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Scripture Reflection
The Beatitudes
Gospel Reflection
Saints are sometimes regarded as ‘Catholic superheroes’. Stories of miraculous and remarkable deeds abound, though more in the vein of conversions and cures than speeding bullets and tall buildings. But to get caught up on the Saints of the stained glass windows is to overlook the vast majority of saints. You see, a saint is anybody whose soul is in heaven. The Church celebrates a certain number of Saints whose lives provide a glimpse of God for the rest of the Church. But there are many, many more saints whose glimpse of God was only ever experienced by their family, friends and those with whom they worked. The feast of ALL Saints is an opportunity to remember and reflect on the lives of those saints who’ve been known and loved by just a few and whose sphere of influence was such that they will never be recognised as Saints by the universal Church.
Today’s gospel, the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount describes perfectly those ‘lower case s’ saints we celebrate on this feast day. The Beatitudes are sometimes referred to in parallel with the Ten Commandments. However, the Beatitudes are not ‘rules’ or ‘instructions’ for life as the Commandments are. They are more in line with a strategy that today we would call ‘positive reinforcement’. They celebrate those who respond to God’s call through particular attitudes towards life and towards others. Jesus presents them to the disciples and the crowd as images to inspire imitation. They’re not hard and fast rules for life, but attitudes for life; the Be-Attitudes, so to speak. Those who live with these attitudes in this life are to be celebrated – ‘Happy are you’ – for they will be saints. They will be welcomed into communion with God in heaven.
Scriptural context – Kingdom Attitudes
Unlike the Ten Commandments, which describe the rules for life on earth for the ancient Jews, the Beatitudes describe the character or attitudes of people of the Kingdom of God. Like the many Kingdom parables that appear later in this gospel (esp. chapter 13), the Beatitudes present an image of what the Kingdom is like without an explicit explanation of the Kingdom. By praising and honouring the attitudes of the Kingdom, Jesus paints a picture of what life could be and should be like if we choose to live in the Kingdom of God.
Living the gospel – Calling on the Saints
Saints play an important role in the devotional life of many Catholic people, but it is a role that causes some confusion for other traditions. Whilst all prayer is directed to God, sometimes that prayer may be directed through one of the Saints or a Saint is called upon to pray on behalf of the petitioner. Images of people kneeling before statues of Saints has led to a misconception that Catholics pray to Saints, rather than to God through the Saint. The Litany of the Saints, with its ‘Pray for us’ response, calls on the Saints to intercede for us.
Have you thought? – Making Saints
Despite media reports that the Church, or the Pope, has ‘made’ a person a Saint, the Church is quite clear that what it does is recognise a person as a Saint, not make them a Saint. This is what happens through the process of canonisation; a person is ‘formally recognised’ as a Saint by the Church. We might say that it is God who makes Saints, not the Church. The Church formally recognises the saintliness of particular people partly to provide inspiration and example to others. The Church tells the stories of its Saints to keep alive their inspiration.