How many saints are there?
There are some who believe that there are only 144,000 people who are going to Heaven based on reading St John's words in the Book of Revelation. Yet, a careful reading of this shows us very clearly that this number is formed from twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. If we are going to be literal about the number then we have to be literal about the people we are counting. If the Book of Revelation is being literal in its truth, then the only people going to Heaven will be Jewish. That rather contradicts the Gospel proclaimed to the Gentiles, doesn't it?
Yet, St John is clear. The communion of Saints is innumerable. We cannot count the number of the saints. Even looking at the collection of Saints in the Martyrology, we see so many saints that go unnamed, and whom history seems to have forgotten.
The vast majority of saints go unnamed, without saints' days, without being recognised, without any earthly veneration.
Is this a tragedy, or is it a good thing?
[PAUSE]
Of these unknown saints, there is nothing left. "Some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them."
The World has forgotten them. Even the Church seems to have forgotten them. They appear nowhere in calendars or in reliquaries. Yet, perhaps these unknown saints bear witness to something more truly glorious.
[PAUSE]
Of course the Church has not forgotten them: they are the Church. They may not have magnificent tombs or people begging their prayers, but they bear witness to the sheer transitory nature of this life. Their bodies may have turned to the dust and been blown to the four winds. But, in time, this will be true of all of us.
The fact is that our cathedrals will crumble; our books, discs, even our digital data in the cloud will decay and rot to nothing. Human civilization will evaporate as if it had never been. There will be a time when there will be no evidence for the existence of the Church whatsoever.
Depressed? Don't be. This is good news.
[PAUSE]
When the Church has disappeared from Earth, then its existence in Heaven will be complete. Earth forgets about Heaven but the Church does not.
Saints may disappear on earth. "Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore."
God does not forget, neither does the Church. When the world pronounces us insignificant, God remembers. When our work is disregarded, God remembers. When our suffering is ignored, God remembers.
[PAUSE]
Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. In remembering the saints we know, we venerate the saints we have forgotten because all saints stand together. We, too, will be saints forgotten by the world but that means we have ceased finally to be of the world.
We will be forgotten, but the Gospel that we preach will resound until there are no ears left to hear it, and then there will be nothing else to hear but the song of worship sung by the innumerable cloud of saints for Eternity.
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