20151101
SAINTS ARE CALLED TO SHARE IN THE LIFE OF GOD BY
LIVING OUT THE BEATITUDES OF CHRIST
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Apocalypse
7:2-4,9-14 ©
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I, John, saw another
angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he
called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land
and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees,
until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I
heard how many were sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the
tribes of Israel.
After
that I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation,
race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in
front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They
shouted aloud, ‘Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding
the elders and the four animals, prostrated themselves before the throne, and
touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God with these words,
‘Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and
strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.’
One of
the elders then spoke, and asked me, ‘Do you know who these people are, dressed
in white robes, and where they have come from?’ I answered him, ‘You can tell
me, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the people who have been through the
great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of
the Lamb.’
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Psalm
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Psalm 23:1-6 ©
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Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
The Lord’s is the
earth and its fullness,
the world
and all its peoples.
It is he who set it
on the seas;
on the
waters he made it firm.
Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
Who shall climb the
mountain of the Lord?
Who shall
stand in his holy place?
The man with clean
hands and pure heart,
who
desires not worthless things.
Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
He shall receive
blessings from the Lord
and
reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who
seek him,
seek the
face of the God of Jacob.
Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
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Second reading
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1 John 3:1-3 ©
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Think of the love
that the Father has lavished on us,
by
letting us be called God’s children;
and that
is what we are.
Because the world
refused to acknowledge him,
therefore
it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we
are already the children of God
but what
we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that
when it is revealed
we shall
be like him
because
we shall see him as he really is.
Surely everyone who
entertains this hope
must
purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Mt11:28
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you
who labour and are overburdened
and I will give you
rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 5:1-12 ©
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Seeing the crowds,
Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then
he began to speak. This is what he taught them:
‘How happy are the
poor in spirit;
theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle:
they
shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who
mourn:
they
shall be comforted.
Happy those who
hunger and thirst for what is right:
they
shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful:
they
shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in
heart:
they
shall see God.
Happy the
peacemakers:
they
shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are
persecuted in the cause of right:
theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
‘Happy are you when
people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you
on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.’
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SAINTS ARE CALLED TO SHARE IN THE LIFE OF GOD BY LIVING
OUT THE BEATITUDES OF CHRIST
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“Think
of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s
children; and that is what we are.” This is truly a great privilege of
ours to be called and chosen as God’s children. In other words, John
tells us that we are all created to share in the intimacy of God’s life.
Our origin and destiny lie in our relationship with God. Our calling in
life is therefore bound to our destiny as well. It means therefore that
our life on earth is but the flowering of the divine life that is already given
to us at birth and especially at our baptism. We are called to live out
our divine sonship in this life. In this way, we will one day attain the
fullness of sonship when we will become like God since we share in His life
fully, which is another way of saying that “we shall see him as he really is.”
This is
indeed a real challenge because living out our sonship is not an easy
task. We are constantly meeting challenges, trials and sufferings in life
and called to choose between sin and God. The fact is that some of us
have chosen against Him because we have forgotten our origin and destiny.
That is why St John says that “because the world refused to acknowledge him,
therefore it does not acknowledge us.” By choosing against God, we
have also chosen sin and evil and therefore death. Thus, because none of
us is truly living our life as we should, as children of God, we must therefore
purify ourselves in love. Like the saints and martyrs before us, who have
had their robes washed white by the blood of the lamb, we too will also have to
be purified by the blood of the lamb.
How
then can we be purified by the blood of the lamb? We must not take this
expression too literally as if the blood of Jesus can wash us clean.
Rather, this is a metaphorical way of saying how Jesus in His life and in His
death has shown us the way to be saints. This way is given to us in
today’s beatitudes, which is actually the blue-print Jesus has for us in our
journey towards the Kingdom; one which He lived out in His very own life.
So what Jesus is teaching us is based on His very own convictions – which He
ultimately paid with His own blood and life by surrendering His life for us on
the cross. What, then, is this blueprint?
Firstly,
we are called to be poor in spirit. This simply means that only those of
us who are docile to the Spirit can truly be happy in life. Docility
calls for openness and a humble recognition of one’s limitations. So long
as we are open to growth and learning, then we will always be given opportunities
to perfect our life to that of God’s. Conversely, those of us who think
that we know everything cannot grow because of our pride and self-sufficiency.
Secondly,
we are called to be gentle. Gentleness in the gospel means meekness and
sensitivity. Unless we are sensitive towards others and ourselves, we
will not be able to be in communion with others. To be sensitive is to be
aware of what we are doing, how we are feeling. In this way, we will also
become sensitive towards the feelings, needs and dignity of our fellow human
beings. Without gentleness and sensitivity, we cannot treat others with
love and respect.
Thirdly,
in order to live in the communion of saints, Jesus says that we must
mourn. Those who mourn will be comforted. To mourn is to be
repentant of our sinfulness and lack of love in life. It is recognizing
one’s weaknesses and resolving not to commit them again. Mourning
requires that we understand the extent and depth of our sins so that conversion
is brought about not because of guilt but because of true sorrow for one’s
sinful actions.
Fourthly,
the beatitudes of Jesus tell us that we must hunger and thirst for what is
right. Fighting for truth, justice and righteousness is truly a sign that
we are in communion with the saints. If we do not stand up for the
oppression of our brothers, we have not yet really fulfilled our part in the
communion of saints. There will be no peace and joy in our lives, for how
can we pretend that everything is all right when our fellow human beings are
suffering? Indeed, it is better to suffer for doing what is right than
for doing what is wrong. And not doing anything to redress the rights of
others would be a sin of omission.
Fifthly,
we are told that “those who are merciful, they shall have mercy shown
them.” There is much truth in this beatitude. We can
experience the mercy of God only when we learn to be merciful towards
others. Being merciful is to be compassionate with our fellow human
beings. Compassion requires us to identify with others and to be with
them in their sufferings. And because we are merciful, we will also learn
to appreciate and thank God for our present situations. Compassion helps
us to know that we are not alone in this world in our struggles in life.
That is why, in showing mercy to others, we also show mercy to ourselves for we
recognize the mercy of God towards us.
Sixthly,
the saints of God must be pure in heart. Only then they can see
God. Purity of heart requires purity of mind. When a person is pure
in his intention and in his thinking, he is neither malicious nor
judgmental. A pure heart is therefore one who has a clear conscience and
always lives according to the gospel life. Those who are not pure in
heart, those who live in guilt, will also necessarily live in fear. That
is why these people are not only afraid to see God but also afraid to look at
others in the eye. Deep within, they know that they are not truthful and
honest in their dealings. They suffer from guilt, greed and fear.
However, if a person has purity of mind and heart, he walks about freely,
without anxiety of any sort. He is always ready to die at any time
because he carries no guilt in him. Such a person, because he is
liberated from within, will therefore be able to see the goodness of God in
others and in his life. Hence, those who are pure in heart see God in
everyone and, most of all, within himself.
In the
seventh beatitude, Jesus tells us that the saint must also be a peacemaker.
Why is that so? Because being a member of the communion of saints,
we do not live in isolation. To be truly Christ is to be concerned for
others. And surely if one member of our family is not in union with the
family, we would want to reconcile them. Living the life of the communion
of saints necessarily entails that we become peacemakers. We do not bring
disunity and sufferings to others by breaking up the unity of the family.
Instead, we strive to live in unity with others by respecting each other.
But more than that, we also have the responsibility to reconcile those members
of the family that are alienated from each other or from God. In
this way, by being peacemakers we are called sons of God because Jesus as the
Son of God is the bridge or mediator in our reconciliation with God.
Finally,
Jesus tells us that happiness comes to those who are persecuted on His
account. To suffer persecution for the sake of truth is to suffer on
account of the name of Jesus. Even when we are persecuted for
proclaiming the name of Jesus, for proclaiming the gospel life, we must be glad
since we have done nothing wrong. It is surely better to die in the
service of life than to die a selfish death or as an accomplice of evil and
social injustices. Such is the great joy of knowing that we have suffered
on account of Jesus because we know that ultimately the true joy of life is
when we give up even our own lives for the salvation of others. No
greater love can a man give than to lay down his life for his friends and,
better still, for his enemies.
Yes,
today as we celebrate All Saints Day, let us thank God for this gift of divine
life that He has already given to us. We pray for His grace that we will
bring to completion the good work He has begun in us; so that the seed of
divine life in us will flourish into the Kingdom of God. When that
happens, we will share in the fullness of life, a condition that is just beyond
our human imagination as John tells us. But one thing is certain, there
will be total joy, total love because we will live with God in God’s kingdom.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
