Santo Subito -- FPC sermon excerpt

When Pope John Paul II died two years ago, over a million people filed past his plain cedar coffin to pay their respects. About four million flooded into Rome to attend his funeral or watch the service on giant video screens placed across the city. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people — maybe even billions of people — watched the funeral on television.

In Rome, a cry began to spread through the crowd, “Santo subito … santo subito.” The phrase also appeared on hand-painted signs help up by worshipers at the funeral.

Santo subito.

Translation: “Sainthood immediately.”

The fans of John Paul II want the Vatican to cut through its normal red tape and pronounce the pope a saint right away. He’s clearly a saint, they say. So let’s make it official.

According to Time magazine (April 3, 2007), the new pope, Benedict XVI, has moved about as quickly as possible to get his predecessor into the ranks of the holy ones. He started by waiving the normal five-year waiting period to begin the process, an exemption that had previously been granted to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Although there are still a number of steps to take, it looks like John Paul II might make the fastest rise to sainthood in history.

The month of November, which begins with All Saints’ Day, is the month each year we give thanks for the saints of the church, those great role models for faithful discipleship who now enjoy everlasting life with God. Said Pope Benedict, very recently, “In the communion of saints, it seems we can hear the living voice of our beloved John Paul II.” He is convinced that John Paul is now communing with the saints in heaven, inspiring and guiding the church from his new location.

But why is it that people tend to focus on saints in heaven? Take a look at the Bible, and you see that the emphasis is on the saints that are living right here on earth.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints” (1:15). Whenever Paul speaks of saints, he is talking about members of the church — people who have been chosen by God and set apart to do his work in the world. Saints are holy people, according to Paul, but their holiness does not come from achieving some kind of moral perfection. Thank goodness for that — I would never qualify. Instead, they have a holiness that comes from being marked as God’s people. God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world,” insists Paul, “to be holy and blameless before him in love” (v. 4).