Feast of All Saints 1st November “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!” Ap.7,2-4.9-14 Ps.23 1 Jn.3,1-3 Mt.5 1-12 “Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up onto the mountain, sat down and the crowds came to Him. He then took up the word and began teaching them :’Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs! Blessed are those who weep, for they shall be consoled! Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God!” When Jesus pronounced the Beatitudes, the word ’poor’ had already a long history. Before then, the poor person was the one who was bent over, oppressed, unable to resist nor hold his own ground : the one who always had to yield before those in power. The accent was put on humiliation of the poor who gave the impression of someone at peace, obedient, at the same time placing his confidence in God and awaiting his aid. Jesus’ first Beatitude is addressed to all those who have a heart that is poor enough to be found to be someone little before God, with open hands so as to receive from Him alone strength and hope. The Beatitudes are truly the pearl of the Gospel. They are Jesus’ portrait describing how He is. Jesus gives us the meaning of all of his miracles, that of each of his parables. Our wish is to memorise them deep within us. By keeping the Beatitudes in our heart and seeing how Jesus acts, by hearing his words and listening to him, we know what it means to have a pure heart, to be poor, gentle, merciful or an artisan of peace. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice’s sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven! Blessed are you when people insult you and say all sorts of false things about you for my sake. Rejoice and jump for happiness because your reward is great in Heaven." Blessed are those who refuse to want power, those who accept to combat without hating, those who know how not to abuse with their strength, those who knowhow to always leave a space for others to be free and to give them the means to go beyond themselves. We see the very gentleness of Christ in his words : ’Take on my burden, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.’ The freshness of the Gospel appears to us, brining us to the Christian realism which is at the basis of inner truth and filial welcome of what god does, of untiring mercy for the whole world. The Beatitudes lead us to the Cross, where in his suffering Jesus addresses his mother wit gentleness :’Woman, behold your son’, then to the beloved disciple ’Behold your mother.’ Jesus never speaks of himself, he explains that the seed is the Word and that the earth that receive it correspond to our various human or spiritual situations in our lives. Jesus is thirsty for the whole of humanity that comes out of his Father’s Heart be brought back to God. The Beatitudes are a path to make us penetrate more and more into the Love of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus tells us ’I am the Way.’ "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth! Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied! Blessed are the compassionate for they shall obtain compassion! Blessed are those who have a pure heart, for they shall see God!" We make judgements when we see outer signs deceiving us of riches or poverty. But God looks at the heart for we can be rich with a poor heart, and poor having a rich heart. God has a special tenderness for those who are lacking in everything. Just as a mother keeps her treasures of patience and understanding for those of her children who are the poorest and most fragile. God loves every man just as he is in the world where relationships have hardened and where we build up barriers. Jesus destroys them, coming to those places where hatred parasites justice and freedom in the heart of mankind. The world we call ’domineering, enjoyment, pride’ wants to save itself all by itself, turning everything around its own centre. This world is within each one of us, all the Saints came out victorious from this combat. Mary is given to us, she became the Queen of all the Saints. Our Hope is to take the path towards opening up ourselves to other people and to the path of Love as we turn our gaze towards Jesus. We have an immense Joy, in the combat for Love we can aspire for the Kingdom. We are happy as we walk following Jesus and Mary, knowing that our Way is made secure in God. On this day we renew the hope we have in God’s Kingdom. We ask for the grace to hear these Words of Life so as to take the Way f the Beatitudes, the way of Love.
All Saints Day, 1st November
“Seeing the crowds, jesuswent on to the mountain. And when he was seated the disciples came to him. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them : ’ How blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven; Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be recognised as sons of God!”
The Beatitudes really are the pearl of the Gospel, because each of their episodes can be enlightened by another one of them. They are a portrait of Jesus and describe to us the traits of his personnality. Origen would say : ’In order to understand Scripture and understand the meaning of the universe, there is a simple method : look for Jesus, contemplate Jesus, get close to Jesus, take hold of Jesus, follow the Logos in following Jesus.’ In the Light of the Beatitudes, everything becomes clear. Jesus resumes and explains his mission. He gives us the meaning of each one of his miracles, of each one of his parables. We want to keep them in memory, deep down inside of ourselves. Each time we open up the Gospel, we ask Jesus to reveal the Beatitude that ’dwells ’ inside of yourself. One of them will come and ’lie’ on top of such and such a word from Jesus. It will be like a new light about this Gospel passage. We keep the Beatitudes in our hearts, seeing Jesus act, hearing his words, lsitening to him. We know what it means to have a pure heart, to be poor, gentle, merciful or an artisan of peace. We live in the Faith of Chrsit who saves us. Through Baptism, Confirmation, Communion in the Body and Blood of Jesus, we are not just ’identified’ to Christ in our human life : He is the Saviour of the world.
“Blessed are those who are persecured in the cause of uprighteness : the kingdom of Heaven is theirs; blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven ; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.”
We are invited to go for a stroll in the garden of the Beatitudes and go as far as the Cross, where Jesus, in his sufferings, came to adress these words to his mother in a gentle way : ’Woman, here is your Son.’, then to the beloved disciple, ’Behold your mother.’ The Beatitudes really are the pearl of the
Gospel, because each of their episodes can be enlightened by any one of them. They are like a self portrait of Jesus. One by one, they describe to us the traits of his personnality. He is so discreet that he never speaks about himself, and yet all the pages of the Gospel describe what his face is like and they conrtibute to have him better known. Jesus explains that the seed is the Word and the earth that receives it correspond to our various human and spiritual situations. He thirsts for the return of the whole of humanity to God. He came out of the Father’s Heart in order to have us all enter into this love, the Beatitudes are a way for us to penetrate into the love of the Trinity; I am the Way, says Jesus. Our joy is immense in the combat of Love in daily life ; we are happy for we can aspire to the Kingdom. Happy,blessed, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus and Mary knowing that ouir path is a safe one. We renew today our hope in the Kingdom.
“Blessed are the gentle, they shall inherit the earth; blessed are they who hunger an dthrist for uprightness ; they shall have their fill; Blessd are the merciful ; they shall have mercy shown them. Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God.”
There is a key to enter into the Beatitudes, they are like a treasure in the field ’the pearl of great price’, it is the treasure of the Gospel, the best door through which to enter into the Gospel. The Beatitudes ’dwell’ in our inner being like a new light so that our hearts may live from o God’s very own tenderness. This New Life is a secret of Love. ’This is why the world cannot know us.’ The world according to the first letter of Saint John is the ’dminating, pleasure-seeking, proud’ world that wants to save itself by itself and makes everything turn around itself. This world is within each one of us, and all the Saints came out conquereors of this combat. Mary is given to us, she became the Queen of all the Saints. Ou hope is to take this path of openess to others, the Way of Love. We open ourselves up to God in looking towards Jesus : ’This is why the world cannot come to know us, since it hasn’t discovered God.’ We are already in the Kingdom and yet we are waiting for the day when our eyes must open up to what goes beyond all that we can behold with our earthly eyes.