How to become a saint?
All Saints' Day - English Mass in the Cathedral
In our Cathedral church in Haarlem we celebrated All Saints' Day in the English Mass, that is said there every saturday evening at 7.00 p.m. If we look around or see the news, the world is often not a very beautiful place. What can we do about it? The testimony of our christian life is extremely important. We are not alone...
THE COUNTLESS HOSTS OF SAINTS
ALL SAINTS' DAY 2025 - CATHEDRAL
Powerful people
Who are the world's most powerful people? Our world is ruled by powerful nations: the United States, China, Russia. The world trembles at their possible plans and the threat they pose.
Co2
Shortly before the elections for Parliament this week, Oxfam-Novib published a report with the bottom line: The richest individuals in the world finance and profit from the climate crisis. The richest 0.1% of the world emit more CO2 per day than the poorest 50% of the world's population in an entire year.
Do you take or contribute?
Do you contribute something or do you take something away? Will you leave behind a trail of pollution, mental or physical, or will it be a path paved with good deeds, good intentions, good words? Do you live with God, with prayer and spiritual values, or is your world flat, empty and hollow?
They deserve it
If rich and powerful people use their position and influence to do good for other people, to try to make the world a better place by promoting peace processes, distributing wealth more evenly, and ending situations of insecurity and persecution, then they indeed deserve to hold such powerful positions. Their position multiplies the good they do.
Disappointed
Many people are disappointed in politics precisely because they have experienced that the real problems of people were not solved, in the Netherlands particularly with regard to the housing market, healthcare and living together with people from other cultures and religions. Do those in power really have the well-being and harmonious coexistence of people in mind?
A countless host
Today we celebrate All Saints' Day. This day reminds us that, in addition to people on earth with power who may or may not serve people well, we also have a heavenly host, a countless multitude of people who have lived good and meritorious lives and now speak on our behalf before God. This day points to the community of saints, which we profess again and again in our Creed. These are the people who have left a good mark, those who inspire us.
Terrifying powers
Perhaps you sometimes feel oppressed by the terrifying powers of this world and by the threat they pose. That threat is real, and no one can predict the future with certainty. We can only make our voices heard and pray for safety and protection, that there may be love and care for the common good in the hearts of those who wield power. Let';s do what is possible to us...
It vanishes...
At the same time, we must realise again and again how relative it all is: we live eighty, ninety, perhaps a hundred years on this earth, or perhaps much less; we are passers-by, transients, our stay in this temporary reality vanishes into nothingness in the face of eternity.
It is here to happen
Yet it must happen here! Here our eternal destiny is determined. Here it is a question of whether we dare to make the right choices, with the example of the saints in mind, inspired by the words of the Gospel, in the light of eternity.
Beatitudes
In today's Gospel, we heard the Beatitudes. Who are blessed? Who will be blessed in eternity? Jesus does not mention the powerful here, but rather the little ones, not those who live for themselves, who pretend to be great and draw everything to themselves, but those who live for God and their fellow man, in service to...; Jesus calls blessed those who live in service and receptivity for God’s graces: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek and those who strive for justice, who bring peace and do not allow themselves to be discouraged when they are persecuted, mocked or slandered.
A day to inspire...
What can I contribute? What can I give? Where can I give faith, hope and love? That is what counts!
No, All Saints' Day is not a celebration of simply gazing at heaven; it is a day to inspire us to live heavenly lives on earth.
Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged: if you try to do good, if that is your standard and not your own pleasure, then you will leave a beautiful mark, then your reward will be great, then you will inherit heavenly life and be part of that great multitude of people who have gone before us on the path of a life of service. We celebrate All Saints' Day, a feast about our Christian calling. It invites us to be saints.
