When you look at images of saints do you see radiant people? Personally, I can’t think of a single image which gives such a picture. Oh yes, their haloes may shine ever so brightly but all in all I reckon they look rather glum or if not glum then decidedly po-faced and dismally fail to give the impression that they could ever be the life and soul of any party. And I fear our own patron saint St James fares no better in all the paintings I could find of him. Many show him, looking pensively heavenward while Albrecht Durer has portrayed him as looking definitely a bit put out but in recompense has given him the most magnificent beard while in a painting by a fourteenth century artist Pere Serra he looks downright miserable although he has been given quite a fetching hat. And there is also a superb painting by Rubens where James is given the most sumptuous red gown but interestingly no halo and of course no glimmer of a smile. No one as far as I can ascertain depicts a saint with a great beaming from the heart smile, a radiant smile. Those who paint or sculpt images of saints seem to think they must not appear to be truly filled with happiness; a slight simper is about the best one can hope for. And this makes me wonder why we portray saints in this way because I cannot believe that the best ones never joked or smiled or showed in the faces the sheer joy of being alive in God’s amazing world. The one person who sprang immediately to mind when reflecting on all this was Desmond Tutu, (not that he’s yet been deemed to be qualified for official sainthood) whose smile is truly radiant but when I searched for paintings and statues of him it was only the rare painting that attempted to catch that infectious smile; the rest although not perhaps as straight faced as some saintly images were definitely of a serious nature.

Why? Why can’t we see in saints the joy that must surely be theirs; the joy that comes from knowing God and recognizing how he blesses all our lives, be we saints or sinners, and fills them with his love and his grace revealed in the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Today we come just three days late to celebrate All Saints Day when we come to give thanks not just for all the great saints whose importance in the life of the Church has entitled them to both a glittering halo and a specially named day but also all the little saints whose names are known only to God. The little saints whom I’m sure all of us have known at one time or another; the little saints who have inspired us to attempt to follow their example of Godly living, of showing love to God and to neighbour. The little saints who have shown radiance in their smiles and in the joy they find from living daily in the presence of God which fits with Sam Wells’ description of a saint as ‘just a small character in a story that is fundamentally about God.’ And as a small passing thought why is it we often call people ‘angels’ when they have helped us in any way and not saints?

Radiant is not a word that is much in general usage and in fact I rather suspect some younger people may not even know what it means having chosen to adopt such modern slang words as awesome or cool to convey that something is really great. But none of these have the meaning of radiant which of course has the same roots as radiator. A radiator radiates heat; it gives out comforting warmth and makes one feel a great deal better inside when it’s a miserably cold day outside. So, when we possess a radiance, we are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to give out the warmth of love, the warmth of friendship, the warmth of caring, the warmth of being included. I think it’s really important that we recognize this and then start learning how it is that we might be blessed with a smidgeon of radiance to share with others.

And here perhaps we can learn from our gospel reading of the beatitudes, the blessings that can be ours in our service of God. We may only be very ordinary seemingly extremely un-saint like persons, but we can still know God’s blessings in our lives and we can always respond to his love for us by sharing that love with others. One of the Roman Catholic Church’s most recently canonised saints was Sister Dulce Ponte, a Brazilian nun who worked among the poorest and most destitute people of that country earning herself a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. She didn’t receive that particular prize, but she now has an official halo which is surely an even greater reward. She never saw herself as a saint but quite simply as a perfectly ordinary human being whose small acts of love Jesus turned into great works. Isn’t that such a lovely concept that any, and I stress any, of our small acts of love may be transformed by Jesus into great works? Oh! agreed we will probably never see these transformations as Sister Dulce did, as Mother Teresa did, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t happen. Our small acts in reaching out in love to any of God’s children will surely enable us to recognize the divine that lies within them and thus not only bring blessing to them but just as importantly be blessed ourselves. Saint John confirms this with these words: ‘Beloved let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.’

Now isn’t that the most amazing fact and surely if we believe it we should be filled if not quite with radiancy with joy, with happiness that we can share in this amazing love which is given us freely and in such abundance. Now at the start of this homily I reflected on the fact that images of saints are for the most part very solemn and serious and do not exactly radiate joy. But of course, there were some really happy joy filled saints and there are three in particular I’d like to mention. The first is St Philip Neri who is actually known as the saint of joy, the second, St Thomas More who wrote: ‘I believe that the truth can be told laughing. It is certainly more fitting for a layman, as I am, to pass on his thoughts in a cheerful and lively manner rather than in a serious and solemn manner like preachers.’! And finally, St Francis of Assisi who pronounced ‘Always be joyful’ and called the religious order he found the Society of Joy. Mind you I also looked up their images and yes, you’ve guessed, they are all portrayed without the hint of a smile but I bet you when they went through those pearly gates their grins were akin to those of the Cheshire cat

Today as we celebrate this astonishing crowd of witnesses to the truth of the gospel do we have a sense of joy that through the ages these witnesses like our patron saint St James have brought the good news, the good news that outshines any other good news, to the poor, the meek, the persecuted, those who mourn and those who strive to bring peace and justice to all. And in bringing this good news they blessed countless millions of people, including ourselves, to continue the work of the saints.