I borrow this phrase from Pope Francis as a title for my reflection for the seventh and last celebration in our Paulist liturgical calendar.
November is universally regarded in the Catholic world as a time to remember our faithfully departed. People find various ways to commemorate loved ones who are no longer with us. While such occasions naturally evoke a sense of sadness, as believers in the Risen Lord, we are invited to look beyond this feeling of loss and instead celebrate the lives of those who have impacted us deeply.
As Paulists, we have chosen the first Friday after the 2nd of November to remember the lives of our brothers and sisters in the Paulist family. On this day, we give thanks for the gift they have been to us, while continuing to accompany them with our prayers on their journey into the fullness of life.
During such moments, a song by the Christian music singer, Steve Green comes into my mind, encouraging me and at the same time challenging me with its lyrics. Please allow me to reproduce them here.
We’re pilgrims on the journey of the narrow road
And those who’ve gone before us line the way
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary
Their lives a stirring testament to God’s sustaining grace
Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who’ve gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives
Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful
After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we’ve left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find
Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful …
This song invites us to look to those who have gone before us to the Father and draw encouragement from their example, so that we, too, may remain faithful to our vocation. In doing so, our lives can become a source of inspiration for those who follow. This legacy would be the greatest gift we can leave behind.
More than anything else, this song reminds us of what the Letter to the Hebrews calls “a cloud of witnesses”. If we still think that sainthood is something reserved for the few, nothing can better dismiss this than what Pope Francis has written in his 2018 Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate. In no. 3 he says that this cloud of witnesses “… may include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones. Their lives may not always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord.” And in a section entitled “The Saint ‘Next Door’”, he says “I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance I see the holiness of the Church militant. Very often it is a holiness found in our next-door neighbours, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence. We might call them ‘the middle class of holiness’.” (no. 7)
These are truly encouraging words. Commenting on this, an online article in the St Anthony Messenger says, “Notice he doesn’t say we need to be perfect to have a shot at sainthood. Nor does he give a list of rules and guidelines to follow. For Pope Francis, as it was for Jesus, it’s about continually moving toward our place in the kingdom of God. We are the living stones that make up that kingdom. It is through small steps and faithful love that we fulfill our destiny.”
So let us ask the Lord to help us appreciate how much we have been blessed by the ‘middle class’ holiness of the people who have shaped our lives, the saints “next door”, as we continue to pray that our lives will also be a blessing to others.
Your brother,
Fr Martin Galea mssp
Superior General.