Sunday 31/10/2021 Mt 5, 1-12
A time to see, a time to choose, and a time to act
I have been reading the book of Pope Francis “ Let us dream”. The book is about his reflections during the pandemic in which he said the crisis is a challenge for everyone but it is, in a positive way, an occasion for us to review our life, to review how we engage. Time of trial, time of crisis for our spiritual life are also for us an occasion, a chance to confirm our choice or thinking differently. So it is time to see, time to choose, and time to act. Reflecting on the life of all saints, I would say that they have also shown us these steps. They see with their eyes of faith, they have chosen or discerned to follow Jesus and they have acted in their life the way of Jesus.
Time to see.
We are today celebrating All Saints who have been through the great persecution and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb, as the elder said in the first reading. Saint John tells us in the book of the Apocalypse that he saw heaven, the throne of God, and all the saints from everywhere coming to the feast of the Lamb. Seeing is witnessing something, seeing is understanding, and seeing spiritually is repenting or taking another way, which we called a conversion. It is a challenging time. It means a radical change from our convictions, our attachments to God’s sight, as Saint Paul, Saint Peter, Saint Francis…and many others. God, by his grace, opens our eyes to another reality we don’t know and sometimes is scary. However, it is now time to make our choice.
Time to choose.
After seeing, It is now time to recover values, time for silent reflection, time of prayer, a place of refuge. We need not just openness to reality but a robust set of criteria to guide us: knowing we are loved by God, called to be a people in service and solidarity. We can see the example of Saint Paul in the Acts of the Apostles after meeting Jesus on his journey. He became blind and spent three days in prayer and fasting. When he could not see, on the contrary, he saw better or clearer. All Saints made their decision setting on the way of Jesus and witnessing his love for all of us.
Time to act.
It is now we might wonder: what must I do? The pope said in times of crisis and tribulation when we are shaken out of our habits, the love of God comes to purify us to remind us that we are his people, the people of God and children of God.
One of the beatitude is “ happy are the poor in spirit, theirs is Kingdom of heaven” Mt 5,3. It is not the selfish I but the poor in spirit who will seek the Kingdom of God because they empty themselves to make a place for God, a place for God’s grace. It is the same call from today the second reading reminding us we are his little children. In the example of a child, greatness is in humility, simplicity, and total dependence on God. In other words, the child is the clear reflection of Jesus. This is the way Jesus would go by obeying God’s will, taking the cross, by being rejected, humiliated, and dead as an innocent. That is the way he would like to show his disciples. That is the way all the saints go through
Today we celebrate the feast of All Saint. We have heard that “ every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future”. May the grace of God and the example of All Saints open our eyes to see, to choose, and to act as a disciple of Jesus.