Solemnity of All the Saints, vigil
October 31, 2022 •
If you don't love God first, then you can't have God, because He's the first good. . . .
The Saints have learned to seek all goods in the right order, and God above all others. Which is why when they die and go to Heaven, they get to look at the "goodest" thing ever, for all eternity. The get to bask for all eternity in the greatest desire of their hearts. . . .
We were designed by God to seek these things out so that in seeking them we might find... Him, Who is the greatest of all goods.
The Saints did that. It's why they're in Heaven sharing in that beautiful good. And it's our job too, to imitate their example and to follow them to receive that same reward.
That's why the Church gives us the Beatitudes on this Feast Day today. The Beatitudes are the pre-requisite for sainthood. It's the checklist if you want to be a saint in this life and/or in the next, this is what you need to strive for.
When our Lord says "blessed" are these people who are: poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who are pure of heart, who are peacemakers, and who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness . . . . When He says that these men and women are "blessed" He is saying "They are given My Glory. They get to see My Face, and have nothing but peace and joy forever in eternity."
But when we look more deeply into these pre-requisites, there's a lot of suffering required of the Saints. . . .
You can't simply choose one of these Beatitudes and say, yeah, I'll just do that one. But the rest, nah. Not my cup of tea.
Our Lord is describing Himself in the Beatitudes. He is telling us Who He is, how He thinks, how He acts. He's telling us if we want to be blessed like Him, if we want to be united to Him in holiness in this life and in the next, this is what we're supposed to do.
Rv 7:2-4, 9-14; Ps 24:1bc-4b, 5-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a
Homily begins at 21:26