Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14 / 1 John 3:1-3 / Matthew 5:1-12
The Church of the Sacred Heart was built in 1910 and so it’s already 105 years old.
And when we look around at the interior as well as the exterior, we can say that it is solidly built.
To build a church like this in 1910 is certainly no easy task but the funds came in not just from generous donors but also from the humble widow’s mite.
So everyone contributed, regardless of how big or how small the sum was.
So if building a church is no easy task, then how about building a university?
Back in 1953 when the idea was mooted by the Chinese community leaders in Singapore to build the then Nanyang University, there was no government funding.
But the plan to set up the university received overwhelming support from the Chinese community, with both the rich and the poor donating generously to the building fund.
Contributions were received from the working class, and that included the taxi drivers, the hawkers, the trishaw pullers and … the cabaret dancers.
Who would expect this group of the working class to contribute to the building of Nanyang University.
It was surprising and also unexpected that the trishaw pullers and the cabaret dancers would do their bit for an institution that they would probably never benefit from.
But to this day, when the story of how Nanyang University was built is told, the big donors were acknowledged, but so were the working class of the taxi drivers, the hawkers, the trishaw pullers and the cabaret dancers.
It goes to show that when people see a higher objective and purpose, they will bring themselves to work towards it and to fulfill it.
Today the Church celebrates All Saints Day. We honour all the saints who form “so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) for us and for the whole Church.
We acknowledge the countless men and women who are in heaven and who saw the higher objective and purpose of their lives when they were on earth.
Now that they have attained their eternal reward, they take on another objective and purpose but it is no more for themselves.
They want us to join them in heaven and they are praying for us as we journey on earth with all our challenges and difficulties.
Those saints are people just like us and they have gone through what we are going through – worries and anxieties, doubts and failures, desires and sinfulness.
So if we going through a difficult time with a wayward spouse and children who have fallen away from the faith and from the path of life, know that we are not alone.
St. Monica prayed continuously with tears for the conversion of her husband and then for her son St. Augustine.
Her prayers were answered and she will pray for us too that our prayers will be answered.
If we feel stressed at work and have a difficult boss, then let us turn to St. Joseph, patron saint of workers.
He knows how stressful it was to protect and provide for Mary and Jesus and yet he didn’t utter a word of complaint and he is a model for workers.
And when we find ourselves in a desperate situation, be it financial or emotional or spiritual, there is St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of desperate cases.
He knows how exasperating it was to share the same name as that apostle who betrayed Jesus. He was almost forgotten until people in desperate situation turned to him for his intercession, and he has never failed them.
And talking about forgotten saints, today is also a day that we remember our patron saints.
Most of us go by our baptism names which is usually a saint’s name.
It would be good to find out more about our patron saint because besides being a model of holiness for us, our patron saint is also praying for us.
So today as the Church celebrates All Saints Day, there is an outpouring of prayers from heaven for us.
The saints in heaven are asking God to grant us His blessings so that we can live our lives in the spirit of the Beatitudes that we heard in the gospel.
Beatitudes is not about attitudes. Beatitudes means blessings so that in gentle and merciful, in being pure of heart and poor in spirit, in being peacemakers and in doing what is right and just, we become a blessing for others.
The contribution of the saints is their prayers for us and for the Church.
Our lives of holiness will be our contribution to the world as we bring about God’s blessings to our world.
Life is difficult. People may abuse us and persecute us and speak all kinds of calumny against us.
But we are assured of the prayers of the saints and the blessings from God.
Let us rejoice and be glad, and look forward and upward to our reward in heaven.