Sunday, November 4, 2007
All Saints C
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31
CLOSE TO THE HEART OF GOD
Mother Teresa is
the most famous saint in our time.
She died just over ten years ago.
The process of advocating for her sainthood
began soon thereafter.
She was beatified in 2003.
Father Brian Kolodiejchuk led the cause
of seeking sainthood for Mother Teresa.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of her death
Father Brian published
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,
a collection of the private writings
of the “Saint of Calcutta.”
These writings to her spiritual advisors
were so private, in fact,
that she pleaded they be destroyed.
Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity
are well known for their ministry
to the poorest of the poor
and the sick and dying
in Calcutta
and around the world.
Far less familiar to us
are the intense spiritual struggles she endured
during much of her ministry.
She experienced doubts about her faith,
spiritual emptiness,
and a deep sense of abandonment by God.
At the first “Table Talks” on Tuesday evening
we read a letter, included in this new book,
in which she tells of her spiritual journey.
One paragraph in particular reveals
the depth of her spiritual struggles:
Now Father—since [19]49 or 50
this terrible sense of loss—
this untold darkness—
this loneliness—
this continual longing for God—
which gives me that pain
deep down in my heart.—
Darkness is such that I really do not see—
neither with my mind
nor with my reason.—
The place of God in my soul is blank.—
There is no God in me.—
When the pain of longing is so great—
I just long & long for God—
and then it is that I feel—
He does not want me—
He is not there.—
Heaven—souls—
why these are just words—
which mean nothing to me.—
My very life seems so contradictory.
I help souls—
to go where?—
Why all this?
Where is the soul in my very being?
God does not want me.—
Sometimes—
I just hear my own heart cry out—
“My God” and nothing else comes.—
The torture and pain I can’t explain.—
From my childhood
I have had a most tender love for Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament—
but this too has gone.—
I feel nothing before Jesus—
yet I would not miss Holy Com[munion]
for anything. [1]
This passage reveals the depth of her spiritual pain.
As we discussed on Tuesday evening,
it also reveals her humanness.
No one seemed to think
that her spiritual struggles diminished
her ministry to the poor and suffering.
We remained convinced
that God had worked in and through her
to touch the lives of many.
Despite the darkness of her experience
of the absence of God for so many years,
Mother Teresa never abandoned her conviction
that Jesus was present
in the lives of the least of these.
She believed that Jesus had chosen
to identify himself with the poorest of the poor
and the suffering and the dying.
In April 1942 Mother Teresa vowed
never to refuse God
whatever God asked her to do.
On September 10, 1946
she heard a “`call within a call’
to satiate the thirst of Jesus
by serving Him
in the poorest of the poor.”
Mother Teresa dedicated the rest of her life
to fulfilling this call.
Her ministry gave us all
a window into the heart of God.
Whatever spiritual struggles we may endure,
whatever faith doubts we may experience,
this much we can be sure of:
our God is a compassionate God,
who has a heart
for the poor and suffering.
And it is not a small heart.
Surely God’s heart went out
to the poor and suffering
ministered to by Mother Teresa
and the Missionaries of Charity.
Surely, however, God’s heart also went out
to Mother Teresa in her spiritual struggles.
Surely, God’s heart goes out
to any of God’s people
who are in deep distress.
All Saints Sunday is a time to remember
all those whose lives have been touched
by the love of God.
In the Lukan version of the Beatitudes
it is clear that there is a special place
in God’s heart for the poor and suffering.
Jesus says to his disciples:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you
when people hate you,
and when they exclude you,
revile you,
and defame you
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,
for surely your reward is great in heaven.”
Many in the community of faith believed
that poverty, hunger, grief, and persecution
were signs of God’s disfavor.
These blessings directly challenge
that way of thinking.
God’s favor for those in distress is strongly affirmed.
Jesus immediately follows these four blessings
with a series of four woes:
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for that is what their ancestors
did to the false prophets.
Many in the community of faith believed
that wealth, ample food, laughter,
and a good reputation
were signs of God’s favor.
Do these woes mean
that God is against the rich, the well fed,
the happy, and the well-respected?
That God hates those for whom life seems
to have been good?
To draw such conclusions
would be to miss the point.
When the rich young man came to Jesus
and asked him
what he must do
to inherit eternal life,
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
Even when this rich young man
was not able to give up his wealth
to follow Jesus,
Jesus did not stop loving him.
In fact, Jesus must have grieved for him.
His heart must have gone out to him.
The rich young man was so attached to his wealth
that he could not give it up
for the sake of his relationship
with God, with Jesus,
and with God’s people.
When we get caught up in the good life,
God must grieve for us.
God’s heart must go out to us.
It is as if we have traded our birthright
as dearly loved baptized children of God
for a bowl of porridge.
Our hearts can become so constricted
by our attachment to the stuff of the good life
that we neither perceive God’s love for us
nor give God’s love to others.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
he writes:
“I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love toward all the saints,
and for this reason
I do not cease to give thanks for you
as I remember you
in my prayers.”
Paul senses that the Ephesians
are close to the heart of God.
Their hearts have been enlightened
with the knowledge of God’s deep love for them
in Jesus Christ.
God’s deep love for them
has moved their hearts
to reach out in love to all God’s saints.
`Saints’ here clearly does not refer to a select group.
It refers to all those
who have been touched by the love of God,
whether they perceive it or not.
The good news on this All Saints Sunday
is that we are numbered among God’s saints.
We give thanks for St. Luke, St. Paul, St. Teresa,
and all the well known saints in our tradition.
We also give thanks for all the less well known saints
who have gone before us and helped us see
that we are close to the heart of God.
With the eyes of our hearts enlightened
we are called to love all the saints.
For the poor and suffering
that love will take the form
of the kind of ministry
Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity
engaged in.
For the rich and satisfied
that love will more likely take the form
of tough love—
words of woe.
Immediately following
the blessings and woes in Luke 6
Jesus exhorts his disciples:
“But I say to you that listen,
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.”
These are radical words, indeed.
They indicate that God’s heart
is big enough to include
even our enemies.
In Luke 6:36 Jesus says to his disciples:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
God’s fondest hope for all God’s saints
is that our hearts will be big enough
to include even our enemies.
With the eyes of our hearts enlightened
by God’s deep compassion for each one of us,
we are moved to love
those whom God loves.
That does mean such loving will be easy.
Indeed, as Mother Teresa experienced,
it may be deeply painful at times.
At times we may even feel abandoned by God.
During the most painful times
we need to cling to the assurance
that Jesus is present
with those who are suffering most,
and we need to cling
to Jesus’ hope-filled words:
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,
for surely your reward is great in heaven.”
We believe that we are part
of a community of saints
that spans the centuries.
It includes all those who have died in the faith.
The message of God’s love
that they experienced and shared with others
continues to speak in our time.
St. Paul speaks to us today here at St. Andrew
just as he spoke to the Ephesians:
“I have heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus
and your love for all the saints,
and for this reason
I do not cease to give thanks for you
as I remember you
in my prayers.”
Pray that God will continue enlighten
the eyes of our hearts.
Pray that we will grow in our awareness
that we are close to the heart of God.
Pray that we will be filled with gratitude
for all those who have gone before us.
Pray that we will see Jesus
in the lives of the suffering children of God.
Pray that we will be moved each day
to love all God’s saints.
In Jesus’ name, AMEN.