November 1 – Solemnity of All Saints
The excerpts from the Word of God chosen by the Holy Church for the Liturgy of this solemnity can help us to contemplate history in a way very different from the tedious succession of dates and facts that we learn in school.
Yes, because this great process that unfolds under God’s gaze, from creation to the end of the world, has as its axis precisely those who are commemorated today: the saints.
In the first reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, the words of the Angel show how God anticipates or postpones His intervention depending on whether “the servants of our God” (Rv 7:3), marked on their foreheads with a mysterious sign, are prepared – a fact which renders any human “feat” completely insignificant.
This may well symbolize the character of the baptized. If we knew how to give due value to the great gift of love that the Father has given us, of being His children (cf. 1 Jn 1), we would fear nothing and be discouraged by nothing in the face of the adversities presented by the contemporary world to those who wish to remain faithful to the call for holiness inherent to the Sacrament of Baptism.
Although our surrender to God is threatened at every moment by the countless solicitations for evil that surround us, the Responsorial Psalm emphasizes that the Lord’s blessing descends upon those “whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean” (Ps 23:4). If we seek to be like this, we will be part of the handful of the righteous who play a decisive role in divine interventions in the events of history.
These events always lead to the victory of righteousness, even though appearances occasionally indicate the opposite. The Mystical Body of Christ is called to grow constantly in grace, as manifested by the varied and new forms of holiness that it has produced over the centuries. And it is the union between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant that compels this progress, whereby, at the end of the world, the Heavenly Jerusalem will descend to earth, making time to give way to eternity.
How can we participate in such a marvel? In this valley of tears, this is impossible without great tribulations (cf. Rv 7:14)… But in today’s Gospel (cf. Mt 5:1-12a), the Divine Master teaches us that, even in the midst of difficulties, those who struggle with determination, for love of Him, already experience here something of the happiness of Heaven, which lifts them above ordinary men.
The paradigm for human relationships that Our Lord established in the Sermon on the Mount radically contradicted the customs of antiquity, both pagan and Jewish. However, detachment from earthly goods, love of suffering, meekness, thirst for holiness, mercy, purity of heart, and so many other values, elevated by Him to the category of beatitudes, had the effect of permeating humanity with sweetness, to the point of completely changing its physiognomy.
This sublime invitation also resounds for us to hear, urging us to embrace holiness with the same fervour that led so many brothers and sisters, who have gone before us with the sign of faith, to heavenly glory. We need only trust in the grace received at Baptism and accept all that God desires of each one of us. ◊
