NOVEMBER 1, 2015, Sunday
Feast of All Saints
1st Reading:
Rev 7:2-4, 9-14*
2nd Reading: 1 Jn 3:1-3
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain.
He sat down and his disciples gathered around him.
Then he spoke and began to teach them:
“Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Fortunate are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.
Fortunate are the gentle, they shall possess the land.
Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.
Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.
Fortunate are those who work for peace, they shall be called children of God.
Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (…)
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A joke is told of a man who was happy when told he won a sack of rice, but sad when he learned that the rice was precooked. There is no such thing as endless joy or an unbroken chain of woes. Even the maxim, “When it rains it pours” merely describes a small segment of a lifetime.
But aren’t there people who live poor, die poor, and even pass their poverty on to the next generation? Isn’t this an example of an unbroken chain of misery? Thank God, “life” includes not just the temporal but the eternal as well. Taking life as a whole, what appears to be endless suffering on earth is actually but a small portion of a whole lifetime.
In view of the promise of Jesus that those who suffer now will be comforted later, it is wiser to allocate this shorter segment of life to suffering so we can enjoy for all eternity. We must bear in mind, however, that the only suffering worth taking up is the suffering that can turn into sacrifice. “Sacrifice” is a Latin derivative (“sacrum” and “facere”) that means making something sacred. When sufferings are acceptable to the Lord, they become sacrifices that effect salvation.
Sufferings resulting from indulgence in sin are not acceptable to God. When one suffers venereal disease, for example, due to carousing and sexual experimentations, and offers this suffering to the Lord, the Lord will despise such offering. What pleases God is the firm resolve to wallow in sin no more.
Today’s Feast celebrates the triumph of the saints who converted their sufferings into sacrifices. God took pleasure in their offerings because the ordeal they went through were not results of indulgence in sin but of persecutions for their faith. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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