Under the Fig Tree

Today, on All Saints’ Day, I am reminded that the communion of saints is far wider than we imagine. The Church honors those whose lives revealed the light of Christ, yet that same light shines in every soul that turns toward truth and love. When I look at the faith and devotion of people in other traditions, I glimpse a larger communion known fully to God alone. The saints we name and those we do not are gathered by the same grace, bound together by love that transcends creed and custom.

Faith teaches that God is one, yet the world testifies that God speaks in many tongues. Across the centuries, people have sought the Holy One through different languages of prayer, scripture, and tradition. The longer I study and pray, the more I sense that God’s voice cannot be limited to one faith. The same divine breath that spoke through prophets and apostles also stirs hearts beyond our borders. God’s love is too wide to belong to any single creed, and his mercy moves where it will, gathering all people toward himself.

The Christian confession that Jesus Christ reveals the fullness of God’s love remains central to my life. I believe the Creeds. They ground me in the mystery of the Incarnation and in the Church that bears witness to the Gospel. Yet I also believe that God has not been silent elsewhere. The Qur’an’s beauty, the devotion of those who pray five times each day, the moral clarity of the Torah, and the compassion taught in other traditions all show humanity’s longing for God and God’s longing for us. The Spirit that descended at Pentecost continues to translate divine love into every language under heaven.

To affirm Christ as Lord is not to deny the grace that lives in others. Jesus said that by their fruits we shall know those who walk in truth. Wherever love heals, forgiveness frees, or justice restores, God is present. The Church’s mission is not to guard the gates of heaven but to witness to the light already shining in the world. When we listen to the prayers of others with humility and reverence, we glimpse how vast the household of God truly is.

I have come to see that faithfulness and openness are not enemies. The call of the Gospel is to love God and neighbor with all our heart, soul, and mind. That commandment stretches us beyond the comfort of certainty into the wonder of divine mystery. If God is love, then every sincere search for truth is already a step toward him. As we celebrate All Saints’ Day, I give thanks for the countless souls, named and unnamed, who have walked faithfully in the light they were given. Their prayers, in every language and tradition, rise together before God. The feast of all saints invites us to see holiness not as possession but as participation, the endless gathering of hearts drawn into the life of divine love.