JOY IN HEAVEN.
November 1, 2022.
Solemnity of All Saints.
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in
heaven.” Mt 5:12a
A Chinese proverb says: “Heaven has a road, but no one
travels it; Hell has no gate but men will dig to get there.” A Norwegian
proverb adds: “Shared joy is double joy.”
The beatific life is the main aim of our earthly pilgrimage.
We live here on earth awaiting and longing for life in heaven. We know,
however, that this heavenly life made of perfect happiness will not be possible
if we disconnect ourselves from this earth. It is by living worthily our life
here on earth that we prepare for life in heaven. Life according to the
Beatitudes is the heavenly life, the life according to Jesus, and in simple,
the life of Jesus himself.
If as Christians, our life aims to be Christ-like, then our
life is to be a new Beatitude. We are called to be Holy. Today's solemnity, the
All Saints, reminds us of that call, the universal call to holiness. "This
perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with
the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called
"heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest
human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness." CCC 1024
The entrance antiphon plunges us into the joy of this
celebration. "Let us all rejoice in the
Lord, as we celebrate the feast
day in honor of all the Saints, at whose festival the Angels rejoice and praise
the Son of God."
How then to reach heaven? How to participate one day in this
angelic joy? The readings show us the way. In the book of Revelation, John
tells us that he "had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could
count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue." One beautiful message
from the Johanic vision is that of the universality of holiness. Sainthood or
the beatific life is not exclusive or reserved to some specific people or
colors or nations. We all are called to be saints. God wants us all into his
kingdom. We will all be welcomed among the people that long to see his face and
sing his glory.
Nevertheless, a fundamental requirement: we should live as
blessed while we are here on earth. The call to holiness is addressed to us
all. The key to entering into it lies in the Beatitudes. Thus, in the Gospel,
the Lord Jesus draws the robot portrait of the saint: one who is poor in
spirit, one who mourns, one who is meek, one who hungers and thirsts for
righteousness, one who is merciful, one who is clean of heart, one who is a
peacemaker, one who is persecuted for righteousness sake, and above and beyond
all, one who for his faith and belonging to Christ, is insulted and persecuted.
Eight beautiful virtues everyone should cultivate and express in our daily
lives.
The Beatitudes are not beyond our reach just as holiness is
not beyond our reach. They are the attributes of God's Kingdom and a call for
action on earth. The Lord Jesus, laying down the principles and rules of the
Kingdom sends us this invitation to genuine happiness and perfection in life.
As we said ahead, he shows us the way to live like him, for the Beatitudes are
the summary of his own life. He came, so that through him and following him, we
may see and know God. By seeing Jesus, we are given to contemplate the Father’s
beauty. For, Jesus is the face of the Father.
Pope Francis, in his Bull of indiction of the Extraordinary
Jubilee of Mercy, "Misericordiae Vultus" given on April 11, 2015,
states it explicitly: "Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s
mercy." As pilgrims on this earth longing for holiness, that is, longing
to see God face to face, the Holy Father says, "The Lord Jesus shows us
the steps of the pilgrimage to attain our goal: “Judge not, and you will not be
judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be
forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken
together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give
will be the measure you get back” (Lk 6:37-38). The Lord asks us above all not
to judge and not to condemn. If anyone wishes to avoid God’s judgement, he
should not make himself the judge of his brother or sister. Human beings,
whenever they judge, look no farther than the surface, whereas the Father looks
into the very depths of the soul. How much harm words do when they are
motivated by feelings of jealousy and envy! To speak ill of others puts them in
a bad light, undermines their reputation and leaves them prey to the whims of
gossip. To refrain from judgement and condemnation means, in a positive sense,
to know how to accept the good in every person and to spare him any suffering
that might be caused by our partial judgment, our presumption to know
everything about him. But this is still not sufficient to express mercy. Jesus
asks us also to forgive and to give. To be instruments of mercy because it was
we who first received mercy from God. To be generous with others, knowing that
God showers his goodness upon us with immense generosity." MV 14. This may
be a great exercise for us today, as we long to rejoice in heaven with the
saints who have gone ahead of us in the journey of the Beatitudes.
No one can become Holy alone if he does not first value and
help others in that journey. If we want to savor the joy in heaven, we must
first be the cause and source of joy and happiness for others here on earth. We
must be a blessing, an expression, and a translation of the Beatitudes for
them. May the Saints we celebrate today, the “Triumphant Church”, be our
companions in journey, show us the way and help us to achieve the goal of our
earthly pilgrimage, see God face to face.
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