A Homily – The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) All Saints Day, A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©

Second Reading – 1 John 3:1-3 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:28

The Gospel According to Matthew 5:1 – 12a ©

 

(NJB)

Listen!

God is not a king; the divine does not occupy a throne.

Be mindful.

The multitude John witnessed in his vision was numberless, without measure and without end.

This was a vision of the eternal and infinite God, and all of God’s children, all of those who have experienced the persecution of the living, all who have come to God, the creator of the universe having endured the long sojourn through time and space.

The multitude is all of us, gathered together as one people…with no-one left behind, not one of us lost.

Have faith in this vision, trust in it; believe in it, hope for it, pray for it.

Know this!

We do not arrive in this place by the blood of the lamb; the cult of animal sacrifice is inefficacious…and always has been. We are not saved by the blood of Jesus, his death on the cross was not needed to make remuneration for our sins, the economy of salvation is not based on debt and redemption. These tropes are metaphors (and poor ones at that).  

Grace is not distributed through blood-magic.

Understand.

We are sanctified through the way, by fulfilling God’s will for us, as we are led in the spirit to walk humbly and love mercy.

We come into God’s presence only when we have let go of all our enmities, when we have finally forgiven all who have wronged us, as God has forgiven us, and when we have accepted the forgiveness of those we have wronged….when we have given up the burden of our sins and the sins of others.

It is then and only then that we are able to be in the presence of God and experience the fullness of the divine; it is then and only then, that together with the multitude of our sisters and brothers, we will have fulfilled John’s vision.

Be mindful!

Do not look for God in vestiges of glory and power and honors; such illusions are easy to dwell on…to cling to, and easy to misunderstand. Keep before you the image of Jesus in his humility, look for God there, in his wisdom, gentle as a lamb.

Consider the psalm for today.

All things and persons have their being in God, God who is the foundation of all that is and without whom there is nothing, without whom there is not even the possibility of being.

If you wish to climb the mountain to find God…that is fine; do it! Though God might prefer for you to turn to your neighbors, and see the face of God reflected there.

See them; all your sisters and brothers, your friends and family, the alien, even your enemy; behold the face of God, and together with them, in God’s presence…rejoice and give thanks. 

Be mindful.

Do not worry about your holiness; God loved you before the creation of the world, when only the possibility of you and all that you are existed. This is true of you and everyone, we are all beloved by God.

Look for God’s blessing in the service you provide to your neighbor, to your mother and father, to your sister and brother. Seek justification through the quality and extent of your mercy…you will find God’s blessing there.

If you go searching for the God of Jacob, instead of seeing God in Jacob, you will be chasing an idol. God is not confined to the pages of a book, or the inked letter on a scroll, neither is God bound by the history and mythology of a people. Perhaps there is wisdom in looking to those testimonies for glimpses of God, and remembrances of past encounters, but if you wish to find the living God you must look into the hearts of living people.

Be mindful of the words of the apostle…he is not always right, and in the reading for today he is wrong.

You must always bear in mind that every person is a child of God, there is not a single one of us whom God rejects.

Know this!

The devil has no children; the devil does not exist. God has no enemies, only wayward children.

Acknowledge your own faults without blaming the “forces of evil.” This is the way to wosdom.

Every single one of us has sinned, no one is free from it. Living a saintly life does not wipe out sin, or make it so that the sins we have committed never happened. God’s promise is not to erase our sins as if they never were, but to undo the harm they have caused to us and others, to transform the consequences of those sins into something good…reconciling all things through the spirit of truth and the power of forgiveness.

Be mindful.

The teachings of Jesus cannot be treated like a shell game, though they often are and have been since the beginning, as Matthew’s Gospel illustrates.

The way of Jesus is not a long con, neither is it a bait and switch; it is a simple teaching that cannot be controlled or owned by any one group of people. The truth is in the open for anyone to see.

The wise and the powerful, the learned and the clever, the weak and the meek, everyone has access to the truth, to the knowledge of God, of justice, of hope and the power of love.

Who are the wise and powerful?

Who are the learned and the clever?

Who are the faithful and childlike?

In every generation, you will see a new group of believers labeling the elder group as out of touch, blind, privileged, in the dark or corrupt.

The cycle is endless, and the way remains the same; love justice, be merciful, do good, serve God through the loving service you provide to one another: to your family, your friends, your neighbor, the stranger, even your enemy; walk humbly with them, this is the way.

Be mindful.

Just because a person may be considered wise and powerful, learned and clever, or a child of the Church, does not mean they will inerrantly recognize the truth when they see it, or act upon it when they do.

It is not your station in society, it is not how other people regard you, it is not the titles you have earned, or even the ways you have been marginalized that determine how you will fulfill the calling to follow Jesus. What matters is what is in your heart, what matters is your willingness to trust in the content of your hope, the hope you hope for yourself and the hope you hope for everyone.

Consider the Gospel reading for today.

Much has been written about the sermon on the mount. It is hard for me to believe that I would have anything new to add to that discussion, but adding something new is not as important as sharing the story itself, and how it shapes our understanding of the Gospel.

In this teaching Jesus shares a way of seeing the world, of living in society, of understanding our relationship to the creator; it is a teaching that reverses the expectations that were prevalent in his time, and in our time as well.

Jesus might have said:

The providence of heaven belongs to all people, regardless of who they are or where they came from or how far they think they are from the love of the creator, no matter what creed they profess, or what traditions bind them, and no matter how little they may think about God.

Divine providence is the inheritance of all people, because God wills it and distributes grace freely.

The gentle seek no possessions, they have nothing to guard, they are themselves unguarded and free; by freeing themselves from their desires the gentle have gained everything.

Have hope, all sadness and all mourning come to an end.

Strive for what is right and just, for what is universal and true, for what touches all people, give up your concerns for yourself and your tribe, your family and nation, your class and station; they are illusions.

The narrow path leads to misery, and the broad road leads to joy. Whether you can see it or not, we all share the same road; its narrowness or its breadth is only determined by our perspective.

Mercy follows upon mercy, as the sun follows the rain.

All people will come to the vision of God, as certain as they will come to know their true selves. The fullness of God is at the center of all people; God’s spirit unites us in an indelible bond, connecting us to one another, from the beginning to the end.

Accept the parentage of the divine. Take up the task God has set before us. Love justice, be merciful, walk humbly in the pursuit of peace.

The providence of heaven belongs to all people, in order to possess it you must share it; there is no other way.

If you are abused and persecuted for the sake of peace and mercy. Have no fear, the powers of sin and evil, the pain they bring, the reality of sickness and death, these are all temporary and they will come to an end.

 

First Reading – Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14 ©

I Saw a Huge Number, Impossible to Count, of People from Every Nation, Race—Tribe and Language

I, John, saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I heard how many were sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.

After that I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted aloud, ‘Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four animals, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God with these words, ‘Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.’

One of the elders then spoke, and asked me, ‘Do you know who these people are, dressed in white robes, and where they have come from?’ I answered him, ‘You can tell me, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©

Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,

  the world and all its peoples.

It is he who set it on the seas;

  on the waters he made it firm.

Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?

  Who shall stand in his holy place?

The man with clean hands and pure heart,

  who desires not worthless things.

Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

He shall receive blessings from the Lord

  and reward from the God who saves him.

Such are the men who seek him,

  seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

 

Second Reading – 1 John 3:1-3 ©

We Shall be Like God Because We Shall See Him as He Really Is

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are.

Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us.

My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.

Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest, says the Lord.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 5:1 – 12a ©

How Happy Are the Poor in Spirit

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

‘How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted.

Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied.

Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.

Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God.

Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God.

Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.’

 

The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

All Saints Day, A Holy Day of Obligation