In
today’s Gospel reading according to St. Matthew, Jesus describes discipleship:
they recognize who they are (mere creatures in the
presence of an awesome creator God;
they hunger
for God in their daily lives;
they forgive
wrongs done to them;
they
have God’s will as their priority;
they
are peacemakers; and yes,
they
are ready to suffer rather than betray their God.
What
a splendid spirituality for you and me: the beatitudes that so many saints
lived, and that so many people today are living.
We should be grateful to God, especially in
November as we remember our faithful departed--those who have gone before us
and on whose shoulders we stand, so to speak; those who have made our lives
possible, parents, grandparents, teachers and mentors.
And we should be grateful to God for the faith
community to which we belong and which gives noble purpose to our lives. Our
community which has so many saints whose feast day we celebrate today.
We are a worldwide community of believers, a
color-filled family of one billion plus people
(American, European, Asian, African, Australian) celebrating the
presence of the living Christ in our liturgies. Yes, we possess within us “the
spark of the divine,” a flame we should always tend.
We have splendid heroes and heroines. In
addition to St. Raphael, we are the
Church of Francis and Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, Ignatius of Loyola,
Thomas More, Teresa of Avila, Vincent de Paul, Therese of Lisieux, Padre Pio,
Mother Teresa, and the litany goes on. People worth imitating in our own quest
for God.
We always have something to celebrate: the
communion of saints today, Our Lady of Guadalupe in December, St. Nicholas in
Advent, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Easter, Pentecost and the great feasts of the
Virgin Mary.
We are a community that takes a
stand on peace and justice. The Catholic community sponsors and staffs
countless shelters, hospices, soup kitchens, literacy programs, hospitals and
schools. And numerous Catholic Relief agencies attempt to meet the basic needs
of the poor around the world.
But we also are a
community of human beings. Not all as good as we would like. So, we have to
live with some messiness.
The Feast of All Saints invites us to
give thanks to God: for relatives and mentors and friends, heroes and heroines.
And
give thanks to God for a faith community that calls us to be in relationship
with God, for that is the purpose of life: to be in relationship with God here on
this planet and beyond this earthly life.
Amen!
