High School and he was the treasurer, handling hundreds of millions in funds. And yet his room was extremely bare: a simple bed, desk and chairs, no books, souvenirs or bric a bracs shaming us seminarians in our acquisitiveness.On Sundays he would celebrate mass for the prisoners without fail. In 1995 he was stabbed by one of the prisoners.Recovering from his wound after a few months he went back and continued his Sunday mass with the prisoners.

Fr Eddie Hontiveros SJ

He is most famous as the pioneer of Philippine liturgical music in the 70’s with his timeless songs still being sung now all over the Philippines. But I remember him for something else: his extraordinary humility and kindness. As seminarians we would sometimes be desperate to find a priest for masses or confessions in our apostolate areas.

There were 30 priests in our Jesuit seminary then, but they were always busy. You had an 80% chance of your invitation being refused. Not with Fr. Hontiveros whom I would approach after 3 or 4 priests have refused me. He would stop, whip out his small pocket calendar, ask you the date and time, and squeeze in your request even when his schedule was very tight.

Fr. Ramon Katigbak SJ

He is one of the Jesuits I’ve known who could handle the severe counselling cases better than some therapists because of his sheer gentleness and compassion. But what strikes me the most is his devotion to preparing for his Sunday homilies. He has a special desk for writing his Sunday homily, with his many reference books within easy reach. He would begin on Monday preparing his homily for the coming Sunday spending perhaps an hour or two everyday of the week. Sunday would come and he would deliver his homily in his usual dry undramatic style. People would get bored, fret, sleep and later sometimes even complain about his homily. People didn’t know about all the effort and many hours Fr Mon spent, and their feedback was sometimes unkind.

But this is what amazes me: the following Monday Fr Mon is back on his desk again preparing his homily for the coming Sunday, knowing he may get the same reaction. Unlike most of us, he was not seeking to be successful, but to be faithful.

The saints known to you and me were not known to many, and over the years they will be completely forgotten when we die.

As we remember and thank them today, we allow them to set our hearts on fire. We allow them to teach us that our goal in this world is not to be successful but to be faithful so that one day we may live together, forever in the heart of God.