SHARERS OF GOD'S HOLINESS::: SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

Year A

1 November, 2020

Revelation 7:2-4.9-14

Psalm 24:1-2.3-4ab.5-6 (R. cf. 6a)

1 John 3:1-3

Matthew 5:1-12a

SHARERS OF GOD'S HOLINESS

Food can make you can know restaurants, clothes can make you know boutiques, cell phones can make you know cell phone shops, and so on.  How can the Creator of the world be known? Can our limited knowledge know the Creator? Can our faith which mostly wobble know the Creator?  

Of God Himself can no man think. You cannot know God by knowledge (our knowledge is limited), only by Love. It is not only because God is Love, or that Love inspires us to Truth who is the end of Knowledge. God is eternal, Love is eternal; 

 1 Corinthians 13:8 

“Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”

The person who Love genuinely know God. It is such a person who really wants to share in the Holiness of God. Last week the readings stressed on the Law and in particular Love. Today this theme would have continued in the priestly calling of service if today’s Solemnity did not replace it. However today solemnity is timely and in fact draws more light on the calling to our true nature, to be sharers of God’s Holiness.    

There is a very interesting phrase in the Scriptures about God, the “Holy One” of Israel.

Isaiah 12:6 

“Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Jesus was also called the “Holy One”

John 6:69  

“and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." 

We need to know God as the Holy One to understand the saints as the holy ones. The Hebrew word for Holy is qadowsh, which means sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, or set apart. The Greek word for Holy is hagios and it also means sacred, holy or saint. Thus it means holy persons or things are set apart for or by God. God himself as the Creator is completely set apart from us. In the words of Karl Barth, God is “Wholly Other.” However God is also immanent, and with such a great mystery, he wills to set as apart for himself. 

The first time in Scriptures that God talked with himself was concerning the creation of Humans. I repeat, If God is Love, and all the three Person are Love, the first time Love dialogue with Love in Scripture was about the creation of Humans;

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

Love, who is the Holy One from the beginning wanted us to share in his Holiness. He wanted to be truly holy as he is Holy (cf. Matthew 5:48). But we allowed original sin (Psalm 51:5), and now we must struggle to attain Holiness. This still begins with knowing how to Love. Because we are from Love and must possess Love.

In fact the first two questions in Scripture against the first two sins in Scripture stress on the Love of God and Neighbor;

Genesis 3:9  

But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

This stress on the Love that exist between God and Man. 

The Second is this;

Genesis 4:9

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"

How Man Become Holy as Man is not united with God who is the Holy One or His Neighbor?

Since Love is not Lazy, when the blazing fire of Love is going off in Man, there is the need for rekindling and revival. God restore Creation through Jesus Christ’s redemption on the Cross. He also sends the Holy Spirit to revive us, and it’s through the Holy Spirit that we become Part of the mystical body of Christ Jesus and hence deemed Children of God.

So in the second reading, John talking about the beatific vision says, the Father has shown us great Love, by making us his children, thus he has given us the opportunity to share in his Holiness. It is when we see him that we will know that we have lived according to the standard of Holiness he has called us in Christ Jesus. We must be eager to purifier ourselves.

We can do this when we live according to the blessings bestowed upon us. The Beatitudes are to lead us to beatific vision. It is full of blessings for us if we heed and do accordingly. In fact like the Law, the Beatitudes as the Profile of Jesus Christ can also be summarized into Love, who is God. In fact the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that all the Beatitudes talks about Christ himself;

CCC 1717 

"The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

Because of today's SOLEMNITY my interest is on the Last line, "they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints. 

With this let's reflect on the saints in heaven as depicted by the first reading.  Let's concentrate on the fact that they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.

What does this mean if not that, they have suffered for the Lamb. They have had their share in the suffering of Christ Jesus. Thus the saints shared in Christ's suffering on earth and are now sharing God's Holiness in heaven.

By Sylvester Amakye-Quayson