By Caleb Karnosh
Every summer my wife and I descend to a lake house in Indiana for a week of relaxation with her extended family. The week is often filled with laughter, games, good food, and beautiful sunsets. Having married into her family, I have become a happy heir of this long-standing tradition. Their memories of events at this lake stretch back to years predating our relationship. As I hear their recollections, I am brought into the larger picture of their family, including all their joys and sorrows. The lake house has become a place defined by our relationships with one another, all the lived memories converging each summer as we gather. I’m grateful that as I raise my two young boys, they, too, are inheriting these shared remembrances.
Similarly, as followers of Jesus, we are brought into a story and tradition much bigger than ourselves. When we believe and are baptized, we are adopted into Christ’s family and become heirs of memories and adventures that we never personally experienced, but are now a part of our own story.
The Feast of All Saints Day is the most poignant celebration of this reality. This Friday, we “commemorate not a single saint, but all those good men and women who have passed to their reward in heaven, and are linked with them.”¹ We remember that we are not isolated individuals, but we are united with all the saints and Christ’s work in and through them. Their lives are interwoven with ours as we strive, like them, to pursue Christ-like sacrifice, love, and devotion.
The Church calendar helps facilitate this living memory. The calendar is oriented around Jesus’ life, and interspersed throughout are feast days commemorating the saints who have gone before us. Each saint can remind us of what it means to live like Jesus. I am both sobered and edified as I pay attention to these saints’ feast days. As I learn about a saint I have never heard of, I am encouraged by an example of another life dedicated to the Lord. Through their stories, I am inspired to live for him too. I want my sons to know that they are also heirs of these stories, part of a living memory. 
If you’d like to learn more about the saints, I recommend a little book titled The Church’s Year, penned by Charles Alexander, a layman in the Church of England. He published this book in 1950 with children and youth in mind, and the result is an informative and devotional resource.
Personally, I love to reflect on the saints who share a name with my own children. When October 18 rolls around, I am reminded of St. Luke, the godly physician who became a “physician of the soul”² through his writings of a Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. On this day, I remember to pray for my own son–that he would grow in knowledge and love of God and become a healing presence to others. Alexander’s book has deepened my appreciation of St. Luke’s life and writings, increasing my awareness of his devotion to Jesus.
So, this All Saints Day, let us remember that we are not alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ, his angels, and the heavenly cloud of witnesses never cease to pray for us as we pursue a deeper union with him (Hebrews 7:23-25; 12:1-3; Rev. 5:8;6:10).
Caleb Karnosh is the Student Ministries Director at Resurrection. In his spare time, he loves searching the shelves of used bookstores, going on walks with his wife Makenna, and reading books to his sons, Luca and James.
¹Alexander, Charles. The Church’s Year, pg. 185
²Book of Common Prayer 2019, pg. 632
Top image: Mosaic detail from the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity at Fatima, with mosaics by Marko Rupnik SJ.
