All Saints Day, 1st November
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12:
I Reading:
Revelation 7:2-4,9-14:
II Reading: 1John 3:1-3:
In the year, 609, Pope Boniface IV cleared out the
statues of gods and goddesses from the Pantheon
(“the house of all the gods) which was propagated by the Roman empire and
turned the building into a church which he dedicated to God in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of
all saints. This church is still standing.
Famous martyrs and saints were venerated in the church
on various dates throughout the world. Today we have millions of saints who are
known and unknown to mankind, but well known to God. The number of saints and
martyrs goes on increasing day after day, this led the church to establish a
feast in their honour on 1st November around 800 A.D. In this feast
we praise God for having accomplished his salvation in so many people.
The Holy Spirit moved the church to establish this
feast for a double purpose:
1) To praise God for having completed his salvation in
so many of our Christian brothers and sisters throughout world.
2) To encourage those still living on earth to
persevere faithful to Christ inspite of human weakness, temptation and
persecution.
Their message from heaven today is:
Do
not lose discourage; remember that we were just what you are, weak, and sinful
people. Yet we were saved by God’s power and love. Keep up the struggle; we are
here to lend you a helping hand with our prayer to God. There is a fabulous
reward ready for you too here.
1. Every Christian is a saint in the making.
Paul does not hesitate to call his Christians
“saints”:
From Paul…to you all, who are God’s beloved in Rome,
called to be saints.” (Rom 1, 1.7; 1Cor 1,1.2; 2Cor 13,12).
In today’s second reading, John points out why
Christians may rightly be called “saints” while still on earth, inspite of
human weakness:
a. We, Christians are truly God’s children at Baptism
(1Jn 3:1).
b. We are destined to be with God forever and to be
like him (1Jn 3:2-3).
We Christians ought to consider ourselves at all
times, “saints in the making” that is, people striving to become holy.
2. Neither human weakness nor suffering nor
persecution should discourage Christians from striving after holiness:
The Book of Revelation teaches us about the
sacrificial life and witnessing life of the people having faith in Jesus.
a) The first reason why we should not get discouraged
is that we have already been chosen to be saved: Ex 39:30- Consecrated to
Yahweh. Ez 9:4-T=Greek “Tau”, resemble a cross.
b) Ours is a numerous family; it runs into millions;
we should pluck up courage at the thought that so many of our brothers and
sisters are ready to give us a helping hand:
The Book of Revelation speaks of 144,000 people
assigned by the angel, that is 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.
We all form part of the new people of Israel; those
who will, shall be saved (Rom 11:30-32).
c) Suffering, persecution, difficulties should spur us
on to greater faithfulness, not discourage us:
In the first reading of John’s vision- saw a large
crowd dressed in white tunics bearing palms in their hands, a symbol of victory
during the time of Nero the Roman emperor. The second Baptism is the shedding
of his/her blood for Christ which cleanses a person from all sin.
d) The great reward ready for us in heaven ought to
encourage us to be faithful to Christ: Revelation, the last verses of the first
reading 7: 15, 17 have been left out. They beautifully show what our reward in
heaven will be like:
3. Christians are lucky people: Because the kingdom of
God belongs to them by their faith and by their witnessing life for Christ and
for his church.
Hence our weakness stand in the way of our becoming
saints, yet we have very reason to be optimistic that we shall succeed.
Suffering, temptation and persecution should not a hindrance to our salvation.
All we have to do, is to walk on earth with our eyes fixed on the fabulous
reward God has in store for us in heaven.
The True Disciple: Who He is and His Reward
(The Beatitudes), Mt 5:1-12
The Beatitudes of our Lord are powerful, holding
before the world a descriptive picture of the true disciple of God. Seldom
people have been spoken with so much meaning in the history of the world.
The Beatitudes cover the glorious hope and reward the believer
can expect, now as well as in eternity.
1. Jesus saw crowds (v.1-2)
a. Setting: Mountain
b. Posture: Set-Ready
c. Audience: Disciples
d. Purpose: To teach and prepare
e. Blessed
2. The poor in spirit: Given the kingdom of Heaven
(v.3)
3. Those who mourn: Comforted
4. The meek: Inherit the earth (v.5)
5. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness:
Filled (v.6)
6. The merciful: Obtain mercy (v.7)
7. The pure in heart: See God (v. 8)
8. The peacemakers: Called the children of God (v.9)
9. The persecuted: Given the kingdom of Heaven
(v.10-12)
a. The persecution
1) Reviled and
insulted
2) Slandered
and lied against
3) Persecuted
and hurt
b. The behaviour expected: Joy
c. The reason for joy
1) Great reward
2) Great
examples: The prophets
Thought: Being filled means “to be filled with the Spirit” or
“to be led by the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace…”(Gal 5:22-23).
