We praise you God in the company of your saints!

All Saints (November 1, 2009)

“We praise you God in the company of your saints!”

Scriptures: Rev. 7: 2 – 4, 9 – 14; Ps 24; 1Jn 3: 1 – 3; Mt 5: 1 – 12a

Homily

Introduction

God’s congratulations go forth to: 1) The poor in spirit, 2) They who mourn, 3) The meek, 4) They who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) The merciful, the clean of heart, 6) The peacemakers, 7) They who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, 8) You when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you -falsely- because of [Jesus].

God recognizes/knows such people as his own, less for the external signs as for the disposition and spirit that consistently animates the living person. For the Lord Jesus, the sign contains in seed the certainty of the anticipated glory. This is an incredible blessing and amazing word of promise.

Question: What signs allow you to say that you truly know another person? And, what have you ever passionately or strongly noticed that needed attention/change in your area, church, society?

Blessed are you for noticing what you have seen. May God support and fulfill your longing for change, as Jesus promises today!

From the few selected holy ones (144 thousand), to an uncountable number of elect, we see the increasing of inclusion in the book of Revelation, our first Reading. Ps 24 sings the praises of the Mighty God who organizes life in its various dimensions. The first letter of John defines holiness as being “children of God,” and “incapable of sinning.” This idea of incapacity to sin tormented our fathers in the faith in the first centuries of Christianity. Today, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to bring us back when we sin after baptism. Jesus lists for us eight signs of “holiness,” to say, everything you truly notice may lead you to God who is thus paving your way into his Kingdom. We shall break the word in two steps of meditation: 1) some signs from our predecessors in the faith; 2) the indications that they were from God.

  1. Some signs of holiness in history

Congratulations to, happy, blessed are those who “won victory through their perseverance” against poverty, grief, violence, iniquity, hatred and harm, temptations of idolatry, brokenness, persecutions for doing what is right, and rejection!

[Dr Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister who is however close to many among us, as a model of courageous truthful and authentically inclusive living in the twentieth century United States. He has peace-making brothers and sisters, and even mentors who, all, persevered against violence and rejection, in the name of the common love that comes from God the Creator, who is ultimately the One we reject when we groundlessly exclude others. King thirsted for justice, and thus preached the gospel from the down side of social reality. The blood and moral martyrs of faith likewise, live as signs and call to go higher towards God. They come from all continents and from all ages of history. We know just a few.]

St. Juan Diego of Mexico (1474 – 1548, canonized in 2002) and St Rose of Lima/Peru, Patroness of the Americas (1586 – 1617; canonized in 1671), persevered against misunderstandings and rejections, showing an example of humility devotion and love. The Ugandan martyrs of Africa (1885 -86) persevered against idolatry immorality and persecutions. They are 22 Catholic young men who are pure of heart by relying on God in time of need. Some Anglican converts also shared their fate in Christ. Charles Lwanga is the name of the head-person among the Catholic new converts. Pope Paul VI canonized them in 1964 and we celebrate their feast on June 3, every year.

  1. The indications that these blessed people were of God

a) The one thing no one can take away from them

The “dream,” the light of God and the courage of faith are their strength. St Rose of Lima was very beautiful in soul and body and very devout. St Ignatius Loyola (1491 -1556) held creation by God in ways that no advanced theologian or antagonistic authority could take away from him from a vision he received at the Cardoner River in Manresa. Littleness cannot be taken away from St. Juan Diego: “I am a nobody,” says Juanito. The Ugandan martyrs had joy and serenity. One of them named Joseph had his father among the executioners, and he chose Christ over against the local king and that biological father. From St Joseph, you could not take away the habit of acting with justice and love. And, from the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, you could not take away the Word of promise delivered by the heavenly messenger. The specific way in which God’s love is engraved upon our hearts leads our action in shaping our habits. Love is a big Reality with various smaller names. For us to recognize these names, we have to know God as Mystery and Presence of Love. Then we can read God’s mark on his creatures and on his elects. The saints are people who know this God, even from a tiny partial vision of God’s glory. What do they see?

b) The one thing they see

St Rose of Lima saw God’s beauty through the Blessed Sacrament; this beauty is worth leaving everything aside to pursue with great penance and severe discipline. St Faustina saw the inexhaustible Mercy of God as the one unforgettable truth. St Juan Diego saw that the Virgin Mother was a native woman who spoke Nahuatl, who could heal his diseased uncle and who provided during winter (December 9, 1531 on Tepeyac Hill), flowers that grew only in Castile/Spain. She was the bringer of God’s salvation. The African martyrs from Uganda saw obedience to God as unconditional. One cannot compare or reverse this order where God is Supreme. St Ignatius Loyola saw God in everything, thus denying the enemy all claims to ownership over creation and over our lives. The Queen of all saints, our heavenly Mother saw loving service to God in everything and in all people as the ultimate truth on earth. The one necessary thing bears the name of our calling. It is special and unique, but it is connected to all other callings and mission-nings of people from God. These saints have developed the “one necessary thing” into multiple opportunities for others, all originating in this one word or one vision. We may look at some examples of manifestations of God’s gift in them.

c) The Manifestation of Grace through them

In St. Juan Diego, there was a surplus of energy and vitality, to the extent that he seemed to be serving in more than one place at given times – oral tradition says. In the Ugandan martyrs, the light and straight affirmations of truth confounded their 19th century royal court and convinced the people of their blessing and approval by God. They sang songs until the fire consumed them out of earthly life – tradition says. Those of you who heard of Padre Pio also hear about his bi-location ability – as tradition narrates— the zeal to serve God through others is so pure that it becomes tangible and visible to people. All these external signs refer to the more fundamental side that is a burning love of God that also makes of many of them unsettling friends to live with. The miraculous side is certainly not the most important, but the daily humble devotion to God that uplifts others around, making them freer to love and serve their God. Through the saints, God attracts many souls to salvation. We can even make our own the following fragments of the words of the Blessed Mother to Juan Diego and to his church community: “I vividly desire [to] be present and give my love, compassion, help, and defense. [As your] most devoted mother [I will] hear your laments and [ ] remedy all your miseries, pains, and sufferings.” The saints are signs of God’s love. They affirm concretely “God is with us,” Jesus-Christ.

Conclusion

Most often, we affirm knowing someone when we can securely anticipate and predict about him or her in the best sense. As we often say, “I do not recognize you in this,” or “From what I hear, I recognize this person in this particular pattern described to me,” God, the Loving Father of Jesus Christ recognizes our spirit in what we pray for and why we do so. Let us join the company of all the holy men and women, keeping in mind our favorite saints, friends in heaven in praising God.[1] As much as memory is selective about what to keep and what not, our soul is also selective about what we notice and otherwise. Our friendship with particular saints comes from the same selective source. Many people who understand passionate love or the power of the little way take Theresa of Lisieux for model. Other virtues make different spiritual relations, which the Church always encourages in upholding the communion of the saints. The things we therefore notice are clues to our life-story with God if we allow ourselves to look at them intentionally. This is what the saints did, and they can help us sort out and order our values.  They took time to notice what God was doing in their lives.  Juan Diego hears the song of birds and the voice of one like an “Aztec princess” on his 15 mile-way to Church; he believes and follows the signs. We now share his graces from our Lady of Guadalupe.  St Rose of Lima sees the source of all beauty in the work of the self-donating God; she places all her satisfactions in the Eucharist as she embraces the cross of her Lord. The cloud of witnesses to God’s love – the saints— celebrated today, “saw and believed,” and practiced love. This is what we are called to do, as if we were just praying, “May your Kingdom Come!” – praying Just for love of our God.

[1] Psalm 4 asks, “How long will you people mock my honor, love what is worthless, chase after lies?” Envy/jealousy is a mockery to God’s honor. The innumerable types of blessings and people acceptable to God states this clearly. Let us work out new incentives for excellence, positively based. It is often said, “Envy is the bitterness of the heart just as, by contrast, love is its sweetness.” May sweetness prevail in us and in our world!

Comments are closed.