November 13, 2024

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

Today, I would like to talk with you about November. I love November. I was born in November. I love the Feast Days that begin the month, All Saints and All Souls – such great celebrations. By the way, I like Thanksgiving, too. And, finally, I like the beginning of basketball season.

In our Catholic Church’s Liturgical year, November becomes a transitional month. November brings us to the end of the present liturgical year. Then November prepares us for the beginning of the next new liturgical year – time for Advent. Liturgically we again begin the story of Jesus. Advent leads us to Christmas.

November is a perfect opportunity for us to determine our progress during the past year on the road to sainthood. Am I ready to declare to myself and to God that I truly want to be a saint? Has this past liturgical year enriched my relationship with Jesus? Do I walk closer with Jesus? Do I truly realize how much God loves me? Can I say that I am a more loving disciple of Jesus as I approach the new liturgical year?

Each year at the All Saints Day celebration, the Gospel reading is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus teaches us the Beatitudes. I believe that Jesus knew that this was the perfect way to proclaim his message – these powerful Beatitudes. I hope you had the time to read the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) at home on All Saints Day. These Beatitudes are a magnificent way to help us determine whether we have grown closer to Jesus. The Beatitudes help us to decide if we now are living as Jesus taught us. Let us again consider the Beatitudes.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Blessed means happy. Am I happier because I have learned to be poor like Jesus? Am I blessed because I am more detached from “stuff” freed from “greed.” Am I no longer poor because I now know Jesus as well as I should.

“Blessed are they who mourn.” This is the time to remember how many I have lost this year – the loved ones who are now with the Lord. The loss of loved ones transforms my life in so many ways. One of the ways I am now a different person as I begin a new liturgical year is that so many family and friends have gone to the Lord. I miss them so. My relationship with the Lord has changed so much because they are not close to me. I must now find Jesus in a new way.

“Blessed are the meek.” Has this past year helped me to discover humility as Jesus lived it? Have I now found the joy of imitating Jesus – especially the humility of the Lord? Like Jesus, am I now able to bring others closer to God?

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Does Jesus know that I truly want to be a saint? Do I boldly want to walk with Jesus, live and love like the Lord?

“Blessed are the merciful.” Am I truly a merciful person? Am I forgiving, especially of those who have hurt me? I know I will be blessed only when I am loving and forgiving like the Lord. Do I realize that only living as a loving, merciful disciple of the Lord will I become like Jesus?

“Blessed are the peacemakers.” Do I realize that only living in peace will I learn and live with God’s love and joy? Do others see that I walk with Jesus, that I strive to bring peace to myself and to others like Jesus?

There it is, folks, the Lord’s Beatitudes, the perfect signposts on the road to sanctity. Why have we never memorized them? Have you heard the call of the Lord that he first proclaimed at the Sermon on the Mount? Do you want to be a saint?