Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14 / 1 John 3:1-3 / Matthew 5:1-12
At the end of all movies, there will be the credits roll, which most of us won't be bothered to look at.
After all, we have already sat through almost 2 hours watching the movie, and it's not important for us to know who is who in the movie or where it is filmed or other non-entertaining details.
So in order to make us sit right through to the end, some movies will show some cuts that are not in the movie, and these are usually the bloopers and blunders.
And these might include goofs by the actors or some funny incidents and some behind-the-scenes in the making of the movie.
So we usually only see the end-product - the polished, well-directed and well-acted movie. But we don't see the bloopers and blunders and the goofs and whatever.
Today we the Church celebrate All Saints Day. We honour all the saints in heaven, not only those who are officially canonized, but also the countless other saints that we may not know by name.
We acknowledge their presence in heaven, and we also acknowledge their intercession and communion with us.
We read about the inspiring stories of their lives and how they became saints.
But that could be like watching a good movie and be entertained and moved by it.
Because there is no doubt that in the lives of the saints, famous or not, there were those bloopers and blunders, and if we knew about it, we would probably be bewildered and surprised.
But that only goes to show that these saints who are now in heaven were as human as we are, with those human flaws and failings.
They too fell into temptation and sin, but they rose to the call of repentance and conversion, and as the love of God grew deeper in them, they strove for holiness and followed Jesus in doing the will of God.
The saints let Jesus direct them with the power of the Holy Spirit. When we let Jesus direct us the power of the Holy Spirit, we too will want to be humble, gentle, merciful, pure in heart, hunger and thirst for what is right and be peacemakers.
Then like at the end of a movie, when the credit roll is over, our bloopers and blunders, our flaws and failings might be shown, but it will only go to show that God has the power to turn sinners into saints.