To You, O Lord, Author of all creation, the universe offers the God-bearing martyrs as the first-fruit of nature.
Through their prayers and the intercession of the Mother of God preserve Your Church, Your dwelling-place, in perfect peace, O Most Merciful One

This weekend we remember ALL SAINTS, that is all those who have faithfully followed Christ. They are an example for us. They have proved that it is possible to live like Jesus lived.

In the Gospel appointed we hear these words of our Savior: “If anyone publically

Acknowledge me as his friend, I will openly acknowledge him as my friend before my Father in heaven. But if anyone publically denies me, I will openly deny him before my Father in heaven.” What an absolutely clear message.

Paul writes these words in his letter to the Hebrews which we hear today: “Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us”. Another very clear message.

So what do we make of this. We definitely have examples in our Christian history of how people embraced the Jesus way of living and found true fulfillment. To witness to Jesus before others – to acknowledge Him as a friend – doesn’t mean to preach about Him but, rather, to live like Him. We have multiple examples in our society of peoples preaching about Jesus but we don’t necessarily have a lot of people living like Jesus.

How do we know if we are living like Jesus? By the way that we talk about ALL others or how we treat ALL others. Some people think they are living like Jesus when they choose to talk about and treat their friends in a loving manner. Their love, however, is not genuine since it is very obvious that their love is conditional – it is truly conditioned by their friendship.

Love is genuine when it is unconditional – that is when it is freely given without any regard to how the other person responds. One of the biggest problems in our society is that people seem to place conditions on their love, respect and treatment of others. This is not the way of Christ.

It is also not the way God responds to us!