SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

November 1, Monday

They Had the Courage to Be Different

On this celebration of All Saints, we ask ourselves: What is our idea of saints? Are they to us idealistic dreamers out of touch with the world and with people, passive and joyless like their plaster statues? Today’s liturgy tells us a different story. They are ordinary people like us, of the same flesh and blood as we. But they had the courage to be different, to do the ordinary things of life in the extraordinary way of Christ from whom they drew their courage. They put us to shame with their quiet but strong gentleness, their integrity, their commitment to God and to people in justice and truth and peace. Let us ask the Lord here with us for the strength to follow him the way they did.

 St. John gives us a vision of hope in the ultimate future: those who live the gospel of will be victorious with him; their number will be immense.

The values of the gospel differ sharply from those of the world, yet they are to be lived in the world to make it God’s world. The beatitudes are the inspiration of a Christian’s life.

 

First Reading: Revelation 7:2-4,9-14

Then I saw another Angel rising from where the sun rose, carrying the seal of the Living God. He thundered to the Four Angels assigned the task of hurting earth and sea, “Don’t hurt the earth! Don’t hurt the sea! Don’t so much as hurt a tree until I’ve sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!”

I heard the count of those who were sealed: 144,000!

I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:

Salvation to our God on his Throne!
Salvation to the Lamb!

All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:

Oh, Yes!
The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
The honor and power and strength,
To our God forever and ever and ever!
Oh, Yes!

Just then one of the Elders addressed me: “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where did they come from?” Taken aback, I said, “O Sir, I have no idea—but you must know.”

 

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-3

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.

But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.

 

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12a

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds.

 

Prayer

God of hope and Lord of the future,
through the saints you inspire us today
with new hopes in the future
of the world and of people.

Make us realize, Lord,
that with your strength
our boldest dreams can come true
and even be surpassed:
that justice, peace and love
are worth living and dying for,
and that one day
you will crown your own work in us
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

A personal vocation to holiness

Today is the feast of all saints. In medieval England, the feast was known as All Hallows’ Day, and this is why its eve is still known as Halloween.
Who are these saints? Who are we celebrating today? Do saints refer to those who while living on this earth, lived a heroic Christian life, witnessing to Christ and his Gospel and now, after their death, live in the presence of the God in Heaven? In this case, a saint is necessarily someone who is dead. But the history of the Church teaches us something different.

After the death of Jesus, the Jews called the followers of Jesus in a derogatory way as ‘the Galileans,’ ‘the Nazarenes’ and ‘the Christians’. It indicated that group of people who followed a Galilean who had ended up on the cross, condemned by the religious authorities.
But among ourselves we did not call ourselves Christians; we called each other ‘the brothers,’ ‘The believers,’ ‘the disciples of the Lord,’ ‘those of the way’ who followed the path travelled by Jesus of Nazareth. We called ourselves ‘the saints.’ That’s why when Paul wrote his letters, he always addressed them “to the saints,” to the saints who are in Philippi, to the saints who are in Colossae, to the saints who are in Rome. He was not writing to the saints who are in heaven but to specific people who lived in Ephesus, in Corinth, in Rome.

These were the saints. We will have to return to this language to become aware of what it means to belong to a community that is called to be holy. A Saint, therefore, is the one who welcomes and commits to living the proposal of man made by Jesus of Nazareth. On the feast of All Saints, we are united therefore, not only with the saints of the liturgical calendar but also with our “next door” saints – our relatives and acquaintances. This is the feast of all of us, a holy occasion to increase our faith and hope.

The Gospel says blessed are the poor, while the world says blessed are the rich. The Gospel says blessed are the meek, while the world says blessed are the proud. Jesus declares the pure in heart as blessed, contradicting the world that tempts us to crave for pleasures and comforts. In his homily on the Feast of All Saints in 2020, Pope Francis called on faithful to pursue the virtues of the Gospel, in contradiction to the ways of the world and thus give witness to Christian hope.

The feast day “reminds us of the personal and universal vocation to holiness. Blessed Virgin Mary is called the Queen of All Saints, and our mother teaches everyone how to follow her Son, Jesus. May our Mother help us nourish the desire for holiness, walking the way of the Beatitudes.”

Video available on Youtube: A personal vocation to holiness