An All Saints Meditation

This coming Sunday, I will post a sermon that I will preach on the solemnity of All Saints Day. For right now, I am going to give you a brief and simple meditation. In both the opening of the Gospel According to Saint Luke, and the opening of the Book of Acts, Luke addresses the reader by the name, Theophilus. It helps to know what that name means. There was no one named Theophilus to whom Luke was writing. The name means friend of God, or can be translated alternatively, as one who loves God. Luke meant to address each reader and everyone who hears the reading as a friend or lover of God. We know from the First Epistle of St. John that to love God is to love your brother also. One cannot love God and not love his neighbor. Let this be a meditation for All Saints Day as you consider the reality of your calling to be a saint.