Because that’s the best week to do that, let me start by telling you a story that is a little spooky.
One day in Iceland, a young woman “au pair” was taking a walk with the little girl she was in charge of. On their way, they saw a church from afar and the little girl said she wanted to visit, so they both headed towards the building. By chance, the church was open and they came in. The little girl stood there at the entrance though, not moving, like she suddenly had become very shy. The young woman encouraged her to go get a seat. But the little girl replied: “I can’t sit anywhere, there is no room left in the pews“. The woman was very surprised because the church was empty, and then she understood that the little girl could see the souls of the faithful dead filling the church.
I don’t know where the story comes from, I heard it this week on the radio on All Souls Day (Nov 2) this day we remember our loved ones who have passed away. I don’t know if it’s a true story either, I wish it is, at least it sounds real to me. As I was listening to it, I pictured in my mind our little church of “All Souls”, built with love by your grandparents and great grandparents, and I thought about several generations who have come here to worship together, to sing and to pray, to weep and to rejoice and, although I don’t envision eternity as being locked in a church building, I can’t imagine our ancestors don’t visit us sometimes, I can’t imagine that their spirits have completely left this place although they died many years ago, I can’t imagine they are not there with us in many ways. Actually, when I go back home in France, I don’t always have the opportunity to go visit my father’s grave, but I always go to the little church by the sea we used to go to worship together, holding hands as the disease progressed in his body, and I can’t imagine my dad is not there with me. Churches are certainly not the only place where we can experience our loved ones’ presence after they have passed, but it is certainly a special place for us Christians who believe not only in a form of survival after death, we who believe in the Resurrection and in the communion of Saints.
In fact, I think this is the deep hope or at least the profound longing we all have within us. I was amazed one day, I was watching television (this time!), and there was a man who stopped people on the walkway completely randomly and each time he asked them the same question: “If God was in front of you, what would you ask Him?” And here I know for sure it’s a true story because I saw it, each time, every. single. time., people said to the journalist that they would ask God to be able to see again someone they loved and who had died. So you see, this is a great longing we have within us, the true thing that really matters, to be reunited in love forever and this is the great promise we have in Jesus-Christ, the Resurrection, not only the resurrection of Jesus as an event, but we have the belief that by his resurrection we are also made alive in him, forever bounded by a common and perfect love in the communion of Saints, which is what we celebrate on All Saints’ Day (on Nov 1st, or on the Sunday right after). People who stopped on the walkway didn’t ask God for money, they didn’t ask God for nice food, they didn’t ask God for fun times, they didn’t ask God to be successful or popular, they asked God to be able to be again with their their wife, their dad, their four months old baby, and even with their puppy.
And so, knowing that, I think we are more ready to receive today’s Gospel, the “Beatitudes“, Jesus’s well-known sermon that is sort of the opening of his ministry among us: Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, Blessed are you who weep now, Blessed are you when people hate you…As we sometimes assume,Jesus does not say it is a good thing to be miserable, to starve, to mourn and to be rejected, but to all the people who weep and hunger, Jesus comes as a blessing. Again, this is the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, Jesus is going to teach his disciples day after day and to reveal a little more of who he is and what are God’s promises to them. He comes as a blessing for all of them and for all of us this world leaves wanting and longing for more.
Our world, and especially our culture, teaches us that life is about making money and having nice things, eating enough and plenty of fine food, having fun and enjoying good company, being respected and well thought of. For those who believe that, Jesus comes as a curse because he will turn upside down all the nice plans they may have for a nice life. They will mourn and weep because the world will leave them empty and hungry. The world cannot satisfy the deepest longings we have within us because we are made for God and we are made for heaven. Certainly, in this life we need to have money, to eat food and to have fun and to have friends, but more than anything, Jesus teaches us that we also need to be rich with the knowledge of God, to eat the bread of life, to rejoice of the joy from above and share the friendship of the saints. Our desires in this world are real needs indeed and they have to be addressed with actual money, food, entertainment and company, yet we can’t expect to be ever fully satisfied and we should certainly not waste our life running after these goods, because they are only a reflection of our spiritual longings. Jesus, again, comes as a blessing to address them, he shows us how to be united in love with another and with God by showing us what it is to love truly.
This love Jesus talks about makes the second part of the Gospel we have heard today. As we celebrate All saints’ Day and we think about eternal life, a lot of Christians assume that to go to heavens, we need to be nice people so we will be rewarded with going to heaven. But if heaven is really about being united in love with God and with one another, then the only thing we need to do is to be loving, right? Holiness then is not about personal perfection, doing everything right, yet holiness is very hard because it’s about perfect love, the ability to live a life of compassion, forgiveness and what we call today social justice (And if you have been attending regularly with us, you know that compassion, forgiveness and justice are three main themes in Luke’s Gospel) Jesus asks us to live a life filled with love, no only loving those who we like and are close to us but, so that our love will be perfect, we are also asked to love those who hate us, our “enemy”. Please note that Jesus does not ask us to let people abuse us, he asks us to pray for those who abuse us, and when Jesus asks us to turn the other cheek, Jesus does not ask us to let others beat us up, he asks us to not respond to provocation, or if you prefer to be provocative instead with the patience and meekness we show (To slap someone on the cheek was to insult them, not to beat them up). In the same way, not claiming what was stolen from us reminds us that nothing really belongs to us in the first place, and everything we own we will have to let go eventually. This is, to the extreme, the love Jesus showed us when dying on the cross. In following his example, we not only learn to love like him, we become love with him.
And so I guess this is why we are here, Sunday after Sunday, and generation after generation. We learn how to live lovingly together, and we learn with one another, from one another, even in conflicts, even with those who don’t love us. And so in the end, if there is only one message to this feast, I guess it would be that holiness is not about personal salvation by believing the right things and holiness isn’t about personal sanctification by doing righteous deeds, instead we can only be the Saint we are called to be with one another. Not one Saint perfect in the eyes of God, but all Saints united in God’s love.