For all the saints...

"After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands."

(Revelation 7:9)

There are three things converging in my life right now that caused my heart to alight on this passage from Revelation 7 today... a passage about the "saints" who have gone before us.

1. I'm working on a short message of hope, remembering the life of a church member who just finished her course of faith, and now rests from her labors...

2. I just picked up the BluRay edition of COCO, Disney/Pixar's blockbuster film abut the Mexican traditionally "Day of the Dead" (very similar to our All Saints Day), and have been watching the extended features on the bonus disc...

3. Today would have been my parents' anniversary. My mom died over 3 years ago. Today my dad posted a photo on Facebook from their wedding day.

So yah, I'm thinking a lot about the saints today.

We're all shaped, to some extent, by the ones who have come before us... for good and for ill. Iv'e been blessed to have a "great multitude" of positive influences in my life, who have now gone on to join the Church Triumphant. Two moms, 6 grandparents, numerous brothers and sisters in the faith, parishioners who've impacted my life, even a close friend or two. I'm grateful for the parts of them that still live on in my life... and hope that I can be that kind of positive influence on others, even after I'm gone from this earth.

It's comforting to know that death is not the end. The grave does not have the final say. Thanks be to God for the Great Shepherd who gathers us in as His flock... a flock that's big enough to hold everyone!

For all the saints...!