BLESSED ARE YE!

 A REFLECTION FOR THE OCTAVE DAY OF ALL SAINTS

Today is the Octave Day of All Saints, ending our weeklong celebration of all the angels and saints of heaven who are enjoying their eternal glory and praying for us poor souls who yet endure our great struggle to join them.

 

In the Gospel for All Saints, our blessed Lord lists the ways by which they succeeded in achieving holiness.  This list is not meant as a mere description of what they did, but as a reference for us to use, so that, by following in their steps, we may eventually join them in their reward.

 

If we want to be members one day of the Church Triumphant, it is necessary that we first triumph over our sins and imperfections.  How do we do this?  By taking the time to read through that list of the Beatitudes.  You’ll find them in your Missal, the Gospel of November 1, All Saints Day.  Don’t just casually read them, but pause at each one until you understand what it means and what you must do to improve your fulfillment of its requirements.

 

Take the first one for example, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”.  What does it mean, to be “poor in spirit?”  We may see poverty as a bad thing, something to be avoided.  No one wants to be poor.  But to be poor in spirit is something our Lord recommends in this first Beatitude.  Not that our spirit should be impoverished, but that we should long in spirit for a particular type of poverty, that which takes but little account of material things, which has no love of riches and money.  This is what it means to be poor in spirit, and when we have this approach to the material things of this world, our Lord promises us that we shall receive his blessing.  “Blessed are ye!”

 

That was the first of the Beatitudes.  The last one is perhaps more pertinent to the events of the past week and the future they portend.  “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”  The time of persecution has certainly begun, and will no doubt persist and intensify.  There is always the temptation to resist persecution by means of a kind of “counter-hatred” accompanied by our own fantasies and then real acts of violence.  Beware this temptation!  Such acts would be used by God’s enemies as a pretext for unleashing an even more terrifying retaliation.  Their hatred will surely spill over into bloodshed.  “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  Don’t give in to the temptation to meet their hatred with yours.  Follow the example of our Lord and “forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  At no time has there been a greater need for our good example of strong and virile meekness.  This is not a contradiction!  It will take fortitude and perseverance to maintain such charity, but if you do, “Blessed are ye!”