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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Solemnity of All Saints, 01 November 2022 Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 ><}}}}*> 1 John 3:1-3 ><}}}}*> Matthew 5:1-12
Glory and praise to you, O God our loving Father in fulfilling your Promised Land to us all in Jesus Christ in heaven!
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land.
Matthew 5:5
Thank you for the gift of All Saints Day as we remember and emulate those who have gone ahead us into heaven, the real Promised Land you had promised since the beginning; more than a piece of land nor a country nor a continent nor a place in this planet, your Promised Land dear God is heaven - a sacred space within us where YOU and I, Father, commune, live together as one in Jesus Christ.
Heaven is the paradise Jesus promised the thief on the Cross; Heaven is when we live in communion in Jesus Christ not only after we have died but while we are still here on earth, when we are meek and humble bearing in you and with you the pains and sufferings of lovingly serving others, of working for peace, of hoping in eternity.
Inheriting the land, dear Jesus, means orienting our goals into striving to let your reign of peace be a reality despite all the troubles we have here on earth; after all, history has shown us how the violent and powerful conquerors have come and go when it is always the humble and lowly who remain and last longer just like the Saints now in heaven.
Enable us dear Jesus to alway listen and pray, most of all abide in your words like the Saints who have truly lived out the Scriptures that they have inherited heaven; like all the Saints now in heaven, may we put into practice the words of the Sacred Scriptures no matter how we may sound and look foolish like with the experiences of St. Paul, St. Francis, and St. John Paul II; the Saints are the best examples of being meek to inherit the land because in living out the Sacred Scriptures, they have opened so many possibilities of good things in life in the future, not only in heaven but here on earth as testified by their many works and teachings still continuing to this day.
As we slowly return to normal these days, Jesus, may we humbly return to you in our Sunday Masses when you as Prince of Peace reigns supreme in your words proclaimed, in your offering of your Body and Blood, when we also create a sacred space for you in our hearts so that every Eucharistic celebration becomes a dress rehearsal of our entry into heaven. Amen.
*Photo credits: from en.wikipedia.org painting by Fra Angelico called “The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs”.
