The Saints Embody the Beatitudes

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of All Saints, when we remember not only the saints who have been formally canonized or recognized as saints by the Church but also all those holy men and women throughout history who have been largely forgotten. The communion of saints is not limited only to those people whom the Church has formally recognized as saints. There are many more people, more than we can imagine, who have lived quiet, hidden lives of virtue and holiness and are presently enjoying the Beatific vision in heaven with all the angels and canonized saints. It is fitting that the Church should have a feast such as today to recall not only the vastness of the Communion of Saints throughout space and time, but also to give glory and thanks to God for His entire work of creation, redemption, and sanctification. The communion of saints is an everlasting testimony to God’s providential love and care for all His creation, especially for us human beings, who are created in His image and likeness.

In one sense, the saints are those who have successfully united themselves to Christ in this life and have sought to live faithfully according to the message of the Gospel. They have been purified of all their sins and worldly attachments and are joyfully awaiting the final Resurrection of the righteous at the last day. As members of the Church Militant on earth, we strive by the grace of God to be among those who are blessed forever. As we sing in one verse from the hymn, For All the Saints, “O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine!” When we think about the sublime, indescribable joy that comes with such a communion, we ourselves are filled with a sense of joyful hope and expectation. We rejoice that the saints have persevered through the trials and sufferings of this earthly life, and we are enlightened and encouraged by their example and their teaching.

It is also important to remember that all those who are validly baptized are already included in the communion of the saints. That might be surprising to hear, but it is precisely what we profess in the creed. We believe in the communion of saints, and we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, thus showing that we too are members of this one communion. As it says in the Catechism: “‘What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?’ The communion of saints is the Church.” Since we all form one body with the entire universal Church spanning all space and time, we also share in one universal communion of goods. We not only benefit from the merits and the sacrifices of the saints in heaven, but also from the sacraments of the Church, especially the Holy Eucharist. As one body in Christ, we are all animated by the one Holy Spirit in the service of charity towards our neighbor. We strive to live according to our identity and dignity as children of God and as members of the one communion of saints. We enter the kingdom of heaven when we respond positively to the grace of God, embrace our God-given identity as a saint, pursue our call to holiness, and seek to love God and our neighbor wholeheartedly in imitation of Christ.

In his book Jesus of Nazareth Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The saints are the true interpreters of Holy Scripture. The meaning of a given passage of the Bible becomes most intelligible in those human beings who have been totally transfixed by it and have lived it out. Interpretation of Scripture can never be a purely academic affair, and it cannot be relegated to the purely historical. Scripture is full of potential for the future, a potential that can only be opened up when someone ‘lives through’ and ‘suffers through’ the sacred text.” It is quite fitting that the Gospel reading for All Saints Day is the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, which the Catechism says are “at the heart of Jesus’ preaching.” In fact, the Beatitudes provide us with direct insight into the heart of Jesus Christ. He himself perfectly exhibits the Beatitudes during his earthly ministry. As the Catechism says: “The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ’s disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.” This should be a great consolation for us knowing that the saints have found true blessedness by living the Beatitudes while on this earth.

Pope Benedict XVI teaches that the Beatitudes look forward to an eschatological fulfillment at the Resurrection from the dead, when the just will be rewarded with the happiness they are promised. Yet although there is an eschatological dimension to the Beatitudes, the Holy Father says, “This must not…be taken to mean that the joy they proclaim is postponed until some infinitely remote future or applies exclusively to the next world. When man begins to see and to live from God’s perspective, when he is a companion on Jesus’ way, then he lives by new standards, and something of the eschaton, of the reality to come, is already present. Jesus brings joy into the midst of affliction.” In other words, when Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” or “Blessed are those who mourn,” he’s not suggesting that their happiness will only come at the end of time; rather those who live the Beatitudes now will experience joy right now in this present life, assuming that they are living according to the theological virtues and are striving humbly “to see and to live from God’s perspective” and not simply rely upon our their own finite perception of reality.

Pope Francis builds on Pope Benedict XVI’s perspective in an All Saints homily he gave in 2015. He says, “‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ How can those who weep be happy? Yet, those who in life have never felt sadness, angst, sorrow, will never know the power of comfort. Instead, happy are those with the capacity to be moved, the capacity to feel in their heart the sorrow that exists in their life and in the lives of others. They will be happy! Because the tender hand of God the Father will comfort them and will caress them.”

Since Jesus Christ has taken upon himself our humanity, our human condition, and has suffered through everything we suffer, he has forged for us a path through our suffering that leads to everlasting life. If we freely and willingly embrace the Beatitudes – to be poor in spirit rather than ostentatious and hypocritical, to mourn with those who mourn and to weep with those who weep, to be meek and humble rather than arrogant and boastful, to hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice rather than ignoring the poor and the oppressed, to be merciful and quick to forgive rather than holding grudges and seeking revenge, to be peacemakers rather than sow division and discord, and to willingly suffer persecution and insults for the sake of righteousness without retaliation and without returning insults or violence – then the face of Christ will become increasingly more visible through us, thus inspiring other people to come to Christ. Our lives will become brilliant with the glory of the communion of saints, who are united to Christ in perfect charity, and we will find our happiness now as well as in the life to come. As Mother Angelica has famously said, “We are all called to be great saints. Don’t miss the opportunity.”

– Fr. Matthew Mary, MFVA