All Saints’ Day Gospel reflection: Living the Beatitudes
Solemnity of All Saints
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
Sainthood can be easily dismissed as an impossible lifestyle far beyond our reach. After all, most of us do not wear sackcloth, pray 10 hours a day, start a religious congregation, or risk being fed to lions. So, we’re off the hook, yes?
No, for the Beatitudes give us a portrait of a saint that is more attainable than we might think. Saints can be poor by worldly standards, mostly because they share generously what they have with others. Saints can mourn without despairing. They deal with others gently rather than violently. Saints can withstand insult and injury. They forgive others their failings.
Saints hunger for a better world. They are never completely satisfied. Rather, they live St. Augustine’s words: “My soul is restless, O Lord, until it rests in thee.”
Does the above description remind you of anyone? And do you find any traces of yourself in the Beatitudes?
Jesus, you lived the Beatitudes. Help me to become more and more a beatitude person.
— Sr. Melannie Svoboda, SND
Revelation 7:2–4, 9–14
Psalm 24:1BC–2, 3–4AB, 5–6
1 John 3:1–3
Matthew 5:1–12A
