We heard in that first reading from Revelation a description of heaven with the “great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne of God” and before Christ, the Lamb of God. Then one of the mysterious elders asks the question, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” Brothers and sisters, I would confidently suggest to you that many of them come from this parish and that they will also include you! And I ask you not to doubt that or consider it impossible. The elder in the reading goes on to describe the multitude of saints as those who are “coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

What is the great tribulation? There are many opinions about that, but it can simply mean the struggles with sin, suffering and death which we must all go through in life. Sometimes we come out on top; other times we falter; but at all times we “wash out robes white in the blood of the Lamb”, that is to say, we renew our behaviour to love by trusting in the merciful love of Christ. We keep going, we keep getting up, we refuse to give in or give up, we keep trying to conform our lives and ourselves to what Jesus asks of us. We keep trying to follow Him and become like Him because of His love for us poured out in His blood on the Cross. We know that we are already children of God and our deepest longing and hope is that we will one day see Him as He is and so become like Him. And because of that hope, we keep purifying ourselves of sin and of other attachments which would ruin our hope of heaven, our hope to stand before the throne with that great multitude, our hope to be saints among the saints in God’s presence.

No one here or on this earth is excluded from this hope. For being a saint, being in heaven with All Saints, is the fulfilment of our deepest human needs and longings: immortality, endless unconditional love, perfect harmony between body and soul, perfect unity and peace among all humanity, true and unfailing joy of heart, mind and body, the answer and end to all our questions in the knowledge of eternal truth, the vision of the Blessed Trinity, the origin and completion of our existence. But we must keep this hope alive, daily. We must feed it and nurture it and not let it fade because we put our hopes in lesser things of whatever kind. The power of evil is subtle and seductive, appealing to appearances and to immediate enjoyments and deceptive ideas. In the end, we will only gain what we truly hope for. If my hope is merely for earthly and temporal things, then I will forfeit heaven. If I keep my hope fixed on Christ, then heaven will be my destiny.

Perhaps when we think of the saints we know and love, we can become discouraged. We think that we can never do what they did. Or when we hear the beautiful text of the Beatitudes in today’s Gospel, we might think that we can never reach such sublime heights. What I would say to that is: don’t listen to the negative narrative or feelings you may have about yourself, or about what you may consider as a lacklustre performance in your discipleship of Jesus. Instead, think of it this way. The Lord created you and redeemed you for an eternal, loving purpose. That’s the basic truth of your existence. St. John Henry Newman said that we might never know in this life what that purpose is, but it doesn’t matter: what matters is that God knows what it is and that you trust God to guide you towards it. What this means is that God has called you into existence to lead you to sainthood, to work with the Holy One to achieve His wonderful plan for you and for the whole universe. There will only ever be one you. Therefore, there can only ever be one saint like you. Just as we can’t be other people, so we can’t be other saints. We can only be our own saint, a saint that God invites you to become as you pass through the great tribulation of this life.

It’s not only the poor, the pure of heart, the merciful and the meek who are blessed in God’s eyes. There are myriad forms of beatitude: there is the beatitude of the faithful spouse and parent who faces the sufferings of married and family life with heroic and generous endurance; there is the beatitude of the chronically ill who patiently endure in union with Jesus their lifelong sufferings for His sake; there is the beatitude of the faithful Christian who humbly fulfils his or her duties with quiet perseverance and loyalty to Christ and the Church; there is the beatitude of the professional who, for the love of God, dedicates him or herself to the improvement of society to find solutions to human need or distress; there is the beatitude of the sinner who keeps falling but also keeps rising because he or she places all their hope and trust in the mercy of God. In other words, there are as many forms of sanctity and as many beatitudes as there are individuals who, in all these different ways, respond to the love of God and allow the love of God to transform them into citizens of heaven.

There is a place in heaven just for you, and only you can fill it. No one else can. There is a role and a mission just for you in the Kingdom of Heaven once the great tribulation of human history is over. There is a crown that will fit only your head as part of the royal people of the eternal King. There is a splendour of grace that can only shine from your heart and your countenance in the eternal Day. There is a song of victory and peace which only your voice can sing in the exultant chorus of divine praise. There is a love and a joy which only your heart can contribute to the blessedness of the communion of saints. There is an expectation of joyful reunion in heaven which only you can bring about in the hearts of those who have known and loved you in this life. There is a gaze of divine love which the eyes of Christ can give only to you before the Father’s throne. There is a welcome into eternal happiness which is reserved only for you in the Heart of Jesus. In sum, heaven loves you, heaven needs you, heaven wants you, heaven awaits you, heaven is cheering you on to run the race to win. So, what on earth could you possibly hope for that could ever compare with the hope of heaven?