20161101 HOLINESS IS ONE BUT EXPRESSED IN MANIFOLD WAYS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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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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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 23(24):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.’
HOLINESS
IS ONE BUT EXPRESSED IN MANIFOLD WAYS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ APOCALYPSE
7:2-4, 9-14; 1 JOHN 3:1-3;
MATT 5:1-12 ]
Today when we celebrate All
Saints Day, we rejoice with all the saints, known and unknown in heaven.
We rejoice in their victory over sin and the Evil One. Indeed, they are
the ones that St John wrote about in the first reading. They are the
perfect and countless number of Christians representing the 12 tribes of
Israel, the new People of God who have been sealed as the “servants” of
God. They also belong to that “huge number, impossible to count, of
people from every nation, race, tribe and language.” Indeed, now “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!’”
What we are celebrating now
is what we are all called to be as well. We too are included in that
number in principle. This is what John tells us. “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.” To be a saint is to be a son and daughter of
God. By virtue of our baptism, we are all made children of
God. At our baptism, we are consciously informed and anointed as
children of God. All of humanity is children of God as well, but because
they do not know Christ, they remain unaware of their calling to be adopted
sons and daughters in Christ. This is what St John said, “Because the
world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us.”
Consequently, to be a saint
is to become a true child of God. We are called to share in the sonship
of Christ. The blueprint to becoming a child of God is given to us by
Christ Himself in the beatitudes. In these beatitudes, we are invited to live
a blessed life. Hence, the beginning of each of the beatitude begins with
the word, “blessed!” This is the kind of life that Jesus Himself lived,
including Mary and all the saints. The beatitudes could be considered as
the principles of Christian living.
The apex of all the
principles is to have a poverty of Spirit, that is, a total dependence on God
for all that we are and all that we do. But we are also called to be
gentle, that is, meek, firm and yet diplomatic in our pursuit of the
truth. Meekness does not mean weakness. Jesus and Moses were
described as meek but they were certainly not weak leaders.
Meekness means to be in control of our strength. A leader who does not
know how to control his strength can over react in situations. We
seek to be peacemakers and reconcilers, not people who divide. But what
distinguishes us from others is that we remain aware of our own sinfulness and
mourn for our sins and imperfections in life so that we will never become
judgmental and harsh towards others. A child of God is one who always
lives in the truth, seeking justice for all; and yet remains merciful to those
who fail in life. Justice and compassion must always go together.
To ensure that we are
walking in the right direction, what is of utmost importance is the purity of
heart and the willingness to suffer for what is right. The psalmist asks,
“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.” St John says the same thing, “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.” We need to be
purified in our service of God and love for our fellowmen. The
persecution, trials and suffering that come along the way are means by which we
are purified. We must not take the oppositions we face in life as if we
are innocent and the victims all the time. More often than not, we are
reacting from our pride and selfishness, even when apparently serving God and
His people. So through all the challenges of life, we learn to grow in
purity of heart and mind so that we can truly serve God and His people with a
love that is sincere, pure and generous.
However, these principles
offered by the Lord need to be applied concretely in our situation.
Holiness is one and the same for all. But there are manifold ways to live
out that holiness in our lives. There are many kinds of saints.
That is why the Church honours the different kinds of saints who are known to
live the life of Christ according to their charisms, temperaments and
situations in life. To be a saint does not mean to replicate any
particular saint. Rather, it is to imitate their virtues and how they
live out the Christian beatitudes according to their circumstances in life.
For this reason, the Church continually canonizes modern saints for today’s
generation as our lives are very different from that of the saints who lived in
their times.
Being a saint therefore
simply means to live out the life of Christ according to our vocation. We
become holy not by withdrawing from the world and our responsibilities.
We become holy through living out our vocation in life, whether as a spouse,
parent, son or daughter, a student, a worker, a professional or a priest.
We must never think that only those who are priests and religious have a
greater chance to become saints. Holiness is not determined by what
vocation we have in life but how faithful we are to our calling. Even in
priestly and religious life, there are many temptations. We have seen many
priests and religious who are not living out their vocation but make use of
their vocation to look after their own interests rather than the Church’s
interests. But this is true in any vocation. As parents, are we
responsible for the way we raise up our children and give ourselves to forming
them to be sons and daughters of God in Christ? For those of us who are
married, have we been responsible to our spouse and live out the marriage vows
we took on our wedding day? As workers and professionals, have we made an
honest living and shown ourselves to be exemplary workers, dedicated to our
work, responsible in our tasks, and proactive in all that we do?
Holiness therefore is to
become who we are, namely as children of God. We grow in holiness by
giving ourselves fully to what we are called to life. If we are faithful
to our vocation and our state of life, we become holy. In every vocation
and state of life, we will be confronted with the same principles that Christ
gives us in the beatitudes. We will be called to exercise humility,
justice, compassion, mercy and to be mediators of peace in the midst of
conflicts. By exercising these principles in decision-making, we
grow in grace and holiness. Hence holiness is the common call for all but
how we live out this holiness concretely in our life is dependent on what we
are called to do. If we are faithful to our calling and act according to
the beatitudes, we become holy. We can be just an ordinary worker, a
homemaker or just a domestic helper but if we take our vocation seriously and
live it out for the greater glory of God and service of our fellowmen, we can
become great saints.
Yet in the final analysis,
holiness is not mere effort alone. We must remember that to be a
Christian is to share in the victory of Christ that He has won for us. St
John wrote, “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.”
In other words, holiness is also grace. Inspired by the Lord, we need to
turn to Him for strength and the capacity to share in His death and
resurrection. Only through the love of Christ and in the power of His
Spirit can we imitate Him both in life and in death. “Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for
ever and ever. Amen.”
So if we truly want to grow
in holiness, let us see the face of God. The psalmist tells us, “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.” Holiness is not
reducible to ethical living. It is to allow Christ to live in us through
His Spirit. So without a deep prayer life, without constant contemplation
of His face in the scriptures and receiving His Spirit in Holy Communion, we
would deprive ourselves of the means to grow in holiness. That is why St
John Paul II urges us to train ourselves in holiness through the Word of God,
prayer, the Eucharist and the Sacrament of reconciliation.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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