All of Them Saints

You give me the choice, trick or treat. If you promise to withhold your trick, I remind you of the treat in the days that follow: Days of All Saints and All Souls. The first day, November 1 gives us time to consider that thousands that got the notice of at least a section of the Body of Christ through the generations. Some selflessly served. Some mystically envisioned. Some precariously proclaimed the Good News of Christ. All were bold in divine love. Their love for God was from marrow to dermis, from exhaustion to strength, from soliloquy to silence. Their love of neighbor was to hear them, feed, inspire and affirm them: enemies and friends, confidants, and critics.

The Saints made it into our colorful calendar, sprinkled like glitter through the days of the year. St. Andrew with his feast on Nov. 30, we recognize! St. Agnes-Jan. 21 and St. Anselm-April 21, perhaps too, are familiar to us. St. Anskar-Feb. 3 and St. Argula von Grumbach, we might have to look up. What a glorious mishmash of inspiration. There are so many, some have to bundle up in a calendar square sharing their feast day with others. None of them care about their feast, their time of the heavenly banquet is sure, and they will greet us there.

If we thought All Saints’ Day points to a big band of folk, All Souls’ Day, all the more! Why there’s Miss Jay and Mr. Hudson, Ladies with the names Sivals, Ward, Walker, Chandler, and Maxwell. There are gentlemen: Vidal, Weeks, Jenks, Silides, and Whitman. Don’t know these souls? How could you? It is a partial list; they are a few of the many saints in my life journey. You have your list, short or long.

These feasts, All Saints and All Souls fall, fixed, on Nov. 1 and 2, but we celebrate something of a combination on the Sunday following, so our celebrations coming up on Nov. 7 are “For all the saints, who from their labors rest, and they join with us in some way ensuring that the Name of Jesus be forever blessed. I will be writing about the scriptures of the day in the entries coming up, but for now, I go light with a little bundle of free verse from this time of year in 2019:

ALL SAINTS’ DISTRACTION

 How long will he stay?
Just till he flies away
of course
He's not one to count
units of time passing
not one to count anything
He is there while he’s there
His mask as orange and black
as Halloween last night
Colors neither complimenting
nor clashing with his
scarlet cope and miter
His mask round the eyes and chin
feather-soft but also black and severe
Menacing too, the orange of his beak
compact and hard
his useful mouth and nose

Too brief, his visit
in the shrub outside my office window. Never knew I was there
or he wouldn't have come at all
A flutter moves him
on nearby twig fleetingly he lights
then out and away
his business takes him elsewhere
but he stays
on my mind
as I turn again to find
that other business of prayer
this holy day of monks and martyrs
theologians and mystics
and cardinals
this morning of All Saints’ Day

—David Price, Nov. 1, 2019

Blessings to you, all week, my dear saints of St. Francis!