Nov 1 - All Saints

I think when we hear the beatitudes, we all seem to love those words that Jesus says, we all like to say how wonderful of an idea it is, blessed are the poor, those who are weak and hurting.  Yet, do we ever stop for just a moment to think about just how absurd that idea really is.  Sometimes, when we hear Jesus's words over and over, they can become familiar and lose the sting that they would have originally had.

Having just lost someone close to us, what would we say to someone who said that we were not blessed?  How about the meek person who keeps getting stepped on by everyone, how are they blessed for being meek?  Perhaps we can understand hungering and thirsting for righteousness, or the merciful, those make sense to us, or even the clean of heart or peacemakers, but what about the persecuted?  How much sense does it make that someone is blessed specifically because others are mistreating them.  Imagine then, when Jesus first told this story, he was teaching the people.  They thought he was something special, but they still thought he was probably just a man.  They had to look at him and think….what is he saying?  This is crazy talk!  No one is thankful for mourning or being meek, or being persecuted.  Where is he going with this?

Yet, the Church chooses this reading as we celebrate the feast of All Saints.  The Church wants us to focus on this strange, yet popular teaching of Jesus.  There must be something particular to these beatitudes that apply specifically to saints.

I think in order to really grasp what's going on, we have to ask ourselves…in simple terms…what is a saint?  What do they all have in common?  I asked that question once at school mass, and the little boy gave me a very clear answer.  I asked him…what do you have to be to be a saint.  He said…you have to be dead.

As funny as it was, that little boy was absolutely right, and I think his answer holds the key to really understanding the beatitudes.  The word Saint literally means holy.  The word holy literally means, set apart, set aside for a special purpose.  Essentially, I think it's fair to say that's the key to what really makes a saint.  The real focus of their lives is not on the next day, month, or year, but  on the rest of eternity.  They are, in a sense, preparing every day, for the day they die.  They spend their lives looking forward toward the eternal, even if it means they might suffer in the here and now.

When we look at the world from that viewpoint, everything in our lives can suddenly shift.  Now, think again of some of those beatitutes…Blessed are those who mourn, blessed the poor, blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, even blessed are the persecuted.  All of them have that one thing in common.  They are concerned not so much about themselves, but about the whole world, about the eternal.

Ultimately, when we really look at the world, we have a choice in front of us.  We can focus on what's right in front of us, the immediate reality.  We can try to pull ourselves up by our own power, to pretend the rest of the world doesn't matter, to turn ourselves inward and ignore the outside.

Or we can look outside of ourselves, and keep looking out, beyond the world we can see and into eternity.  If we embrace the reality that those that have gone before us in faith, really are united with the father in heaven, that they really are waiting to greet us, that they really do intercede for us.  We can begin to see that all of the fears and troubles we carry with us, are nothing if we really can and do trust in God. 

Of course we do have to live and act in this world….but are we really willing, to put our effort into getting ready for what is to come.  Are we ready to focus on what is eternal and lasting?  Do we really want to become saints ourselves?