Gospel Reflection Nov 1 – Fr. Fox
Solemnity of All Saints
Matthew 5:1-12a
Gospel:
When Jesus 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.”
Gospel Reflection:
This Sunday, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, and the Gospel couldn’t be more perfectly chosen for the occasion. The Gospel for All Saints Day is Matthew 5:1-12a, best known as the Beatitudes – Jesus ascending the mountain and teaching His disciples what it means to be truly blessed.
On this great feast, the Church holds before us the vast company of the saints – canonized and unknown alike and invites a simple question: What made them saints? The answer is written right there in the Gospel. The Beatitudes are not a self-help program or a moral checklist. They are a description of the soul that has been conformed to Christ. Every saint who has ever lived – whether poor in spirit, meek, mourning, hungry for righteousness, merciful, clean of heart, a peacemaker, or persecuted for justice’s sake embodied one or more of these radical reversals of the world’s logic.
The world says: Blessed are the powerful, the comfortable, the well-liked. Christ says the opposite, and the saints believed Him. Think of St. Francis of Assisi, who embraced poverty of spirit so completely that he became one of the most joyful men in history. Think of St. Thomas More, who was reviled, persecuted, and martyred – and yet rejoiced, knowing his reward would be great in heaven. Think of the countless unnamed martyrs described in the first reading from Revelation – those who are sealed with the sign of the living God, standing before the Lamb and robed in white.
All Saints Day is not merely a day to admire extraordinary people from a safe distance. It calls all of us to imitate their example. The catechism teaches that all the faithful are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. The saints are not spiritual celebrities; they show that the Beatitudes work and that Christ’s path of self-emptying love leads to the glory described in Revelation.
The second reading from 1 John reminds us: the Father has bestowed such love upon us that we are called children of God- though the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. That is the thread connecting the Beatitudes to All Saints Day. The world did not recognize the saints. They were often mocked, ignored, or killed. But they fixed their gaze on what was unseen and eternal, and they became what St. John promises we can become.
Look at the Beatitudes this week as a personal examination of conscience. Which one is God calling you most urgently to live right now? Is it poverty of spirit – letting go of pride and self-sufficiency? Is it mercy – toward someone who has wronged you? Is it purity of heart – guarding the interior life against the noise of the world?
Pick one Beatitude. Ask for a saint’s intercession in helping you work on this virtue. Explore which saints best embody those attributes you want to work on and live that Beatitude with more conviction this week. That is not piety for its own sake. That is the path to becoming what every human being was made for: to become a saint and behold God face to face.
Fr. Jason Fox