We are people of hope, sharing a common life and a common vision. We come together as a community of faith and a people of hope because we have learned to believe in and to hope in God's promise of eternal life. We listen to the Words of Scripture and we know that our God is not playing games with us, not making promises that will be broken, not toying with our trust. That's what hope means.
Hope, like faith, is a gift of God. We can't earn it; we can't arrive at it by intellectual searching. We must come to know and trust Jesus as our God-given way and truth and life. We must cherish every detail of the Gospel story and see how Jesus embraces every aspect of our earthly journey. And we know that living the life of discipleship and stewardship is not somethiing that we can do alone. The feast of All Saints reminds us of our commonality.
So It is fitting that the Gospel for this feast of All Saints paints the picture of Jesus speaking the words of the Eight Beatitudes: "Blessed are they." Each presents a theme which together comprise the roadmap of the path towards holiness. The Beatitudes make clear that our lives are defined, ultimately, not so much in terms of earthly or material accomplishments, not in terms of wealth or power, but above all by our willingness to recognize the face of God in each and all of our brothers and sisters - and to show compassion and concern for all, especially the neediest and most forsaken of them. Faith leads to hope which, in turn, leads us to action.
We act out of faith, hope and love. We nourish ourselves on His Word, on the sacramental life of the Church, in our prayerfulness, and in our daily acts of love and service to our neighbors in whom we see the image of God. This hope and this faith leads us to celebrate the Feast of All Souls - those who have lived their Christianity, have experienced the touch of the Risen Lord and who now share fully in His Kingdom of Glory. From them we have learned the faith. From them we have grown in the faith and we have come to know The Lord a little more fully.
The Beatitudes encapsulate the whole Gospel message for us: Jesus, "God with us," has made these simple beatitudes concrete. We who accept him and his message have our lives transformed and our vision cleared. Now we see things in another perspective. We live in a trusting relationship to a God we know to be a loving parent, who wants to establish a new human community among us and with those who have gone before us.
This is the communion of saints. Because of this special relationship to one another, both living and dead, we have a completely different way of seeing and living with one another. Blessed are we!
Graphic: The Communion of Saints (detail), 2001 - by John Nava
Tapestries for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels - Los Angeles, California
