November 1, All Saints
The saints and the beatitudes
When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 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 … Mt 5,1-12a
The saints, whose communion of which we celebrate today, are those who have already ended their existence in the earthly time and now are living in the bliss of the paradise. The earthly life is like a time trial race: someone starts in advance and some others afterwards, but we arrive all of us at the same goal. At a certain point the race is over, and with it the faith and the hope end. It will not end, however, the charity, which, in the vision of God, it is sublimated passing from the earthly life to the heavenly one. Our loved ones who have left us already live in this future dimension of the certainty and of the charity, to which we are destined. St. Paul says: “Love never fails. At present we see indistinctly, then I shall know fully, as I am fully known” (1Cor13,8 – 12). While we are committed to this race in the time, Paul teaches us to sharpen our love to live already now a foretaste of the heavenly joy: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1Cor 13,4-7). Many times we wondered how we can walk on the path of the charity described by st. Paul. It is the same way of the beatitudes, of which the today gospel speaks. Searching these we are moving towards the charity: “Blessed are the poor in spirit … Blessed are they who mourn… Blessed are the meek … Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness… Blessed are the merciful …Blessed are the clean of heart ……Blessed are the peacemakers….Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness … Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you because of me”. I really think that our loved ones, who now live in the eternity, if they could give an advice to live the charity, they would say: “Live the beatitudes!”.