I have three points for us to reflect on as we celebrate the feasts of All Saints and All Souls this morning.
1. About the Beatitudes The Beatitudes are the eight (or nine) blessings Jesus recounts in the gospel according to St. Matthew. These blessings can be considered as a spiritual recipe for one to become a saint or Christlike. If we substitute wherever “blessed” appears with “ Jesus,” we can easily see the Beatitudes describe the life of Jesus. Jesus is poor in spirit. He mourns for those who suffer. He is meek. He hungers and thirsts for what’s right in the eyes of God. He is pure in heart. He seeks inner and outer peace. And he’s courageous and persistent for the kingdom of heaven to be actualized both inwardly and outwardly, which provokes spiritual and socio-religious resistance. The way the Beatitudes depict who Jesus is works the same for the infamous passage used in a wedding ceremony from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” Replace “love” with “Jesus.” Saints are not some special people with superpowers but the ones who live like Jesus, whose rule of life is based on the Beatitudes and love. 2. How do we become saintly? Always the heart of any teaching is how. How do we become Christlike? Let’s notice the very first blessing of the Beatitudes, which I see as the key to the rest of the blessings. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I think we’ve heard enough (at least from me) about the kingdom of heaven or God’s inner presence. It’s always the kingdom of God that matters. That’s the essence of Jesus’ gospel, and it’s truly “good” news because it’s available to all. Placing oneself in quietude (the state of being still) is the first step to enter the state of being poor in heart. This type of poverty at first feels more like material poverty. In quietude, one faces total poverty of one’s socioeconomic accomplishments such as financial wealth, possessions, social recognition, etc. as well as well-respected identities one has built. In the stillness of the body and the stillness of the mind, we are completely stripped of all we have. No materials can have an impact on this process of stilling the mind and the body. Money can certainly help one find a luxurious place or seat to meditate but it is still the person sitting on it that has to do the work. It might produce anxiety or emotional discomfort to be naked in silence but it’s the place where we simply are without any wonderful or distasteful masks we put on. Everything becomes baggage to detach from. We then enter into spiritual poverty in our hearts only to concentrate on God’s presence. We enter the kingdom of God inwardly through our brokenness that is created by unhealthy clinging and craving. 3. Mr. Rogers’ 10-second practice as a way to celebrate the feast of All Souls Mr. Rogers facilitated this 10-second practice at the 1997 Daytime Emmy Awards and the 1999 TV Hall of Fame. I would like us to try this as we remember all those who are gone before us on the feast of All Souls. “So many people have helped us to come where we are right now. Some of them are here, some are far away, and some are even in heaven. All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. On the feast of All Saints and All Souls, let’s keep those who are no longer with us physically. Would you just take along with me 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. 10 seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time. 10 SECONDS OF SILENCE Whomever you’ve been thinking about, imagine how pleased they must be to know you’re thinking of them right now.” |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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