On this All Saints’ Day, the Beatitudes from Matthew hit differently. We are told of the many ‘blessed’ people with their differing gifts, and that telling is to direct us toward honoring those persons. In some cases, that direction is to help us to become people of such blessing. So what does it mean to be ‘blessed’? If I get a new job that pays more, am I blessed? If that’s the case, then does that mean my neighbor that just lost her job is not blessed? Why does God bless me and not her?
I think you can see the issue here.
The term ‘blessed’ has been twisted to mean something different these days. In my not-so-humble (yeah, I know, blessed are the meek) opinion, we overuse and underemphasize the term. It doesn’t hold the weight that Christ intended, the weight of glory that Lewis talks about; the weight of being faithful in the midst of some of the worst conditions known to humankind.
Blessed are the Peacemakers? Tell that to a hungry and terrified child in Gaza right now. See how that goes. Blessed are those who mourn? Again, children are losing parents and friends every day. Do they feel blessed? I highly doubt they feel blessed in the same vein that the western world wastes that word.
Being blessed isn’t something that occurs because of a perceived ‘good’ happening. I’m not ‘blessed’ to be able to worship freely—I’m a product of my birth, born in a country where it’s allowed. I’m not ‘blessed’ to be unafraid to leave my home; I’m lucky to live in the part of the world where war isn’t on my doorstep. I’m not ‘blessed’ to be a middle-class heterosexual man; that’s just who I am and a product of hard-work mixed with a little luck along the way.
Blessing is something that occurs by virtue of Jesus Christ. We’re blessed to be saved by grace. We’re blessed to be the inheritors of that same grace which we are tasked to pass to others. We’re blessed to have the promise of eternal life. Also, we’re blessed when we’re at our lowest and still have faith to sustain us. So many people have taken their own lives due to despondency, to a total loss of hope and faith—or even losing a battle of the broken mind. I’m not blessed to be mentally balanced (a state of being which I constantly question). I’m blessed when I recognize God even through the madness of this world, and I continue to seek that blessing.
I seek the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to sustain me in the lowest of moments and in the heights of despair. I look to the cross as a reminder that someone suffered so that I could live, no matter what the circumstance. I’ve lived in a car for a short time; I’ve slept on friends’ couches; I’ve gone hungry, I’ve worn the same clothing for days on end. Conversely, I drive a nice truck, live in a nice home, have a beautiful spouse, and live a comfortable life. Yet, none of those are blessings. The true blessing comes in gratitude for the life given to me by Christ—the new life in hope of the Resurrection of that same Jesus.
On this All Saints’ Day, I will remember those that came before me. I’ll remember the named saints and the ones who were saints to me. I’ll remember my dad, an imperfect and broken man who loved me and my mother to the best of his ability. I’ll remember Grant Hileman, one of the brightest lights in my life that was extinguished because he couldn’t take the pain anymore. I’ll remember his smile, and look at his photo, knowing that part of him lives on in me. I’ll remember the work that generations of clergy and lay people did before I ever got here and try my best to add to it, leaving this world better than I found it.
And then I’ll be blessed. I’ll be blessed because I’ll look to the examples of the meek, the poor, the suffering, the afflicted, the joyous, and those who fight real and imagined demons every single day. And I will shine in that blessing, because I’m still here to do so. Then one day, I will be a saint, and join that great cloud of witnesses of Jesus Christ.
I hope you will, too, with gratitude and to the glory of God.
Be blessed,
Fr. Sean+