All in the Family

All Saints is the wonderful feast that reminds us how God rejoices in having a  family of infinite variety, children who strive to trust in God, even in the midst of  trials and difficulties, and who remain open to the working of the Holy Spirit in  their lives so that Christ can be born again and again in our world. 

The Beatitudes offer a profile of God’s children. They should be heard first as  good news, as gospel, proclaiming where God is to be found: with the poor in  spirit, the mourners, the gentle, those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness—that is, those concerned with living in right relationship with God, others,  oneself, and all the earth. In Jesus’ day these were not the usual crowd who were  declared blessed, esteemed, and honored. 

Only after hearing the Beatitudes as gospel should we hear them as a summons to action so our lives mirror the divine face revealed in Jesus: the face of  mercy, of cleanliness of heart (a heart open to God), of peacemaking and reconciling, and of willingly suffering rejection in order to help bring about a world of  righteous relationships. 

God continues to work in us by sending the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Father  and the Son, into our hearts to push and prod us, sometimes gently, sometimes  forcefully, into a new birth, again and again, until we gradually grow up to become  the divine offspring we are destined to be, God’s holy ones, the saints.

Consider/Discuss

• Who are some of the saints God has brought into your life within the  last year? Ten years? Your lifetime? 
• How do the Beatitudes speak a word of gospel to you? How do they  summon you to action? 

Responding to the Word

Creator God, we thank you for the multitudes from every nation, race, people,  and tongue who have heard your call to live in love, and to work for peace, reconciliation, and justice in our world. Draw us into deeper kinship with them so that we might one day join them in the kin-dom of heaven.