The communion of saints is something we do not usually give a lot of thought to during the normal course of our lives, but we do today. The church in her infinite wisdom set aside this day to recognize and honor the saints who have gone before us. We honor the saints though, because they honored Jesus Christ – and their lives were a reflection of His. The saints’ merit lies in Christ alone and they acknowledge this in today’s first reading for mass: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”
The first reading for mass is truly beautiful because it gives us a small glimpse into what heaven must be like. The purity of heaven before the throne of God is incomprehensible to us right now. One hundred forty four thousand saints gathered in white robes with palm branches in their hands before the throne of God and before the Lamb. All the angels surrounded God, and the elders and the four living creatures prostrated themselves before God’s throne, worshiping Him and praising Him. The elders said that those gathered in white robes before God’s throne survived the time of great distress. They had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they were praising God and Jesus Christ for their salvation in this reading. They showed their love for God and the Lord Jesus by how they lived their lives.
It is important to note that the saints did not serve Jesus in every single moment of their lives though, because they sinned at times too. How grateful they were (and we will be too) to have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and were found worthy to stand before God’s throne.
The second reading shows how much God loves all of us in return. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” Saint John writes that we are God’s children now, but what we shall become has not been revealed to us yet. We will be like Jesus though, everyone who has this hope makes himself pure, as he is pure. This is exactly what the saints did.
It’s ok to look up to the saints as holy examples for our own lives, but Jesus Christ himself is who we love, who we learn from and who we strive every day of our lives to become more like. Jesus shows us how to “make ourselves pure” in the gospel today. He said, “blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.” The saints were clean of heart because nothing impure may enter heaven, or stand in God’s presence before His throne. Do we work on having a better heart? Are we aware of all the movements of our heart? Do we fight the negativity and sinful inclinations that sometimes find their way into our hearts?
The elders in today’s first reading said that the saints “survived the time of great distress”. This battle is fought inside our hearts. The heart is the battleground. All of the problems and trials of life, the heartache and the suffering, are actually opportunities for growth in holiness. It’s how we respond to these things that make a difference, and most of us are not saints however much we wish we could be. It is a life long process, but many people die as saints unknown to anyone except their own family and friends. Today’s gospel reading for Mass focuses on the beatitudes – because this is the path that the saints walked and the way that we must walk too, if we want to be like them.
The last two beatitudes show us that negativity in the life of a Christian can actually be a good thing sometimes though:
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.”
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
It is ok for us to not feel guilty about the negative circumstances and negative feelings we may experience at different times during our lives, because it can mean that our lives are an imitation of Christ’s own life. Evil hates the good and the good hates evil. Even in heaven there was a great conflict, a great war between the angels of God and the angels belonging to Satan. The prophets, martyrs and the saints “survived the time of great distress” and we will too, if we keep our hearts clean from the dark influences that want to defile it. This is impossible to do without Jesus though. It is only by his grace that we are made clean.
Daily Mass Readings:
Rev 7: 2-4, 9-14 / Ps 24 / 1 Jn 3: 1-3 / Mt 5: 1-12
