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When we celebrate the saints we tend to think about the ways in which the most obvious ways in which they are not like us. We think of their heroic deeds and the miracles with which the stories of their lives are often filled. It is natural to hear such stories and think they have little to do with us, constrained as we are to live ordinary lives in the world. It may well be that we never do anything significantly heroic in our entire lives, and that any miracles that surround us remain hidden even from ourselves. But the main defining characteristic of the saints is something which is not so dramatic or distant, something in which we too are meant to share: holiness.
Therefore in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification" (see Lumen Gentium 39).
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us to pursue this holiness "without which no one will see the Lord" (see Hebrews 12:14). Both of these quotes are good reminders that today is a feast that belongs not only to those few examples held up by the Church as officially canonized saints, but to everyone in heaven. All who yield to the grace of God enough to be transformed by him will share the fullness of this feast. It is in fact the feast of all the nations who are gathered around the throne. How amazing will it be to one day join this numberless multitude?
After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.”
This feast is one which, we hope, will one day celebrate us as well, for all are called to be saints. There is no other kind of person in heaven. We hear in the Gospel that in which the path to sanctity consists:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
We are blessed both in order to be able to become poor in spirit and then blessed in turn by the results of yielding to that grace. It isn't simply that we divest of earthly attachments by some sort of Stoic resolve. It is rather that we are given God himself to treasure rather than the lesser things that have usurped his role in our lives.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
We are blessed in the very sorrows we endure if we endure them together with Christ, letting him give us a share in his own heart of compassion for the world. Our mourning is meant always and in every instance to be connected inexorably to the hope of the resurrection itself.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
God gives us a strength of grace by which are able to restrain ourselves from the need to use human strength where it is unhelpful. Politically, we imagine that the only way to inherit the land is by putting our strength to questionable, if not evil use. But the grace of God keeps our strength under control so that we only use it justly. In the world such an approach seems hopeless, and often appears fruitless even after many years. But the grace of meekness assures us that God will have the final say.
The same is true for all of the beatitudes. They begin with a blessing and result in a still greater blessing when we yield to them. We do not need to change ourselves by ourselves. How hopeless it would be to try to stir up a hunger and thirst for righteousness without the help of the righteous one or to become merciful without learning from the one who first showed us mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Rather than cleaning up our hearts so that we can see God, we must allow his grace to clean them. We must wash them, not in the dirty water of our efforts, but "in the Blood of the Lamb". We must expose them to the presence of Jesus more and more so that his own light can cleanse them.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
It is in seeing that we are changed, more than that by changing we are able to see. The pure of heart are those who simply avail themselves of the invitation to look. Looking, they do indeed see, first through a mirror darkly, but ultimately face to face (see First Corinthians 13:12).
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (see Second Corinthians 3:18).
Let us not miss the point of this feast, for it does not profit our brothers and sisters in heaven. It is meant to inspire us, to make us realize that the same blessings on which they relied are available to us as well. May God make us ready to join them around the table of his heavenly banquet!
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