The solemnity of All Saints is an
important celebration for us in our Catholic Church. In fact, it is marked as a holy day of
obligation for us as believers in the faith, a day when we are obliged to
attend mass together as a community to celebrate this day together. Today, we celebrate and honor the example,
the witness, and the intercessions of the holy men and women who make up the
community of saints in heaven. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “being more closely united to
Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in
holiness....They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us...So by their
fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped.”
The Gospel reading we hear today is of
the Beatitudes from Matthew’s Gospel.
Even though the Beatitudes are a very familiar part of our Sacred
Scriptures, perhaps we still have a hard time understanding the teaching that is
behind the Beatitudes. If you think
about what our secular society sees as a blessing or happiness in our lives,
you might name things such as riches and material wealth, popularity, power,
fame, intelligence, and athletic ability.
Those considered blessed by Jesus would not be seen as such through
the eyes of our world – the poor in spirit, the merciful, the clean of heart,
the peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who
mourn. Yet if you think of those who
Jesus names in the Beatitudes, it encompasses those who truly live out the
Gospel in their lives. For example, the
poor in spirit are those who place their reliance on God and on the values of
the Gospel, who put their faith in God in not in the fleeting, secular values
of the world. If we think of those who
are merciful, they show love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness to their
neighbor, even when it is difficult to do so, even when it would be so much
easier to seek revenge or vengeance or retribution. When we see those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, we see men and women who seek to bring
justice and peace into our world, who are willing to stand up for the values of
our faith even when it means that we will suffer greatly for it. Jesus sees those who live out the values of
the Gospel as being truly blessed.
Today, on All Saints Day, we celebrate the
Community of Saints that is a real part of our lives of faith; we celebrate the
members of the Community of Saints who lived out the values of the Gospel and
the reality of the Beatitudes in their lives here on earth. When we think of the community of saints, we
probably think of those famous and beloved saints who have been recognized by
our Church, such as St Francis of Assisi, St Joseph, Blessed Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, and St Joan of Arc. But we
also recognize those members of our Community of Saints who are less famous and
who are not officially named as such by the Church. Think of the little
grandmothers who went to mass each day and raised their children and
grandchildren in the faith. Think of the
fathers who worked out in the fields and in the factories each day to provide
for their families, who lived out the values of the Gospel in their lives each
day, who instilled those values in their family members by their examples. I
think all of you can think of loved ones and family members who influenced your
life of faith and who are now members of the Community of Saints. In
celebrating All Saints Day today, we also celebrate the importance of community
in our lives of faith. Our personal
relationship with God is indeed very important, but our journey in life and our
journey in faith take place in community, and it is in community that we live
out our faith and the values of the Gospel.
Our faith community helps us and encourages us on our journey. Our faith community helps educate us and
nurture us. And the Community of Saints
not only helps us through its witness, but through the prayers and friendship
its members provide to us as well.
Today, we give thanks for the Community
of Saints in our lives, for the help, prayers, intercessions and witness that
the saints provide for us.
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