All Saints’ Day can best be understood as including the “already” and the “not yet.” The “already” are, of course, the saints in glory. They are our heroes in the faith and continue to support us from their place in glory. The “not yet” are us. We are not yet the saints we are made to be. Jesus gave us the beatitudes so that we will have a yardstick to measure ourselves against. To become saints we must be poor in spirit, hunger and thirst for justice, become peacemakers. But there is one way that we do live the “already.” St. John assures us that we are already children of God. If we live out our “already” reality we will one day enter into glory.
