In our celebration today of All Saints, there are many singular words that stand out for that particular group of holy ones over the centuries. The first word always for the Saints is love. The Saints were great, great lovers. In their lives, they teach us to love God above all. And in the midst of intense political heat, heat that can burn and scorch in hurtful or helpful ways, we constantly are in need of the pleasant reminder that our love and energy is given over first to God. Namely to Jesus. The Saints in the Communion of the Church loved the Lord with all their heart and soul, as God commanded the Israelites in the Old Testament and Jesus teaches in the New. When we read the same teaching/commandment in both the Old and New Testaments, the priority and importance of said teaching cannot be over-heightened. The Scriptures will always speak to our daily living, and loving God above all is the teaching that is the starting point of every generation of God-fearing people. The Saints loved God, and couldn’t wait to say hello in person. Which is why so many thousands of them accepted martyrdom. As St. Paul wrote in Chapter 13 of First Corinthians, there is faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. Love sets the Christian table for all we say and do. Love tells the truth about something, whether comfortable or not, whether politically correct or not. In the Saints, their love for God rose above the world’s troubles. Heaven was their goal, and love was the way to reach that goal. Flowing from their love for God, all the Saints loved their neighbor. This is one of the many benefits of loving God above all; that our love for God; that our love for the Lord must be shared with others. The story of St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of the best examples; a Saint who accepted the death sentence of another man in the camp because that man was a father with children, saving that man’s life while forfeiting his own. He stole that man’s death, and made it his own. There is no greater love. The second word for all the Saints that naturally follows the word love is the word faith. In Christianity, faith is believing what we cannot see. We have faith in the resurrection. Have you even seen one? Were any of us standing at the tomb of Lazarus? Is anyone here that old? Have you ever seen a hearse stop at the front gate of St. John’s Cemetery on the last leg of its trip to the grave site because some guy in his casket was yelling out from inside the box, “Open up! I’m not dead! I’ve been raised by God!” That hasn’t to me yet as a priest. And for a few of them, without mentioning names, I’m glad they stayed in the box. They’re better off in Purgatory. Faith; believing what we cannot yet see. But St. John in today’s 2nd reading provides a spiritual insight on how faith is presently working for our benefit. Our faith makes us children of God now, he writes. We’ve been adopted through the victory of Jesus on the Cross. We’re familiar with that popular Good Friday song, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” (And after Bridget, Jane, and Travis, no one sings it better than Johnny Cash.) To answer the title’s question, we were there in spirit because we are all sinners. But no, we weren’t there to see it. But we have faith it happened. All the Saints, including the ones here today, fully embraced and covered themselves in being God’s children now. That’s who we are. That’s your dignity by virtue of your faith. We are not orphans, we are not roving immigrants in the sight of God. But like immigrants, we have in common with them that we are God’s children now. The faith of all the Saints was all in for their Creator while bringing their faith to others. What they sought above all was to see God as he is, as St. John also writes. Seeing God as he is, which many of us are closer to doing than we think, is the reward of faith. If anyone wishes to see the Devil as he is, they can toss their faith into the dumpster where Satan resides. We prefer, like all the Saints, seeing God as he is. The third singular word for all the Saints is works. As St. James so clearly writes in his Epistle, “Faith without works is dead.” Faith without works of love is faith watered down and made easy, which is dead material. Faith with works that express our love for God and neighbor is today’s Gospel of the Beatitudes. When the Lord sat down with them on the mountain that day, he brought with him his A-Game. In truth, Jesus always had his A-Game in his Divine and human perfection. But here it really shines forth for his Apostolic Saints as they drink in his words. The Beatitudes are the works of love and faith rolled into one large, delicious loaf of bread called the Eucharist. In living the Beatitudes, we consume Christ. In living the Beatitudes, we work for Jesus our Master. Poor in spirit; simplicity; being grateful for who and what we have; not looting the property of others; having no regard for keeping up with the Joneses. Mourning; compassion and empathy for the other suffering soul. Meek; reject all violence. Thirst for righteousness; seeing the world as God sees it. Merciful; let go and let God clean us. Clean of heart; recapturing some youthful innocence as adults. Peacemakers: extend a hand in love and don’t join the rioters. Persecuted for Christ; no revenge; no lashing out; die for him who died for you. Being insulted; offer a blessing in return and pray for the insulter. Rejoice and be glad. Your reward will be great. The Beatitudes are works that flow from our faith working through love. They’re not easy, are they? But they’re not impossible either, because all the Saints as human as you and I passed the test. I pray that we do too, through the grace of God.