All Saints

 

‘How happy are the poor in spirit:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy the gentle:

they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Happy those who mourn:

they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:3 - 4

Paul often referred to his addressees as saints, or the holy ones. He wasn’t writing about those 'holier-than-thou', canonised variety of saints, but the regular every day faithful who chose to live out Christian lives with conviction. And, they weren’t perfect by any means.

I have known some great saints; people of patience, honesty, trustworthy and trusting, compassionate, kind, gentle and loving. Oh yes, some even liked to party. And yes, they were not or are not perfect.

The people who impact on our lives for the better, are those who challenge us by the way they live their own lives. They may be great teachers, great academics, sports people, financiers, military, clergy, religious, artists, musicians, builders, librarians, or office workers – they are good at what they do, but they have an enormous capacity to care about others, they want others to dream dreams, reach for the stars, be healthy and know love.

But most saints are not the 'out there' kind of person. The everyday saint is humble, if not almost invisible. They visit the sick and lonely, feed the hungry, give their time and money to charity, work for Vinnies, Lifeline or Red Cross, visit prisoners, those in detention centres or refuges and welcome strangers to our community. These saints are our neighbours, relatives, friends and colleagues. Most are` not motivated by the Great Commandment, but by genuine love and respect of their fellow human beings. Some might even be church-going Christians. Or Muslims. Or Buddhists. Or gay. Or Trump-voters.

Matthew (5:1 – 12) sets out his criteria for ‘sainthood’ – the Beatitudes. To whom does the kingdom belong? It belongs to the poor in spirit, the gentle, mourners, those who hunger and thirst for what is right, the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers, those persecuted in the cause of right, those who are abused and persecuted on account of their faith. They are indeed saints.

Such saints are within our grasp. We know them, they are not superhuman beings, but they are superb human beings. Such a human being was young Carlo Acutis, beatified in Assisi on 10 October 2020 (see article below).

This coming Sunday, is of course, All Saints Day, in recognition of God’s grace so generously bestowed on us through the exemplary lives of our forebears in faith. This is followed by All Souls Day during which we recollect our many loved ones who have gone before us. I remember my grandparents, my parents, my brothers Brett, Richards and Shaun, holy ones indeed, each chosen by God, and loved by him – and they will be made perfect by him.

 

Peter Douglas

 

London-born teen on path to sainthood

 

Junno Arocho Esteves, CNS

A London-born teenager beatified in Italy yesterday showed that heaven is an “attainable goal”, according to the cardinal who read the papal letter proclaiming him “blessed”.

Carlo Acutis was born on 3 May 1991 to Italian parents and was baptised at Our Lady of Dolours in Fulham on 18 May 1991 by Fr Nicholas Martin OSM. Soon afterwards, the family moved to Milan, Italy. He died of leukaemia in 2006. Skilled on computers, among other achievements during his short life, he created a website listing eucharistic miracles.

During the beatification Mass, Italian Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the papal legate for the Basilicas of St Francis and St Mary of the Angels in Assisi, read Pope Francis' apostolic letter proclaiming Acutis “blessed” the step before canonisation.

“With our apostolic authority, we grant that the venerable servant of God, Carlo Acutis, layman, who, with the enthusiasm of youth, cultivated a friendship with our Lord Jesus, placing the Eucharist and the witness of charity at the centre of his life, henceforth shall be called blessed,” the pope decreed.

Thousands sang and applauded as he was beatified. Assisi was a town particularly dear to him during his life.

After the reading of the apostolic letter, the newly beatified teen's parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, processed toward the altar carrying a reliquary containing their son's heart.

The reliquary was engraved with one of the teen's well-known quotes: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

Pilgrims flocked both to the Basilica of St Francis for the beatification Mass as well as to the Shrine of the Renunciation at the Church of St Mary Major, where the newly beatified teen's remains were on display for veneration.

Men and women, boys and girls passed by the tomb quietly, some stopping to pray the Our Father. A young toddler blew a kiss goodbye to the young blessed as she passed by.

Known as the site where a young St. Francis renounced his father's inheritance and embraced poverty, the shrine, like the city of Assisi and St Francis himself, held a special place in Acutis’ heart.

The teen loved St Francis very much, said his mother, Antonia Salzano. St Francis “was a very Eucharistic soul who used to attend Mass twice a day” and her son sought to imitate that same Eucharistic devotion throughout his brief life.

Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi reflected on the link between the two saintly figures, and proclaimed that by “providential design, Francis and Carlo are now inseparable.”

He said: “Carlo's life – always united to Jesus – his love for the Eucharist, his devotion to the Holy Virgin, his making friends with the poor, brought him closer to the spirituality of the Poor One,” St Francis, Archbishop Sorrentino said at the end of Mass. “Both invite us to live according to the Gospel.”

The liturgy was held inside the Basilica of St Francis, but measures to prevent the spread of Covis-19 meant that most of those attending sat outside on seats set three-feet apart, watching on big screens.

Many young men and women came to Assisi for the beatification. For many of them, the fact that a normal teen could be beatified was a source of hope and inspiration.

“With his life, Carlo made me see that despite the small or even great difficulties, like his illness, that we could live a full and happy life if we keep our eyes looking up toward heaven,” said 19-year-old Rosanna, who was among those attending the beatification.

In his homily, Cardinal Vallini said that Acutis’ beatification “in the land of Francis of Assisi is good news, a strong proclamation that a young man of our time, one like many, was conquered by Christ and became a beacon of light for those who want to know him and follow his example.”

Reflecting on the teen’s life, Cardinal Vallini said that like most young people his age, Carlo was a “normal, simple, spontaneous, friendly” teenager who used modern forms of communication to transmit the “values and beauty of the Gospel”.

For him, “the internet was not just a means of escape, but a space for dialogue, knowledge, sharing and mutual respect that was to be used responsibly, without becoming slaves to it and rejecting digital bullying,” the cardinal said.

Cardinal Vallini said that Blessed Acutis was a model of virtue for young men and women today, reminding them not to seek gratification only in ephemeral successes but in the perennial values that Jesus proposes in the Gospel.

“He gave witness that faith does not distance us from life but immerses us more deeply in it and showed us the concrete way to live the joy of the Gospel,” the cardinal said. “It is up to us to follow it, attracted by the fascinating experience of Blessed Carlo, so that our lives may also shine with light and hope.”

You just have to love them

 

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22:34 - 40

I recall my grandmother Elsie once saying of her relatives, 'You don't have to like them, you just have to love them.' That pretty well summed up her view on the great commandment. This also carries a certain weight when you have adolescents or long-needed-to-be-gone adult children still at home.

Palestine had a long history of being occupied by foreign powers: Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians and Romans. Each of these powers brought change both subtle and radical, but nevertheless enriching (or debasing) the culture and religious life of its inhabitants. By Jesus' time the Sadducees - who represented a privileged, priestly, aristocratic-like group. They were more Hellenised, open to share (political) power with their overlords. They interpreted Mosaic law (and in particular the requirements of Levitical purity) with a rigid literalism. Indeed, the Sadducees' scriptural canon comprised only the five books of Moses.

Also sharing power on the Sanhedrin but fiercely rejecting secular - and in particular Roman - influence, the Pharisees desired freedom and independence from Rome. They raised tradition and oral law as equal to scripture, though they included in their canon the prophets and the Ketuvim (comprising the psalms and wisdom literature). Their worship was centred on the synagogue where study and prayer took place, in contrast to the Sadducees who still practised ritual sacrifices in the Temple.

The conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans began with the fall of the northern kingdom (of Israel) that had been established by the descendants of Joseph to the Assyrians in 722 BCE and of the southern kingdom (of Judah) to the Babylonians in 600 BCE. As both kingdoms were reinhabited, the Jews detested the mixed marriages and pagan influence on the worship of their northern cousins and neighbours.

All this goes to contribute to this now extraordinary encounter between Jesus and the Pharisee, a lawyer, following hot on the heels of Jesus' response to the Sadducees about life after death. The question put to Jesus is a test at multiple levels: there is the provocation about Jesus' orthodoxy, whether or not he is a literalist; there is the challenge about whether Jesus was aligned with the current practice of applying this command to love one's neighbour (from Leviticus 19) only to fellow Jews. Samaritans were evidently unfaithful, gentiles worshipped pagan gods. By extension, if Jesus were to support their view, would he support the Pharisees against their religious and political enemies?

Jesus' answer is of course unequivocal. Loving God and loving one's neighbour are both sides of the same coin. And Jesus really does mean - love your enemies (Matthew 5:43 - 44).

Since my grandmother uttered those words to me some 50 years ago, I have applied her advice time and again to my relatives and colleagues. I'm rather short on enemies, so I am yet to commit myself to loving them. Give me time.

 

Peter Douglas

SIN IS IN THE AIR!

 

Fr Kevin Bates SM

In this age of euphemisms, you don’t hear sin being spoken about very much anymore. It’s been replaced by softer terms, sometimes by psychological jargon which seem to excuse rather than name. It’s similar to the use of the word “passed” when referring to death. We seem squeamish about embracing the truth of things.

 It’s clear that sin has always and always will be part of the human experience. What sin is however is sometimes less than clear. The Catechism definition that I grew up with goes: “Sin is any wilful thought, word, deed or omission against the law of God.”

This is true to a point but falls short in one important respect. Sin is much more than the breaking of a law. It is fundamentally the fracturing of a relationship, with ourselves, each other and with God. Any law is meant to safeguard these relationships, and while sin may well involve the breaking of a law, it involves first of all the damaging of some of our primary relationships. 

It is connections that are damaged rather than rules that are broken. When we equate sin with the breaking of rules, we run the risk of unfairly judging people who appear to be “living in sin” for whatever reason, when in fact no relationship has been tarnished.

Where might we look in order to see sin in action? Well, one starting place could be for us to look in the mirror! An honest look at our own heart will reveal our judgemental self, our unresolved angers, fears, prejudices and blind spots. Here we may encounter our unwillingness to make a difference to the world around us because we are so caught up in our own small life.

More broadly, we can see the result of human sinfulness in the increasing gap between the wealthy and the poor. Here we encounter the lack of freedom, adequate healthcare and education in so many societies. We see the impact of climate change, much of it caused by our own behaviours, personally and as communities.

The greed of large companies surfaces from time to time. Rio Tinto’s reckless destruction of historic aboriginal sites earlier this year brought a strong rebuke from shareholders and a change of policy, albeit too late for the places destroyed. We could hope that BHP’s shareholders respond the same way as their company seems intent on further exploitation without regard to cultural sensitivities.

The sin of corporate greed is often on display and too often goes unchallenged as our desire for dividends clouds our view of massive injustice.

The increasingly fragile nature of the environment is in large measure the result of our own carefree use of resources and garbage disposal practices. For such sins our children will pay a heavy price along with our neighbours in many developing countries 

The school-yard spat that passed for a Presidential debate in the US last week is further evidence of our divided world, our fear of each other which turns to anger and rejection and our inability to negotiate our differences reasonably and justly.

For all these sins we share responsibility.

We can so easily be seduced into thinking that our sin is private and individual. St Paul points out more than once that even the most secret of our actions and attitudes, has its effect on others. Likewise we can focus on one form of sinfulness, such as sexual and other individual sins and think no further.

Jesus gave attention not so much to such matters but more to self-righteousness, hypocrisy, abuse, deception, injustice and exploitation. It was those who made burdens for others who were the target of his moral teachings and parables.

The “plank in our own eye” could be worth visiting so that we deepen our understanding of human sinfulness and play our part then in the releasing of God’s grace.

Sin is in the air, but thankfully, so is grace. It’s up to us to set it free.

Fr Kevin is parish priest of Holy Name of Mary Parish, Hunters Hill, NSW.