I was reading a novel this past week and came upon this little scene:  There are three men sitting on a bench at a funeral. One of them says to the other two men, “What do you want your family and friends to be saying about you at your funeral?”  The two men thought about it for a moment. The first one finally said, “I’d want them to say that I was a nice guy who took good care of his family.”  The other man said, “I’d want them to say that I was faithful til the very end.”  The two men then turned and asked, “So, what do you want them to be saying about you at your funeral?”  The man replied, “I want them to say, ‘Look! He’s moving!”

  I laughed out loud when I read that story. I couldn’t keep from thinking about that story as I began to prepare homilies for two very special days that we celebrate this week – All Saints Day, which we celebrate today, and All Souls Day which we celebrate tomorrow.

   As we celebrate the lives of the Saints, it is good for us to take a few moments to consider the people in our own families and among our friends who are great examples of what it means to be a child of God. Who are the saints in your life today?  How do they mirror God’s love to you? How do they affect the way you live your faith? In addition, who are the people from your family tree who, though not canonized and officially named saints by the Church, are, in your estimation, worthy to be called saints?  Perhaps you have a favorite aunt or uncle, parent or grandparent who has passed away but is still a part of your life in that they truly were and are saints who radiate God’s love to you – today is the day to remember them for today, the Feast of All Saints, is their feast day too.

   Can you imagine what those loved ones of yours would like you to be saying about them today? Do you think they would have ever thought that anyone would consider them to be saints?  Probably not, yet that is exactly who they are – saints of God!  Why not take some time today to celebrate the saints in your life and in your own family? What a blessing they are to each of us and to the Church in general too.