Instruction for the Sunday of All Saints

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28).

Today we solemnly keep the memory of all the Saints, who strove on earth with the good struggle of faith and virtue, and have passed over into the heavens—to eternal rest and joy. Brethren, the yearly return of this present feast, the memory of all the Saints, is nothing other than a call, many times repeated, from the Saints who have gone before us to us who still live on earth and still struggle with the enemies of our salvation for the sake of the incorruptible Kingdom to come—a call to walk in their footsteps. They say to us: strive without slackening for the Kingdom to come, you our younger brethren, as we too strove; let no obstacle stop you on the path to salvation, as nothing stopped us; be brave, be firm in the struggle with your own lazy and sinful flesh, with the lures of this deceptive, swiftly passing light, with the snares of the unseen enemy, the devil; remember always that the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and only they who strive with force inherit it (Mt 11:12), that through many tribulations you must enter into it (Act 14:22). See, we struggled much, we endured much, and for this we now rest with an eternal and unbroken rest. You too will endure much struggle: for you too an eternal rest awaits. Living on earth we heard the words of our Savior and our Giver of rest: come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, and with faith and hope we hastened to His call, came to Him, endured all things for Him, and now have received from Him the promised rest; follow, then, you too: He will give rest to you as well, in the bosom of His eternal love.

But what do we do? While the Master Himself and all the Saints call us with one voice to eternal rest, we scarcely pay any attention at all to their unanimous invitation, and cling with all our strength to the earth—cling through covetousness, fleshly pleasures, the pursuit of passing honors. How few are the people who keep the life to come always in mind, and strive toward it with all the strength of their soul! The ancient enemy has entangled Christians in his net through their attachment to the goods of the earth and their utter inattention to the good of their own soul—binding their minds, their imagination, and their hearts, so that they no longer even think of or imagine or desire the good things to come, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man (so far do they surpass everything subject to the senses), which God has prepared for those who love Him (1Cor 2:9). Thus has he shut heaven from them and turned them wholly to the earth: on earth they seek every kind of refreshment and blessedness and every good thing, and not in heaven, for which they were created and redeemed by the most pure blood of Jesus Christ. But there is no rest for the heart on earth: after the brief pleasure of earthly delights the heart grows empty, downcast, weary—and this because it was made for life in God and for the enjoyment of the pure, spiritual joys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and not for the earth and the enjoyment of earthly, perishing goods. In Me you shall have peace (Jn 16:33), says the Lord—that is, apart from the Lord there is no true peace for the heart anywhere on earth. Let us not forget, brethren, to call to mind more often the closing words of our holy confession of faith, the Creed: «I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come»—and to kindle in our hearts faith that the general resurrection of the dead will surely come, and that recompense to each according to his deeds will follow without delay. Behold, I come quickly, says the Lord, and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according to his work. Blessed are they who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city — that is, into the heavenly city of Jerusalem (Apok 22:12,14).

Brethren! Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (Jac 4:4), says the Apostle James. Therefore do not love the world, nor the things in the world: for everything in the world is the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. And the world passes away, and its desire; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1Jn 2:15-17).

Cling with your heart not to the things that are seen, but to the things unseen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2Cor 4:18). Amen.