Delivered by Valerie Sandra Hendrawinata from the Parish of Saint Paul in the Diocese of Bandung, Indonesia. Revelation 7: 2-4.9-14; Rs psalm 24: 1-2.3-4ab.5-6; 1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12a.

SEEING CHRIST AS HEIS

Our meditation onthis first day of November is entitled: Seeing Christ As He Is. Today the wholeChurch celebrates the feast of all the saints. All saints are in heaven andcannot be anywhere else. They are glorious members of the Church, compared toother members who are still in the pilgrimage in the world, and who are experiencingpurification in purgatory.

Those glorious Churchmembers have ever been in the world like us. Having lived a life of faithfulimitation of Jesus Christ, after their death, they are graced with eternal lifeas saints. What are they doing in eternity in heaven? There are many, but wecan mention just one following the inspiration of the today's readings, namelythey see Christ as He truly is.

These saints are notangels. The angels are spirit beings and have no names (except for the three Archangels:Michael, Raphael and Gabriel). The saints have names and by the Church, theirnames are applied to the names of every follower of Christ as baptismal names.There are some saints established by the Church through the process ofbeatification and canonization, which means that they become perfect models forus. There are others who are not listed to follow that process but their heroicand saintly examples are very important to us.

The road to holinessis open to every believer. The book of revelation in the first readingillustrates the vision of a large number of people from various corners of theworld dressed in white around the almighty throne of God. Holiness is indeed agift for us to realize. To make it happen, while still in the world we areobliged to actualize and live the pearls of happiness as proclaimed by the LordJesus in today's Gospel reading, namely Matthew chapter 5.

We are called to beholy through the way of happiness in being poor before God, mourning, gentle,hungry and thirsty for truth, generous, pure of heart, bringing peace, beingpersecuted for the truth, and for the sake of Jesus Christ Himself. There is noshow of force or obligation to follow all this, but when someone has chosen tolive in this spirit, he or she has to live according to its demand.

The life of happinesscan be experienced on this earth, yet its perfect realization is indeed inheaven, that is when we see Christ as He truly is.

Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O Jesus Christ, enligten us on the path to perfection and may the glorioussaints pray for us to happily go through that path while always praising You inYour highest throne. Our Father who art in heaven ... In the name of the Father...