By the quality of our inner lives I do not mean something characterized by ferocious intensity and strain. I mean rather such a humble and genial devotedness as we find in the most loving of the saints. I mean the quality which makes contagious Christians, makes people catch the love of God from
you. - Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Concerning the Inner Life)
(May you radiate the love of God this
day!)
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Rv 7:2-4, 9-14; Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3
Mt 5:1-12a When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had
sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for
they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward will be great in heaven.” Reflection on the Scriptures
All Saints Day I find myself thinking about what makes a Saint a Saint. While the Church has an official process for canonization, my naïve perception of what constitutes a Saint would start with certain characteristics: virtue, holiness, kindness, and patience. These are not so different from qualities which Jesus encourages in today’s Gospel. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays
out a set of guidelines for living. The Beatitudes give guidance encouraging a clean heart, righteousness, mercy, and an agency for peace. They also offer some counterintuitive direction (poverty of spirit and meekness).
I am
reminded of the distinction between Saints and saints, which we were taught by the nuns in elementary school. I think of the small but nevertheless heroic acts of my parents and my deceased oldest sister. They clearly deserve to be known as saints. Although their lives did not consist of what would be called acts on the grand scale (martyrdom or acts of service that become widely recognized), their more subtle embracing of God’s will in everyday life gives me confidence that they too have been
granted sainthood. by Mike Cherney
The Existence of God by Francois Fenelon SECTION XXVI.
Of generation But this continual propagation of every species is a wonder with which we are grown too familiar. What would a man think of a watchmaker who should have the art to make watches, which, of themselves, should produce others ad infinitum
in such a manner that two original watches should be sufficient to multiply and perpetuate their species over the whole earth? What would he say of an architect that should have the skill to build houses, which should build others, to renew the habitations of men, before the first should decay and be ready to fall to the ground? It is, however, what we daily see among animals. They are no more, if you please, than mere machines, as watches are. But, after all, the Author of
these machines has endowed them with a faculty to reproduce or perpetuate themselves ad infinitum by the conjunction of both sexes. Affirm, if you please, that this generation of animals is performed either by moulds or by an express configuration of every individual; which of these two opinions you think fit to pitch upon, it comes all to one; nor is the skill of the Artificer less conspicuous. If you suppose that at every generation the individual, without being cast into a mould,
receives a configuration made on purpose, I ask, who it is that manages and directs the configuration of so compounded a machine, and which argues so much art and industry? If, on the contrary, to avoid acknowledging any art in the case you suppose that everything is determined by the moulds, I go back to the moulds themselves, and ask, who is it that prepared them? In my opinion they are still greater matter of wonder than the very machines which are pretended to come out of
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