OMELIE / Omelie EN

01 nov 2021

01/11/2021 – ALL SAINTS

01/11/2021 – ALL SAINTS

Reading 1 REV 7,2-4.9-14 Psalm 23/24 Reading 2 1JN 3,1-3 Vangelo MT 5,1-12a

A friend, just baptised in an Orthodox church, has announced me the happening of his baptism in this way: “Now I am holy too, like you!”. Obviously he had learnt to use the word “holy” in a different way than how we are usually using it. In fact, we usually are prepared to identify with this word a life morally perfect, and we call holy he who lives a heroic love, who uses mercy, forgiveness and goodness in every circumstance. The way we do is not wrong, but it is not completely correct either.

Only God is holy. But He has said: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”, and “he chose us to be holy” says the apostle Paul. What God’s holiness is all about? The word holy is translating a Greek word which implies being above and outside earth. Now, God is really above and outside earth, so He does not depend on it. Jesus says that the Father loves the just and the unjust and He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good. The Father is holy, He does not get influenced by the behaviour of men. He can show and let enjoy to everyone His love, even to those who do not deserve it. However, nobody really deserves it!

We are holy because we belong to God, we are the Father’s children. We are called to inhabit the heavens, nay, from the moment in which we are baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we are already citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God. Our holiness is God’s gift, it does not depend on us. But how can we see it, or let it be seen? How can we be sure that we are saints? We will truly try to live like we are not only citizens of the world, but also like citizens of heaven. When we do not react to the evil which in the world shocks us and makes us suffer, when we take advantage of this suffering in order to love, to offer ourselves to God, to join Jesus on the cross, when we try to love those who hate us, when we bless those who curse us, then you can see we are “holy”, we are children of the God who wants to save those who are crucifying the Son.

We are holy thanks to Jesus, who is uniting us to himself. We can see it thanks to the fact that we live His Word, in particular the one we have heard today. It is summarising all the Gospel, even better, is showing us the living image of the interior life of Jesus Himself. He is the poor, the suffering, the meek, the pure of heart, the merciful, the hungry for true justice, the peace maker, the persecuted. He is, Jesus, our example of life. And with Him and in Him we too can live like that: poor for our own decision, meek among proud and superior people, suffering for the sin that is taking over the world, pure of heart, so always looking for God, merciful with those who suffer because of their violence and sin, set on knowing and doing the Father’s will in every situation, focused on creating harmony in every setting. With Jesus and like Him we will be also persecuted : and we will not be surprised about this and we will not complain. Knowing that this is how the Lord has been treated, we will rejoice to take part in His sufferings: we will have therefore the assurance that we will also share His glory.

There it is, our holiness. Maybe we feel far away, and we really are far away, not from being holy, but from living as such, from letting our brethren see the holiness. We remain however firm on the journey of this holiness, willing to let it happen also in practice, even if we are not able. We will keep this desire alive, as we keep alive the love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we are celebrating because many true brethren in the faith, have let us see how God’s holiness becomes concrete in men’s life. Among them there are the giants of the love and the faith. Among them there are also many others who have lived close to us and also have let us see and enjoy some sides of God’s holiness: our parents, friends, priests, neighbors. We thank God the Father who calls us children even if our face does not reflect his likeness yet; we thank Jesus who has shed His blood of lamb in order to purify our clothes of flesh and make them worthy of God. And to the Father and to Jesus we ask insistently the Holy Spirit, who can transform us and make us ready to live a life worthy of their love and holiness. We are sinners, we continue to smear with our sin the clothes of the Church, the Church which, notwithstanding us, continues to bring into the world the signs and the gifts of God’s holiness.

We will be Jesus' disciples, we will stay united in the Church, in order to enjoy the mysteries which she, in the name of and for God, is giving us in order to purify us, nurture us and unite us in brotherhood.