The Road to The Great Multitude

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On All Saints Day, the first reading gives us an incredible picture: a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue, standing before the throne of God. That is the goal. That is where we are going. Heaven is not a vague idea of “being in a better place.” It is communion with God and worship before His throne. And then the Gospel gives us the roadmap. Jesus sits down and gives us the Beatitudes. In other words, today, Revelation shows us the destination, and Matthew shows us the road. The question for us is simple: if heaven is the destination, am I actually walking the road that leads there?

The first thing is this: choose the road, not just the destination. Everyone wants peace, joy, holiness, heaven. But Jesus tells us the road includes poverty of spirit, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, even persecution. We often want the result without the conversion. We want peace without forgiveness. We want holiness without sacrifice. We want closeness to God without letting go of what keeps us from Him. The saints remind us that holiness is not accidental. They kept choosing Christ, often in very ordinary moments. Maybe sainthood begins with a very simple question: What is one thing in my life that Jesus is asking me to change, and why am I still postponing it?

Second: Stop Thinking Holiness Belongs to Someone Else. When we hear the word “saint,” we can imagine stained-glass windows, monasteries, martyrs, priests, sisters, extraordinary people from another century. But that great multitude in Revelation is made up of real people – people with weaknesses, temptations, failures, fears, and struggles. Saints are not people who never fell. They are people who kept getting up and turning back toward God. The Beatitudes are not written for a spiritual elite. They are for you and me. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the clean of heart. The question is not, “Could I ever be a saint?” The real question is, “Will I let God make me one?”

And third: Live Today with Heaven in View. We can become so consumed by what is urgent that we forget what is eternal. We worry about what people think, what we own, whether we are successful, whether we are noticed. But All Saints Day pulls our eyes upward and reminds us that one day all of those things will seem very small. What will matter is whether we loved, whether we forgave, whether we remained faithful, whether we allowed Christ to shape our hearts. The saints lived on earth, but they lived with heaven in view. That does not make us less engaged in this life; it actually teaches us how to live this life properly.

So today, maybe we do not need to make holiness complicated. Remember the destination. Walk the road. Take the next faithful step. The great multitude in Revelation did not arrive before God’s throne because they were impressive. They arrived because they belonged to the Lamb and allowed His grace to transform them. And that same invitation is given to us today. Heaven is the goal. The Beatitudes are the road.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep heaven before my eyes when I become distracted by the things of this world. Give me the courage to walk the road of the Beatitudes, the humility to begin again when I fall, and the desire to become the person You created me to be. Through the prayers of all the saints, lead me one day into that great multitude before Your throne. Amen.

– Homily by Rev. Fr. Patrick Agbeko