1 November 2013
Solemnity of All Saints
Humbly we walk with our Lord, laboring with Him to establish the Kingdom of God. We know that we will encounter suffering and difficulties along the way; we know that we will not always find immediate success, but we know we have no reason to fear. We are called to wage this war of peace and love, we are assured victory, but how shall we fight? In today’s Gospel Christ’s “…disciples came to him. He began to teach them…”
There is something about the Beatitudes that touches a place in the hearts of all who read them, stirring awake a part of our soul that hardly dares to dream such a life is possible. But why not? For if we are humble, following the example of Sunday’s tax collector—being poor in spirit—why would not such a life as laid out in the Beatitudes possible?
If Christ has taught us anything by this point it is that He longs to fill the empty, heal the broken, feed the hungry and be the fulfillment of our every need, great and small. Here atop the mountain He implores us to be humble, not only willingly (poor in spirit, meekness, peacemaking, etc.) but also in times when we are humbled perhaps against our will (mourning, persecution, etc.). Humility, Christ teaches us, is a grace whether it is a grace we seek or our graced response to humility being thrust upon us. In either case there is room for God to fill us with everything from comfort to His entire Kingdom: upon our heads hung low He places a crown.
Today the Church celebrates the saints, that myriad of men and women who went humbly before us, slowly emptying their selves until, at life’s end, God flooded their entire being with His love. In the Beatitudes we are invited to let go of the world, bit by bit, that Heaven might at long last embrace us; we humbly empty ourselves only to be utterly drowned in the lavish riches of God’s love. Whatever you are suffering today, brother or sister, look to God and seek your comfort there. Then, confident in His love, rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in Heaven.