Solemnity of All Saints
Gospel
Mt 5:1-12a
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
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Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Homily
There is a story which I have frequently told and which never ceases to impress me. It exemplifies the meaning of the Beatitudes. The word “Blessed” with which every Beatitude begins means not only “happy”, the word which some translations use, but also includes the sense of being a blessing for others and being chosen by God to teach a divine truth.
I was a young priest on mission in Paraguay when a young man, the only son of his mother, was killed by a friend of his in a moment of anger. The following Christmas, I was going off to have Christmas lunch with a family when I saw the mother of the dead youth walking with a basket of Christmas goodies. I offered to talk her where she was going and she told me that she was going to the jail. I inquired whom she was going to visit and she replied to see the young man who had killed her son. I asked her if she was crazy and she looked at me with a little smile and reminded me that I had often preached about forgiveness. Ashamed of myself I took her to the prison and since it was visiting day, we were allowed in to see the young man. When he saw the mother of the friend whom he had killed he was terribly afraid and asked her what she had come to do. She looked at him and very gently told him that since he had killed her son, she was childless, so she had come to take him as her son. Then she took him in her arms, and kissed him. You can imagine the tears which were shed among us three.
The story of this woman continues to grip me because in a very real way, it teaches us what forgiveness is about. It translates into real life, God’s dealings with me and with each one of us. We, You and I, or I and You, are responsible for Jesus’ death on the cross, yet he has made us his special children. Like this woman and like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, God has embraced us in spite of all that we have done. Because of that woman’s purity of heart, her gentleness, her compassion, I have understood a little more something about God’s forgiveness and the power of forgiveness to restore the harmony which is so often destroyed because of our refusal to forgive. This woman, in that action, was truly a blessing for me and it is of such like her that the Beatitudes speak.
I am sure that each one of us can remember persons like that who were and are blessings for us. Persons who never have anything derogatory to say about another, Persons who, because of the integrity of their lives, their generosity of spirit, their purity of heart, have helped us to understand and to fall in love with the message of the gospel. Their lives make this world a better place. We often admire them and wish we could be like them. Yet their lives and the lives of the saints whom we venerate tell us that it is possible to live in such a way that we are blessings for others.
This is what we celebrate today on this feast of All Saints. We celebrate all those who were and those who, while still with us, are blessings for us and for this world in which we live. May our adopting of the beatitudes as a programme of life make all of us, You and I, blessings for our communities.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, You bring us to a deeper understanding of yourself through other human beings living the Gospel message with authenticity. These persons are truly blessings for us and the world. Help us your followers to understand the beatitudes which are proclaimed in this gospel passage and give us the grace to live them so that each of us may be a blessing for the communities in which we live and for the world. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
Fr. Joe Harris, is a former Rector of Regional Seminary of St. John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, and currently Parish Priest of St. Ann’s, Cascade, Trinidad
