All Souls

Gospel: John 6: 37-40

Today's feast is an expression of God's own creed - that every single person is loved and cared for by God.  The arc of salvation history is that nothing, no one might be lost - that all might find their way into the kingdom of God.  This creed of God is expressed in the life and ministry of Jesus who went from town to town healing everyone without exception - people of all races, genders, creeds, and backgrounds.  No one was excluded at the table where Jesus ate.

That the Church has had this feast for nearly its entire existence represents a firm commitment to the creed of God.  Today and throughout this month the Church encourages us to pray for all people who have come before us and who now rest in death.  Special memorial Masses and displays of pictures of those who have passed will be present in churches throughout the world.  Lists of those who have passed will be created, and prayers will be said with great intention and fervor.  

Today and throughout the month it might be helpful in our own prayer life to make lists of those we have known who have passed, to perhaps light a candle each day and remember them in our prayers.  We might also visit a cemetery and just randomly walk about seeing grave stones and offering prayer for whomever lies in these tombs, whether we know them or not.  This day and month are set aside for expanding our capacity to love and care for all souls of all people.  

For All the Saints

Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12

Everyone Catholic and non-Catholic is curious about the making of saints.  The history of the process has undergone great changes over the centuries.  Initially a person was named a saint only if they were a martyr, then later growing to others named saints by popular acclamation.  Only much later did a formal bureaucratic process develop that came to investigate and declare saints, creating a hierarchy of steps from servant of God to venerable to blessed and finally to saint.  

Our modern fixation on the process are the required miracles attributed to the saint through their intercession.  We tend to overlook what truly matters - a life of virtue and holiness that is the sine qua non of sanctity.  In ancient times it was that virtue and holiness that was the focus of attention; miracles through their intercession were not even a consideration, and yet today a person cannot be declared a saint without documentation of such phenomena.  

The path to sanctity is found in today's Gospel - the Beatitudes.  To be a saint one must be poor in spirit, meek, empathetic, pure of heart, merciful, desirous of justice, peaceful, and enduring of persecution.  It is in practicing these qualities that we will affect miracles in the world.  Through these attributes we come to heal people, liberate people from their demons, and feed people in body and soul just as Jesus did.  Let us practice the Beatitudes, and the miracles will come. 

Places of Honor

Gospel: Luke 14: 1, 7-11

The Gospels report exactly two places where people vie for position, honor, and power.  The first is here in the house of the Pharisee.  It is a dinner party where people are struggling among themselves for seats of honor and status.  Here, Jesus instructs them to seek the lowly place, and at first glance it appears to be social advice, though a much deeper lesson exists here.  Jesus insists on the position of humility not as a means of obtaining a higher position, but as the place of honor itself in the kingdom of God.

The other place in the Gospels where people vie for position, honor, and power is among Jesus' own disciples.  They repeatedly argue, then as now, over who is more important and who will sit at Jesus' right and left.  Here again Jesus instructs them in the way of humility, the narrow doorway into the kingdom that demands few possessions rather than the wide road that accommodates wealth and prestige.  Again, the humble place is the preferred place in the mind of Jesus.

While we disciples love to regard the Pharisees as rivals, how often is it the case that we resemble them in action and attitude!  We have merely replaced the synagogue and Temple with church and cathedral, but the striving for seats of power and influence is the same.  But the way of Jesus is the way of humble service and care for others where no seats are available, where kneeling to wash the feet of another is the proper place in the kingdom.