All Saints Day

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in sharing their thoughts, questions, and/or comments about an iconic Gospel passage that I will be preaching on this Tuesday for All Saints Day (a Holy Day of Obligation for you Catholics). As always thanks for everybodys help. It is Matthew 5:1-12:

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."

Quote: FrGamble

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

I hope you'll address this part. I always thought one was supposed to be strong in spirit.

I think this has something to do with how the pharisees and religious elite in Jesus' day thought they were strong in spirit and had no need for a savior from their sins. Meanwhile, admitted sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes were more humble in their need for a savior. Just a guess though. Im sure Fr. will have a better answer.

I think that this first beatitude is like the doorway to all the others. To me "poor in spirit" means being humble and recognizing that I am far from perfect. This is the attitude we are asked to have in the beatitudes. Humility allows us to experience the strength of the spirit that comes from God alone.

I think Jesus was sending two messages.
1. If you are getting stepped on but living "right" you will be in the lords graces.
2. If you are stepping on people.... You have some things to answer for.

Part of this message has left me conflicted though when thinking about the Bible as it was coming out of the dark ages. When the church and various monarchies were closely aligned it certainly seems it is a passage that could placate the masses. ... a lifetime of obedient indentured servitude in exchange for the Kingdom of heaven gives one hope when there was no earthly way to improve ones lot. It seems it could have been use to keep both the serfs and monarchs happy. Do you think there is any truth in that line of thinking? The church was in a powerful symbiotic relationship with kings for many many centuries. Any idea of the oldest written record of the book of Matthew?

Quote: FrGamble

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

I, too, found this confusing, and contradictory to what I would have expected. The comments about it so far kinda make sense.
HOWEVER, This line has the same conclusion, which causes me to question the comments made:

Quote: FrGamble

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Quote: FrGamble

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."

I see this as Jesus giving his followers a pep talk, much like a coach at half time when the team is down by 14 points.

I don't know the story, though, nor when this apssage takes place. So I might be wrong. But a leader does spend time cheering up the troops when things go wrong. otehrwsie the troops begin to jump ship (if I may mix my metaphors), or lag in their work, and that hurts the team.

In the god persona, he's acting in character, too. We see god promising Abraham a large flock of descendants (after he's dead), and Moses and his followers a land flowing with milk and honey (after Moses has died, of course). Jesus promises an unspecified but, presumably, large reward to his followers (once they're dead).

Always loved the Beatitudes, most likely due to their resemblance to several verses of the Tao Te Ching. 'Those that are last will be first' and all of that jazz.

I posted another homily on the blog but it is off topic and not about this reading of the Beatitudes. I need a little more help preaching about this passage on Tuesday, please help.

Besides the text quoted in the OP you could also talk about what is your understanding of the Saints and what the teaching about the 'Communion of Saints' means to you. Real briefly the teaching roughly states that those who go to Heaven do not forget about us here on earth and with their love purified, no more limitations of time and space, and from their place in Heaven they still care about us and help us with their prayers to God who alone is the source of all blessings.

Thanks again.

All Saints Day is the day after Halloween. Which came first?

I guess for Protestants, we can't be much help for your sermon. The role of Saints in an afterlife is not in the Bible unless I am mistaken, and the feeling seems to be amongst Protestants that all doctrine must have scriptural support. I drank the Koolaid on that but feel now, or accept now, that doctrine can also come legitimately from other tradition. It's hard to say what I particularly make of this All Saints Day.

Well, I guess from that you could include in your sermon a re-affirmation of the legitimacy of other tradition, where it came from, etc. You wouldnt want to go too far in with that to suggest you need to answer the criticism about it. It's popular belief within Catholicism, I think, so you have that going for you.

About all the help I'd have for you.

I tried to hold off on this.

Anyway, is the cult of saints a means the early Church used to incorporate polytheism into a nominally monotheistic cult?

Quote: EvenBob

All Saints Day is the day after Halloween. Which came first?

All Saints Day.

Halloween is a shortened version of All Hallow's Evening.

Although I already knew that, there was an interesting hour show about it on the History channel yesterday. I assume it will be repeated today, and perhaps several more times this week. The show also discussed the origin of All Saints Day, All Souls Day (11/2), and mischief night (10/30).

Quote: Nareed

I tried to hold off on this.

Anyway, is the cult of saints a means the early Church used to incorporate polytheism into a nominally monotheistic cult?

Kind of like the Mexican day of the Dead celebration that was in the summer until the Spanish came and moved it to Nov 2nd?

Quote: ncfatcat

Kind of like the Mexican day of the Dead celebration that was in the summer until the Spanish came and moved it to Nov 2nd?

Kind of.

And kind of like they happen to have their most important holidays at the onset of winter and spring, and another one at harvest time. Kind of like all civilizations did. Kind of like Spanish conquerors would build cathedrals on top or near to existing native temples. Kind of like that.

Happy All Saints Day everyone! Here is my brief little homily for today's feast:

My restaurant Italian is very good. I can read any item on the menu, tell you what it is, and even order it in Italian. However, the rest of my Italian seems to be forgotten. After all those years studying theology in Rome I am reduced to Bruschetta as the extent of my vocabulary. However, there is a phrase that was burned into my memory by one of our professors, “gia ma non ancora”. This means “already, but not yet”.

The idea behind this phrase is that the Kingdom of God is already here, but not yet in its fullness. Our actions of love and kindness are like the beautiful sunrise, giving us a hope of the brightness that will soon envelop the earth. This thought of “already, but not yet” also reminds us that we have read the last page of the Bible; we know who wins in the end when Jesus Christ returns in glory. We have a certain future, but we live in an uncertain present. There is a tension there that is resolved on this glorious festival of All Saints.

The saints remind us of the ‘already’ and help us through the ‘not yet’. These were ordinary men and women, just like us, who were made extraordinary by their trust in God and willingness to give their lives in service of Him and our neighbor. Our brothers and sisters who have made it and continue to root us on and help us from their vantage point across the finish line. Along with providing help to us through their intercession with God on our behalf, they also serve as reminders that we can do it! In fact when we live out the beatitudes we are already doing it, we are experiencing a taste of what is to come.

Did you ever notice that the Beatitudes use two different tenses? There are two Beatitudes that use the present and the other six use the future tense. This is a clear sign to me of the “gia, ma non ancora.” When we take the beatitudes as our attitude we are experiencing right now the Kingdom of God. At the same time we realize that the fullness of that kingdom will only be truly experienced when we join that countless number in the joys of Heaven. They are already where we hope to be, don’t worry we’ll get there - just not yet.