THE COMPANY WE ARE CALLED TO JOIN
MASS Gaudeámus omnes
EPISTLE Apocalypse 7:2–12
GOSPEL St Matthew 5:1–12
PROPER LAST GOSPEL St Matthew 9:18–26
HOMILIST Mt Revd Jerome Lloyd OSJV
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
“After this, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number.”
Those words of St John are among the most consoling in the whole of Scripture. He sees them standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palms in their hands. They have reached the end of their journey. The struggles which occupied so much of their earthly lives are over; the temptations which they resisted can trouble them no longer. They see God.
And the Church, rather wonderfully, begins today’s Mass with a command: Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino. Let us all rejoice in the Lord. We rejoice because Heaven is not empty. We rejoice because the grace of Christ has already brought an innumerable company of human souls to their eternal home. And we rejoice because God has called us to the same happiness.
That last point deserves our attention. When we look at a statue of a saint, it is easy to imagine a person quite unlike ourselves: born patient, always devout, untouched by the petty weaknesses with which we struggle. But the saints were once where we are. They had to make decisions, bear disappointments, resist temptation, ask forgiveness and begin again. Many possessed no remarkable talents. Countless others lived and died without anybody beyond their family or village knowing their names.
St John does not see a crowd assembled to congratulate itself. He hears the blessed crying out, “Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb.” They know to whom their victory belongs. None has saved himself. The saints have been brought to glory by the merits of Jesus Christ and their faithful response to His grace.
Today’s Gospel shows us what that response looks like. Our Lord sits upon the mountain and teaches the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Blessed are the meek.” “Blessed are the merciful.” “Blessed are the clean of heart.” We hear these words so often that we can miss how searching they are.
To be poor in spirit is to know one’s need of God. A person may possess very little and still be consumed by envy; another may have considerable responsibilities and possessions without allowing them to possess his heart. Meekness is not weakness. It is the strength to keep one’s temper when anger would be easier, and to refrain from wounding another simply because one has the power to do so.
Mercy is more demanding still. We are very ready to ask God to overlook our own sins. How readily do we forgive a harsh remark, a slight, or an old quarrel? We cannot pray earnestly for divine mercy whilst taking pleasure in withholding mercy from somebody else.
And then comes the promise which gives this feast its meaning: “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.”
That is Heaven. Its supreme happiness is not the recovery of our health, the end of our difficulties, or even reunion with those we love, precious though such consolations are. It is to see and possess God Himself. Everything good which we have loved on earth will find its proper fulfilment in Him.
We should ask ourselves, then, whether our lives are preparing us for that encounter. We plan for journeys, examinations, retirement and occasions that last a single day. We spend hours thinking about our work, our houses, the news, and what other people think of us. Yet each one of us must die, and each one of us must stand before God. Have we given the salvation of our souls anything like the attention it deserves?
This is not an invitation to live in constant fear. It is an invitation to put things in their proper order. Christ is King, as the Church proclaimed only last Sunday. His kingship is not confined to the sanctuary. It reaches into our homes, our consciences, our words and our conduct. God is entitled to more than the time we happen to have left over.
For most of us, the ordinary duties of life will be the setting in which this becomes real. A parent worn out by caring for a child; somebody nursing an elderly relative; a husband or wife who must be the first to ask forgiveness; a person who is lonely and nevertheless remembers others in prayer. Here are opportunities to love God which will never attract an audience. We are not required to do somebody else’s duty, but to do our own faithfully.
Nor should those who cannot regularly reach a traditional Mass imagine that they are forgotten. Illness, distance and the burdens of caring for others can impose genuine obstacles. Offer the day to God. Pray, make a spiritual communion, seek the sacraments as you are able, and remember that you belong to the same Church as the saints in Heaven. Those of us able to assist at Mass must never treat that privilege casually.
At this altar the Church offers to the Father the sacrifice of His Son. We do not worship the saints; we worship the God Who has made them saints. We ask for their prayers, and we beg that the grace given so generously to them may be fruitful in us. That is why Confession matters. That is why we prepare carefully for Holy Communion and approach only with the dispositions the Church requires. We cannot make ourselves holy through effort alone. We need the mercy of Christ, and He has not left us without the means of receiving it.
Perhaps somebody listening knows that a serious sin has been left unconfessed, or that prayer has disappeared from the household, or that resentment has been cherished for years. Do something about it. Make an examination of conscience tonight. Arrange to go to Confession. Pray the Rosary, even if you begin with a decade. Seek reconciliation where you can. The saints were not made saints by waiting until they felt ready.
Tomorrow the Church will put aside today’s white vestments and pray for the Holy Souls. There is no contradiction. Today we rejoice with those who have attained Heaven; tomorrow we beg God’s mercy for the faithful departed undergoing purification. We shall remember our parents, relatives, friends, former priests and benefactors, and those for whom nobody else now prays. Have Mass offered for them. Pray the De Profundis. Remember the names entrusted to the Guild of Holy Souls. Death has ended our ordinary companionship with them, but not the charity of Christ.
There is one final detail in the Mass which I do not want you to miss. Because today falls upon the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, the Gospel of that Sunday is heard at the end of Mass. A suffering woman reaches out to touch the garment of Jesus. A father begs Him to come to his daughter, who has died. The woman is healed; the child is raised. Neither can accomplish this for herself. Their hope rests upon the power of Christ.
So does ours. We shall not reach Heaven by our reputation, by the controversies we have won, or by the number of religious practices we have managed to accumulate. We must believe, repent, receive grace, and persevere in charity. The saints show us what becomes possible when a human life is surrendered to Christ.
And so the Church says: rejoice. Heaven is already full of those who once walked the same difficult road. With their prayers to assist us, let us walk it faithfully. One day, by the mercy of God, may we join that multitude before the throne and the Lamb, no longer hearing of Heaven or imagining it, but seeing the face of Him for Whom we were made.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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