Arriving Together

On All Saints Day, we celebrate those who have already arrived home to God. On All Souls Day, we remember those who have gone before us and entrust them again to God’s mercy. Together, these days remind us that holiness is never simply a private journey. We belong to one another.

Charles Péguy asks a haunting and beautiful question: “What will God think if we don’t all arrive together?” His words challenge our instinct to think of salvation as something we possess for ourselves. Instead, he imagines salvation as something we spend—our lives given away in love, service, compassion, and fidelity.

St. Benedict calls us into a community where we learn to seek God not alone, but together.

This is deeply Benedictine. St. Benedict calls us into a community where we learn to seek God not alone, but together. We pray together, work together, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens, and patiently make our way toward the same home.

On these holy days, we remember the saints whose lives became gifts to others. We remember our loved ones whose earthly journeys have ended. And we are reminded of those who walk beside us now, those who need our encouragement, our patience, our forgiveness, or simply our presence.

Perhaps holiness is less about getting ahead and more about making sure no one is left behind. Perhaps saving our souls means spending them generously for one another.

May we learn to live so that when we finally return to the house of our Father, we can say that we did not come alone. We came carrying one another in prayer, in love, and in hope. What will God think if we don’t all arrive together?