ALL SAINTS
(Revelation
7:2-4,9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a)
Our readings today give a wonderful panoramic view of the
heavenly celebration for the triumphant Lamb of God and the ultimate establishment
of the Kingdom of God.
The first reading told of a great multitude from every
nation, race, people and tongue present at that heavenly gathering; and despite
such disparity all those blessed guests were to be found as one singing exultantly:
Before the throne and the
Lamb, wearing white (festal) robes and holding palm branches in their hands,
(as) they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation comes from our God, Who is
seated on the throne and from the Lamb.
Our Blessed Lord Himself, very early in His public ministry,
aware of what lay before Him, showed how He himself envisioned the glory of His
heavenly destiny while facing up to the reality of what would be His earthly
experience.
Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
Speaking to a crowd gathered round Him hoping to find
salvation after the difficulties of life, He addressed and encouraged the poor
in spirit, the meek, and the clean of heart, those courageous and strong under
persecution, and yet others burning with zeal for righteousness, with those very words sustaining His own heart in peace and love before His heavenly Father:
Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
Jesus died for all mankind; He was indeed the Way, the
Truth, and the Life, the one supreme and sublime Model for each and every
individual formed in the image and likeness of God. And all of those called by the Father who have
learned to love and obey His Son-made-flesh, reflect the myriad aspects of the
plenitude of Jesus’ divinely human being, all so different and yet all so
complementary, because Jesus’ love of the Father finds expression through, and reigns
supreme in, all of them. And that same love
of Jesus continues to draw all men here on earth to Himself through His Spirit
at work in and through Mother Church, His mystical Body.
People of God, you know that all of us, through faith and
baptism, are already, as John said in the second reading, called children of
God:
See what love the Father has bestowed
on us, that we may be called the children of God! Yet so we are!
Such great proof of His love the Father has given us: surely,
we not only can, we should, we must, have total confidence in Him! That is what John wants to fill our hearts
and minds with as we ponder ever anew those words of his:
What love the Father has
bestowed on us!!
Of course, while we are still in this world we will
experience the troubles of the world; indeed, as John said, we are likely to
experience more troubles in some respects, since:
The reason the world does not
know us is that it did not know Him.
And, while that did not trouble John, who could surely say
along with St. Paul:
For to me, life is Christ and
death is gain (Philippians 1:21);
nevertheless, for many Christians and Catholics today, the
fact that our modern society does not acknowledge Jesus, that our faith and
practices are mocked, our teaching contested and rejected, that does trouble them. It
troubles them because they want to live a not so-explicitly-Christ-life as did John
and Paul, but a little more worldly life, made happy with family and friends, opportunities,
abilities and hopes. Their faith, at
present not strong enough for them to see death as anything other than a most
painful loss, nevertheless affords them that measure of hope and love needed for
a possible future of faithful discipleship.
That desire to live a happy, worldly, life can, however, so
easily, almost irresistibly, lead us astray: to protect what we have, to get
what we want, we plan and we plot as if all depended on ourselves; we aspire
and we seek to be acknowledged and appreciated by others, and so we strive to
live the sort of life they put before themselves, setting aside, then
forgetting, and ultimately omitting the ideal of a life of Christian sincerity
based on the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Our fear of death and loss thus so often and
so easily leads us to want a Gospel which promises everything and demands
little or nothing, which is satisfied with soft and easy options which do not rock
our worldly boat nor disturb our worldly conscience which helps us think and
say some nice words about Jesus and the Church, but never seriously challenges
us with calls to commit ourselves or risk our peace for His sake.
These and other similar, very human, sentiments have,
surely, at some time or other, tempted all of us, and so St. John wishes to
strengthen us against any such compromises or betrayals by words of
encouragement (I John 3:2-3):
Beloved, we are God’s
children now, what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We know that, when it is revealed, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone
who has this hope based on Him, makes himself pure as He is pure.
We have received, John says, a wonderful proof of God’s
love for us by allowing us to be called His children; and the reason we can be
called God’s children is because we have faith in God’s Son who died and rose
again for us, and hope in His Spirit, given to ever abide with, enlighten,
sustain and strengthen Mother Church, and also to work in all her devout children
forming them ever more in the likeness of Jesus with love for the Father. John
wants us to realize that when Jesus comes again to establish the definitive Kingdom
of God He will come in glory -- heavenly, divine, glory -- and then, amazingly,
we shall be found like Him, able to share with Him and in Him. Dear People of God, let this hope rule in
your hearts and minds, as John urges:
Everyone who has this hope based
on Jesus (and His Spirit) makes himself pure as He (Jesus) is pure.
That hope of ultimately sharing with all the saints in the glory
of Jesus, and as members of the Son, being eternally blessed as children of the
heavenly Father; that hope, based on the stupendous power of the Spirit Who
raised Jesus from the dead and has made Mary Queen of heaven above all angels
and archangels, that sure and consuming hope, John says, will protect and
purify us from our human weakness and personal sinfulness, and from the evil of
the world which will not accept us because it would not acknowledge Jesus.
People of God, today’s celebration is a further call from Mother
Church to renew our Christian and Catholic hope; today’s celebration is a
reminder that the saints in heaven are awaiting us and praying for us, praying
that our time on earth will be like a pilgrimage leading to the heavenly
shrine, indeed a pilgrimage leading to our eternal home. People of God, today’s celebration is a
reminder to each and every one of us that we should not hope for, nor expect, a
happy life according to the world’s appreciation, but rather that our life on
earth may afford us a training that will enable us ultimately to participate with
our whole mind, heart, and soul, in a heavenly life of beauty, truth, and love,
of which we are simply neither capable nor worthy at present.
Dear People of God, we should most earnestly beseech the
Most Holy Spirit to penetrate our life with that love and obedience Jesus ever
showed toward His Father, and empower us, even here on earth, to:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again, rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God, that surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:4-7)
One of the great secrets of Mary is her relationship with
the Holy Spirit of Jesus. Jesus was
raised from the dead in His mortal body in the glory of the Spirit. When He ascended to heavenly glory Mary
longed and prayed for His Spirit to fill her anew and guide her so that she
might be with her Son, where He had gone … such loving desire, such humble
awareness of her absolute need, opened her up – so to speak – totally to the
Spirit, allowing Him to guide her, form her, glorify her in every detail of her
being without the slightest resistance or obstruction whatsoever … thus did He
lead her to become Queen of Heaven. My
dear people of God, we too, as children
of Mary, have to deeply long for, earnestly pray for, totally open ourselves up
to, the Spirit of Jesus that He might freely and fully work in us for our
eternal and heavenly life. More we
cannot do; less will not suffice, for the Spirit alone can form us in Jesus,
for the glory of the Father.
