ALL SAINTS: Rev 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a

The feast of All Saints is a holy day on which we celebrate the lives of ordinary men and women of every time and place who lived in an extraordinary way in faithfulness to the message of the gospel. The origin of this feast lies in the common commemorations of martyrs who died in groups or whose names were unknown, which were held on various days in different parts of the Church. However, over time, these celebrations came to include not only the martyrs but all saints. This celebration of the feast of all saints reminds us of the fact that they are present, interceding on our behalf as we are surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and now are a great role model for us as we strive to live out our faith.

The gospel, which is read every year on the occasion of this feast, seeks to underline the paradox of being a saint. One could paraphrase the Beatitudes in this way, “Blessed or Happy are those who are unfortunate.” One who mourns, for example, would never imagine himself or herself as being happy. But our Lord declares this to him or her, “Happy are those who are not happy.”
The word happy or blessed has two temporal dimensions: it embraces both the present and the future, and each in a different way. The present aspect consists of the fact that those who seem to be in an unfortunate situation are told that they enjoy a special closeness to God and His Kingdom. God has favourites. He favours those mentioned in the Beatitudes. It is precisely in the sphere of suffering that God, with His Kingdom, is particularly present to them. When someone suffers, God’s heart is moved to act and draws near to the person to offer deliverance.

But the present dimension of each of the Beatitudes also includes a future: God’s ultimate victory that is still hidden will one day be manifest. Hence, what each beatitude is saying is this: “Do not be afraid in your distress; God is close to you here and now, and He will be your great comfort and consolation in the time to come.” Because of this future dimension, the Beatitudes provide us with the core of Christian hope. In the Beatitudes, we find a portrait of the Master, which we are called to reflect in our daily lives”

In order to grasp the true profundity of the Beatitudes, and thereby the core of Christian hope, it is important to remember that they are essentially Christological. The real subject, of the beatitudes and in fact the entire Sermon on the Mount, is Jesus. It is only on this basis that we can discover the entire meaning of Christian faith life. Pope Benedict puts it this way, “The Beatitudes are the transposition of the Cross and Resurrection into discipleship".

The best commentary of the sermon and the beatitudes is the life of Christ, and by extension the lives of the Saints. Christ stands in the middle of the text and unites it with the lives of the saints who sought to imitate Him, in life and in death. The saints saw themselves in the text of the Beatitudes because they saw Christ in the middle of it. Christ is the one who is poor in spirit. He is the one who mourns, who is meek, who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, who is merciful, who is pure in heart, who is a peacemaker and who is persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Each of the Beatitudes is flesh and blood in Him. Can there ever be a better example?
Our Lord provides us with the Beatitudes as a roadmap and the Church provides us with the saints as guides.

Pope Francis reminds us, “The Beatitudes are like a Christian’s identity card. So, if anyone asks: “What must one do to be a good Christian?”, the answer is clear. We have to do, each in our own way, what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount. Here is how a little boy and an elderly woman experienced the beatitudes and saw God.

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it would be a long journey. So, one day, he got up early, packed his bag with some biscuits, chocolates and soft drinks and set out on his journey without telling anyone. He had walked a short distance and reached a garden and found an old woman sitting quietly and feeding pigeons. The boy went and sat next to her and kept watching her actions.  Then he felt hungry and took out a biscuit and was about to eat. But he looked at the old woman and shared some with her. She willingly accepted it and gave him a bright smile. He too, smiled.  He shared his chocolates and drink, and each time, she gave him a smile better than the previous one.  They shared no word with each other. Evening approached, and the boy was tired and wanted to return home.  He had but taken a few steps, he turned back and gave a hug to the old woman, who hugged in return, giving the biggest smile ever. The boy reached home, and the mother asked him why he looked so happy. The boy said: “Mom, I had lunch with God today.”  Before she could say anything, he added, “Look, Mom, she had the most beautiful smile I have ever seen.”  The old woman, too, reached home, and her son asked her why she looked so happy. She responded by saying, “Look, son, I had lunch with God today, and I did not know he was so young.”

The church teaches us that God’s call for holiness is universal. Everyone is called to live in God’s love and make His love real in the lives of those around them. Let this celebration of all Saints give us the inspiration and strength to walk earnestly in the path of holiness.

 

 O.T.: Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1:5-10; Mt 22:34-30

Our Christian religion is based on the love of God and the love of our neighbors.  The love of God implies not merely the notional assent to the truths of faith but in the real, conscious, wholehearted response that makes God the chief motivation and reason of our life. The love of one’s neighbor is perhaps one of the surprising characteristics of our Christian faith, as indicated in the importance given to the duty of loving others.

A lawyer asked Jesus which was the greatest of all the laws. There were 613 of them in Hebrew Scripture. Which was the most important? Jesus often answered people’s questions with one of his own, but in this case, he gave an answer.  Here, he responded immediately to their question by combining two commandments into one. He told them: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind.”  The heart was considered the center of knowing and feeling; the soul, the principle of life and the source of all one’s energies; and the mind, the center of perception.  Quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, he tells them that this is the first and most important Commandment. It summarizes the first four of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. Placing God first in one’s life means walking in faith and in the love of God. 

Love one’s neighbor as oneself summarises the last six of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. This second Commandment means that if we have the love of God within us, it should shine towards others. Love is meant to be shared, not to be selfishly kept to oneself.  Then Jesus said that on those two Commandments hangs the Law and the Prophets, which is the entire revelation of the Old Testament. The great saint John Chrysostom once said:  "I cannot believe in the salvation of those people who do not work for the salvation of their neighbours." These two commandments are two sides of the same coin. And are not in any way in contradiction.

If we fail to recognize our neighbor as our brother, we fail to recognize God as our Father, and we do not love him. The concept of the love of God implies not merely the notional assent to the truths of faith but the real, conscious, wholehearted response that makes God the chief motivation and reason in our life.

Adding the words to love your neighbor, "as yourself," Jesus puts us in front of a mirror before which we cannot lie; he has given us an infallible measure for determining whether we love our neighbor.

We know well in every circumstance what it means to love ourselves and how we want others to treat us. Note well that Jesus does not say: "What the other person does to you, do to him." This would be the law of talion: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." He says rather: as you would like others to treat you, treat them in the same way (cf. Matthew 7:12).

When we speak of the love of neighbor, our minds turn immediately to "works" of charity, to the things that should be done for our neighbor: giving him to eat and drink, visiting him, in sum, helping our neighbor. But this is an effect of love; it is not yet love. Before "beneficence", there is "benevolence," that is, before doing good, there is willing good.

This interior charity, or charity of the heart, is the charity that can be exercised by all and always, and it is universal. It is not a charity that only a few -- the rich and the healthy -- bestow, and others -- the poor and the sick --receive. All can give and receive. Furthermore, it is very concrete. It is a matter of beginning to look with a new eye upon the situations and people with which we live. What is this new eye? It’s simple: it is the eye with which we would like God to look upon us! The eye of mercy, of benevolence, of understanding, of Charity of the Heart, mercy.

There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him.  We need to keep God’s commandments, and offer daily prayers of thanksgiving, praise and petition.  We also need to read and meditate on His word in the Bible and accept His invitation to join Him in the Mass and other liturgical functions when we can.

God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in our neighbor. Love of neighbour is at the heart of serving God /and being faithful to what God is asking of us.  Love of neighbour is not simply an optional part of our Christianity.

 Since every human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are actually giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her.  May the Lord today help open our eyes to see God in our neighbor and thus love him with all our heart, soul and mind.

 

 

 OT XXIX [A) Is 45:1, 4-6; 1 Thes 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21

Today’s gospel presents the Pharisees and the Herodians, who were traditional enemies, ganging up to set a trap for the Lord. They attempt to butter up the Lord with flattery and insincere praise before springing the trap: “Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way and that you are not afraid of anyone because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us your opinion, then.” Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

What is this tax due to Caesar? To a 21st-century reader who often complains about being subjected to a myriad of taxes, from income tax to service taxes, the people who lived during our Lord’s time would have also laboured under various taxes. There was the temple tax, which amounted to half a shekel levied upon every Jew, 20 years and above. There was the income tax: one percent of one’s income was to be given to Rome, and then, the ground tax or property tax: one-tenth of all grain and one-fifth of all oil and wine were to be paid in kind or in coinage to Rome. Finally, to further humiliate the colonised, there was the poll tax: a denarius or a day’s wage was to be paid to Rome by all men ages 14-65 and all women ages 12-65 to remind them of their subjugated status. The tax referred to here as being due to Caesar would most likely belong to the last category of taxes - the poll tax.

A rejection by Jesus of the poll tax would have been reported as treason to Rome by the Herodians. On the other hand, if Jesus had agreed to pay it, the Pharisees would have accused Him of betraying His own people since it would be acquiescing their continued subjugation under Roman rule. Furthermore, anyone dealing with the coin could also be accused of blasphemy and idolatry because the coin displayed an image of Caesar, who is a self-proclaimed god. Discerning a plot of entrapment, our Lord cuts through the hypocrisy and political differences to the very heart of the matter, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”

It is no longer either Caesar or God, but Caesar and God, each on his appropriate level. It is the beginning of the separation of religion and politics, which until then had been inseparable among all peoples and regimes.

The Jews were used to understanding the future reign of God founded by the Messiah as a theocracy, that is, as a government directed by God ruling over the whole earth through his people. But now the words of Christ reveal a kingdom of God that is in this world but that is not of this world, that travels on a different wavelength and that, for this reason, can coexist with every other political regime, whether it be sacral or secular.

Here we see two qualitatively different sovereignties of God over the world: the spiritual sovereignty that constitutes the Kingdom of God and that is exercised directly in Christ and the temporal and political sovereignty that God exercises indirectly, entrusting it to man’s free choice and the play of secondary causes. Caesar and God, however, are not put on the same level because Caesar, too, depends on God and must answer to him. Thus, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” means: “Give to Caesar what God himself wants to be given to Caesar.” God is sovereign over all, including Caesar. We are not divided between two loyalties; we are not forced to serve “two masters.”

The Christian is free to obey the state, but he is also free to resist the state when it goes against God and his law. In such a case, it is not legitimate to invoke the principle about the obedience that is owed to superiors, as war criminals often do when they are on trial. Before obeying men, in fact, you must first obey God and your own conscience. You cannot give your soul, which belongs to God, to Caesar.

St. Paul was the first to draw practical conclusions from this teaching of Christ. He writes: “Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God. … Whoever resists authority opposes the order that God has appointed. … This is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities who are in charge of this are ministers of God” (Rom 13:1 ff.). We live in societies governed by laws and rulers, and we have a vital role to play in contributing to the betterment of our communities and nations.

In the Jewish tradition, we find the story of Daniel. He served as a high-ranking official in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Despite the challenges of living under a foreign ruler with different customs and beliefs, Daniel upheld his faith and performed his civic duties with integrity. His unwavering commitment to his responsibilities not only allowed him to excel in his role but also to serve as a positive example to those around him.

The Christian life requires, so to speak, the daily "martyrdom" of fidelity to the Gospel - that is, the courage to let Christ grow in us and direct our thinking and our actions.” So, give to God what belongs to God … which is everything.

As we navigate the complexities of our world, may we fulfil our earthly responsibilities while keeping our hearts and minds steadfastly directed towards God. Let the Lord help us to stay balanced in our duties towards God and the state and be sincere in our actions, guided by truth, and free from hypocrisy.

 OT XXVIII: Is 25:6-10a; Phil 4:12-14, 19-20; Mt 22:1-14 

The parable in today’s gospel reading tells the story of a king who offered an invitation to his son’s wedding feast that was refused by many. In that culture, people normally received two invitations to a feast, an initial invitation sometime before the event and a second invitation just as the meal was ready. To refuse the second invitation at the point when the meal was all prepared, having already said yes to the first invitation, would have been a great insult to the host. It is this second invitation that people decline in the parable that we have just heard. Those who had been invited and had accepted the invitation were called to the table just as the food was about to be served, and they said ‘no thanks’, some of them in a very violent fashion. The equivalent experience today might be someone who had accepted an invitation to a meal at a friend’s house and then, just ten minutes before the meal is due to start rings up and says he or she will not be able to come after all. The host might have second thoughts about asking that person around again.

There is joy at the heart of the Christian life. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus give us something to celebrate, even when life is going against us. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection proclaim the good news that God’s mercy is stronger than our sins, that God’s life is stronger than our various experiences of death, and that God’s power is stronger than our weakness.

Those who refused to come were too busy. They had other priorities. It was too much trouble. It is the same today. We can find all sorts of excuses for not coming to the Eucharist on Sunday.

Matthew says that they "ignored" the invitation and "went away, one to his farm, another to his business." Luke's Gospel is more detailed on this point and presents the reasons for the refusal of the invitation thus: "I have purchased a field, and I must go look at it ... "I have purchased five yokes of oxen and am on my way to see them" ... "I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come" (Luke 14:18-20).

 What do these different people have in common? All have something urgent to do that cannot wait and demands their immediate attention. And what does the wedding feast represent? It indicates the messianic goods, participation in the salvation brought by Christ, and, therefore, the possibility of eternal life.

 

Neglecting the important for the urgent in our spiritual life means continually putting off our religious duties because something urgent always calls for our attention. It is Sunday, and it is time to go to Mass, but there is that visit, that work in the garden, that lunch to prepare, that ball game.# Mass can wait, lunch cannot; so you put Mass off and go to your stove. To neglect attending Mass with the community when there was no real excuse was a sign of a breakdown of our relationship with God and with each other.

It matters that we come to the Marriage Feast and do not stay away. It matters for ourselves personally, and it matters for the community. We need love – we need God’s love and, as Jesus said: ‘Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot have life in you’(Jn 6:53). The recent Catechism states: ‘The faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation unless excused for a serious reason. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin’(n.2181).

Even among the second lot of guests who were invited at the last minute and who accepted the unexpected invitation, there was at least one who showed a lack of awareness by dressing down in a major way.  Acceptance of the invitation means a change of standards and values symbolized by being clothed in the garment that resembles and represents the Baptismal Garment of goodness and Christ-like living.  At the baptism of a child, the mother or the godmother is invited to clothe the newly baptized child with the wedding garment as the celebrant says, ‘You have been clothed with Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With family and friends to help you, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven. We have been clothed with Christ at baptism; there is an onus on us to retain that clothing as we go through life. Even though, through baptism, we have been invited to the wedding feast of God’s Son, even though we remain on God’s guest list as we go through life, that realization should never leave us complacent. We have to keep dressing appropriately to our honoured status; we have to keep putting on Christ. We are called to keep growing into the person of Christ.

Today, we are invited to stop and think what it is to which we are being invited. We are hungry and thirsty, and God, who loves us, is drawing us into the closest union conceivable here on earth. Jesus, the Bridegroom of our souls, wants to enter deep within us. Let’s be willing and ready, well dressed, to join the wedding feast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 OT XXVII [A] SUNDAY Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43

In the first reading of today, the prophet pictures God as a wine grower who had laboured hard to prepare the land for a good harvest: “He dug the soil, cleared it of stones and planted choice vines in it. In the middle, he built a tower; he dug a press there, too. He expected it to yield sweet grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave.”

We can detect the pain and frustration in God’s rhetorical question: “What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? Why did it yield sour grapes instead?” The sentence pronounced upon the vineyard swiftly follows. Its hedge and wall of protection will be destroyed, and it shall be rendered a wasteland bearing thorns and thistles, parched for lack of rain.

Applying this parable to the nation of Israel, we see that God gave His people every advantage and opportunity to repent. They were His chosen nation. They were His beloved Bride, and He was Israel’s Bridegroom. Countless times, they turned away to serve and follow other gods. With all the work God had put into His vineyard—the people of Israel—He should have been able to expect them to yield a harvest of righteousness. Instead of clusters of sweet grapes, the nation could only produce sour grapes. Time after time, in His love, God called them back. The people couldn’t do it. They kept messing up the plan. Much of the first reading is a warning, and being a warning, it is also meant for us too.

Let us now consider our Lord’s updated version of the gospel. Reading alongside the first reading, it is very clear that the Lord Jesus intends His hearers to hear His parable against the background of Isaiah’s parable. In this parable, it is not principally the vineyard itself that is judged, but the wicked tenant farmers to whom the vineyard had been entrusted. It is not that the vineyard is failing to produce sweet grapes but that it is being controlled by tenants who deny the vineyard owner its harvest and treat his emissaries violently. They finally even kill the owner’s son to rob him of his inheritance. These wicked tenants are the sour grapes in Jesus’ story. The judgment that will befall the vineyard will not be the destruction of the vineyard itself but the dispossession of the wicked tenants.

This gospel says a lot of good things about our God and some very disappointing things about our human response to God's generosity and patience.

We see that God is extremely loving. The owner of the land did not just give them an empty parcel of land and said, "There you go, now build a vineyard and give me the fruits of it." Rather, the Master plants it himself, fences it off, builds accommodation and security and then builds the winepress for the fruits to be processed.

The landowner is not a control freak. He hands over the vineyard and does not stand over them or set up an oppressive system to make sure they do the right thing. He trusts his tenants and entrusts the job to them and then steps back from it to give them time to do their job unhindered.

The Master is extremely patient. He is certainly not ruthless. After the very first messenger was sent and rejected, he would have been entitled to destroy the wicked tenants immediately, but instead, he continues to give them the benefit of the doubt; perhaps there has been a miscommunication, or perhaps there is a reason for this shocking behaviour. The master is being more than reasonable. He sends a long line of messengers to ask for what is his. There is no bitterness to be found in God, and his fruits are all patience, forbearance, and compassion. He is very long-suffering, giving many chances for change and growth, but in the end, he must have the fruits of the vineyard as he deserves.

 The master spares nothing. He even risks his most precious treasure, his beloved son, and sends him to sort this out peacefully. As the great Easter hymn says, "To ransom a slave, God gave away his own son!" What an astounding act of love and unearthly generosity to his ungrateful people.

Now, let’s try to picture ourselves as that vineyard. Look at the way God has carefully prepared things in our life up to this point. He planted faith in our hearts at baptism. He nursed, cultivated and pruned our life of faith. The soil of His Word and Sacraments are there. He provides ongoing nutrition and water through opportunities to use the means of Grace. He speaks His law to wound and convicts hearts and pours out the Gospel to soothe and heal.

And what does He find? Does He find sweet or sour grapes? Despite the surpassing goodness shown by our Beloved God in every area of life, do we still complain that His blessings haven’t been sufficient? Instead of clusters of sweet grapes of gratitude, have we only produced sour grapes of resentment and a bloated sense of entitlement? Instead of the sweet grapes, of His people living in peace and harmony with others, has He found the sour grapes of envy and strife and jealousy just like the wicked tenants? Instead of the sweet grapes of forgiveness and kindness displayed among His people, does He only see the sour grapes of impatience and lack of forgiveness?

God lovingly desires to give us what we need and patiently calls us back to obedience. Of course, time ends up running out sooner or later. God expects us to bear the fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s be grateful for all that He has showered on us and express it through our fruitful lives.