R1 Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; Psalm 24; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a
Dear friends in Christ, today we celebrate a very remarkable day that reminds us that sainthood is attainable and possible. We celebrate a Solemnity that reminds us of the reality of heaven. The saints are those men and women, young and old, clergy and religious, single and married, the wealthy and the artisans who belong to the Triumphant Church of heaven. They are people from all walks of life, cutting across different generations and different countries of the world.
We recognize and celebrate all of them – both the well-known and the little-known, those declared as Venerable or Beatified or Canonized, those whose names are in the books/in the litany of Saints and those that are not officially recognized – too numerous to be counted.
These countless unknown men and women, referred to as the great multitude in the first reading of today from the Book of Revelation, remind us that holiness is not about doing extraordinary things or praying countless times a day, but about doing simple things with an extraordinary love. This means that holiness is possible for each one of us – whether we are at home or at work, in the grocery store, at the gas station, at the park, in the restaurant, or even doing our simple daily routines.
The roadmap to create that desire and aspiration to sainthood is what Jesus proposed today in the Gospel in His popular teaching – The Sermon on the Mount.
We celebrate all the saints because in the midst of their everyday life, they demonstrated great victory over sin, faith over fear and perseverance over trials (for those who were persecuted and died). Their examples tell us that heaven is worth living/dying for. They were not super-humans, they were ordinary people like you and I with flesh and blood.
The roadmap to create that desire and aspiration to sainthood is what Jesus proposed today in the Gospel in His popular teaching – The Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, …those who mourn, …the meek, …those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, …the merciful, …the peacemakers, etc.”
We do not have to practice all of the above proposals by Jesus. We can simply choose one, adopt it and live by it. Gradually, you will notice that it has become your way of life because you will simply be living by it effortlessly.
In order not to speak in very generic sense, on a day like this, I always like to narrow my homily down to one or two or three saints as a way of studying and reflecting on the lives of the saints. Today, I wish to choose St John Paul II and Carlos Acutis.
I would encourage us all to read the lives of the saints to become a saint. One or two stories of the lives of the saints might inspire you and you will realize that your case is not irredeemably hopeless. Some worse sinners like St. Augustine, St. Paul (who was a murder of Christians prior to his conversion), St. Mary Magdalene who was seen as a ‘public sinner’, are all saints today.
I would encourage us all to read the lives of the saints to become a saint.
Just as the second reading stated: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Today’s solemnity reminds us that holiness is not for a few, selected people. It is open to everyone.
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