(Sermon during bilingual service at All Saints’/Todos los Santos for All Saints’ Sunday)
Padre Guillermo draws our attention toward the importance of living the life the beatitudes prescribe, and I love considering what Jesus thought as he ascended the hillside to give his sermon to the crowd gathered to hear him teach. They gathered en masse because this was someone who was going around curing every disease and sickness, healing the demoniac, epileptic, paralytics–everyone. If there was a physician today who had 100% success rate, he or she would have a large following, too! Jesus had to go to higher ground logistically so people could see and hear him, but isn’t it significant that he is the one elevated during this sermon, that he–the Son of God, the one who speaks with utmost authority–is the one who speaks from on high?
We’ve heard or read how all of us are accountable to living into the beatitudes. We don’t have to be canonized like the Saints to live righteous, holy lives, and our ordinary lives do have extraordinary potential, thanks to the power of Love. Our ultimate sanctification is when we are fully glorified in God through Christ, and for most of us that will be when we die. But we have every reason to believe we share glimpses of glory here and now, and it takes all of us together to make known the presence of God here on earth. I usually say we are working toward beloved community, and we are. Today, however, I think we can consider our work to be manifesting a community of saints.
Again, the beatitudes are a recipe Jesus gives for those who follow him. The community organizer who spoke at Diocesan Convention last year used the beatitudes to illustrate how Jesus shows us a community working together to build up the kingdom. It’s almost a formula, really.
Verses 3 and 10 are the bookends; notice how the promise is the kingdom of heaven. That’s for all of us. The poor in spirit, as Padre says, means we know we need God in our lives, and to be persecuted for righteousness’ sake is a badge of honor we get for carrying the Cross.
Now look at verse 4 (Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.), and verse 7 (Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.). The merciful comfort those who mourn and in turn receive mercy.
Verse 5 (Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.) and verse 8 (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.); the pure in heart see the meek (the submissive, the marginal, often those who are oppressed) and know that Creation is as much theirs as anyone’s. In the meek, the pure in heart see God.
Verse 6 (Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.) and verse 9 (Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.). Those who make peace fill those who hunger for righteousness, for what is just and right and true, and they are children of God who bring such peace. And all who bring this kind of righteousness, who fulfill this yearning that comes from the heart, that bears the image of God, theirs is truly the kingdom of heaven.
As much as it sounds idealistic, these are considered more the internal beatitudes. For more tangible, actionable items, we get the corporal, the physical beatitudes in Chapter 25:31-45, where we are judged by how we treat others being how we treat Jesus (feeding, clothing, welcoming, visiting in prison, etc).
These beatitudes are applicable now, but they are also a promise of the kingdom to come. Acknowledging the suffering we face, the persecution, the judgment. Nowhere does Jesus promise that following the way of the Cross will be easy. It might get easier as we grow in our faith, as we strengthen our roots in Christ, knowing deeply in our being whose we are so we know who we are as a child of God. Knowing who we are and who we want to be ignites that light within that shines like a watchtower. Others notice and attracted to it, curious and maybe even seeking. We radiate with a joy that others want to know, too, or maybe they’ve experienced it and want to know where it comes from. This is evangelism, when we get to share our stories and experiences in our life of Christ. Others who notice us might not have such a positive intention. Standing out in a crowd means we are vulnerable both to praise and persecution, and Jesus showed us that to the extreme. Even if the reality of our blessedness isn’t manifest here, it is promised.
And maybe Jesus doesn’t give us the specifics of our life of glory, but he does show us the triumph of life beyond death. Jesus promises us that we have reason to rejoice and be glad–not naively but with certainty of faith. Our blessedness in following the way of Jesus Christ is a promise that we are walking, living, believing that the suffering of this world is not the end of our story and that we are not passive observers as trials and tribulations unfold. We are a community of saints, part of a larger community of saints, bonded to the Communion of Saints through our life in faith. Ours is the kingdom of heaven to manifest now, with God’s help, and the kingdom of heaven is ours in time to come.
Rejoice and be glad! Amen.