01 November Friday TODAYS READINGS: Solemnity of All Saints DO YOU REFRESH OR RIDICULE? “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you...” — Matthew 5:11 When I was a kid, I was never good in sports. So I dreaded Physical Education. Whenever I had P.E. class, I always wished that I’d get sick that day. Because in almost every class, kids would ridicule me. It didn’t matter if it was basketball or volleyball or soccer. I was always so uncoordinated. When I was nine years old, my P.E. was baseball. And I was even more terrified. True enough, at practice, I couldn’t catch the ball — even if I had an oversized glove. I was so bad at catching, the teacher assigned me to the farthest spot in the field. And with his booming voice, he told everyone, “Try to hit your ball towards that kid over there,” pointing to me. “Because he won’t catch the ball, and you’ll get a home run!” He laughed loudly, slapping his knee many times. And all the kids laughed with him. I pretended to laugh, too. But my little heart was crying inside. For the next 15 years, I never joined any sport. Be careful with ridicule. Be careful with negative humor. Here’s my realization: Nothing hurts more than words. Nothing can be more hurting than humiliation. Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily) Reflection: On this All Saints Day, use your words to upbuild, not destroy. Tame my tongue, Lord, that I may speak only good words to others. All Saints, pray for us. 1ST READING There are many texts that celebrate the lives of the saints in heaven with God. This is what we all hope to share in. Let us, therefore, prepare ourselves well by following the saints. Many of the saints are easy to relate with as they simply lived their ordinary lives well. We can even see a little of ourselves in them. This helps us to realize that it is possible for us to become saints if we are willing to make the right decisions. Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 2 I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, 3 “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel. 9After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.” 11 All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshipped God, 12 and exclaimed: “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 I said to him, “My Lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” P S A L M Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 R: Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face. 1 The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. 2 For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. (R) 3 Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? 4 One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain. (R)5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior. 6 Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. (R) 2ND READING Jesus is the source of our inspiration to live holy lives. The saints provide us with additional examples of what this means. How well do we know the lives of the saints or do we know the life stories of the movie stars and rock stars more? Let us make a commitment today to get to know the saints better so that we can draw more inspiration from them and, thus, grow in holiness and service of the Kingdom of God. 1 John 3:1-3 1 Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure. GOSPEL The Beatitudes are the bare minimum of what it means to live a holy life. We should reflect on them regularly to see how well we measure up to the example that Jesus puts before us. How often do we stop and reflect on the attitudes that control our lives? Perhaps, it is time for us to do more of this and get serious about growing in holiness. GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord. Matthew 5:1-12 1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He began to teach them, saying: 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. 6 Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” think: It is possible for us to become saints if we are willing to make the right decisions. HEAVEN’S GALA PERFORMANCE Today is the joyful day for heaven’s “gala performance,” the Solemnity of All Saints. While most canonized saints have a designated date in the calendar for their memorials or feasts, November 1 is the day for all of them, including the “lower-case” or the “unknown” saints. They are those who, perhaps, had never gone through the tedious processes of beatification and canonization but nevertheless led exemplary, holy, inspiring or heroic lives here on earth. And they are now enjoying the beatitude of heaven, the vision of God, in His company. Perhaps for each of the Eight Beatitudes we read in our Gospel today, there are “representative” saints which easily come to our minds. Or it may be that we grew up with the saints. Or maybe each of us can draw up a list of our own favorite saints (“Top Ten Saints to Invoke When You’re Desperate,” or something like that). Or the trivia we have about saints can probably fill up several books or web pages. Or, finally, almost every profession or human activity has its own patron saint. (I know of somebody who would even pray to a particularly “effective” saint when looking for a parking space!) But more than just saints invading popular culture (which isn’t an entirely bad thing, anyway), there is a greater or deeper significance to them in terms of our faith. For one thing, the call to holiness or sanctification is truly something for all, regardless of gender, state of life, ethnicity or whatever. That’s perhaps why there are so many saints, of various hues and colors, so as to show and prove to us that no one is exempt from the call to sanctity. The saints have simply shown us how it’s done. “Oh, when the saints go marching in... I wanna be with their number,” so goes the good old rousing song. Why can’t we be saints as well? The thought need not be that farfetched. Take your pick: there are a lot to choose from to inspire us. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Who are your favorite saints? What is it in their lives that inspire you to imitate them? Thank You, Lord, for giving us the saint who showed us that it is indeed possible to live saintly lives in this world. In Christ sincerely,
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 01:50:36 +0000