Solemnity of All Saints

November 1, 2020

November 1, 2020

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November 1, 2020

Solemnity of All Saints

Marguerite

Marguerite

Barankitse

Barankitse

After the readings of All Saints Day Sunday, I want to express myself in the style of Isaiah 60:1-5

Stand! Shine! For here is the light and over you rises the Glory of the Lord! Look around and see that all are gathered, they come to you. Your sons come from far away and your daughters are carried on their arms. Then you will see and be radiant, your heart will tremble and expand!!!

Yes, the feast of All Saints' Day is a message of immense Hope! The Gospel of St. Matthew today invites us to happiness. Yes, a nameless happiness! “Blessed, Blessed,” eight times, our Lord repeats it to his disciples as a hymn to happiness!

In proclaiming this incredible message, dazzling even in its demands, such as, “Blessed are those who weep, or those who are persecuted for justice,” Jesus sends us His image. He is the man of the beatitudes. Only he fully lived them. He is our Master in Holiness, our model and our path.

In Baptism, we were immersed in His Easter, mystery of death and resurrection. "All the elect must go through this great ordeal, wash their clothes in the Blood of the Lamb."  (Ap.7: 17)

The path of the Beatitudes is indeed often rough! But the Risen One leads us there in His wake. He holds us firmly, to lead us where we might not have wanted to go ourselves.

May his strength therefore sustain our life and make the desire for holiness, for which we are made, grow in us!

A holiness not to be won by our own strength but to receive from our Father, by His Son, as the most beautiful gift.

Yes, a sublime gift that we will, in our turn, distribute.

Contemplating the Feast of All Saints urges us to marvel at God's vision for humanity, at the diversity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and at the answers with which each and every one of us responds.

Today we also celebrate the saints of our respective countries, those who fell under the machetes of genocide in our two countries where I was born, Burundi and Rwanda. Yes, the saints of our families, those who died because of fratricidal hatred. The saints in the streetswho die to save others, those in prison. Those who fall ill in hospitals, like the chaplains in Italy: 60 priests who died of COVID-19  to save the forgotten in elderly care homes. In refugee camps, the saints who drown to save others in the Mediterranean, those who try to cross borders to give their children better lives.

Yes, as Father Daniel Ange said, this feast reveals to us once and for all that our world is a wellspring of untapped holiness.

Would we be bold enough to proclaim it, in our turn, throughout "the excruciatingly malnourished deserts of our world, deprived of the most basic foods, deprived of breast milk?"

Yes, let us walk with confidence in the path of Christ, supported by prayer and the example of the Saints, those the liturgy presents to us and those humanity offers us day after day.

Let us move forward joyfully, until the day when we can finally fully taste the fruits of Life.

Yes, this is our Blessed Hope.

Holy Feast of All Saints

Après les lectures de ce dimanche de la Toussaint, j’ai envie de m’écrire comme dans Isaïe 60, 1-5 :

Debout ! Resplendis ! Car voici la lumière et sur toi se lève la Gloire du Seigneur ! Lève les yeux aux alentours et regarde tous sont rassemblés, ils viennent à toi. Tes fils viennent de loin et tes filles sont portées sur les bras. Alors tu verras et seras radieuse, ton cœur tressaillira et se dilatera !!!

Oui, la fête de la Toussaint est un message de folle Esperance ! L’évangile de saint Matthieu aujourd’hui nous invite au bonheur. Oui, un bonheur sans nom! Heureux, Heureux, huit fois, notre Seigneur le répète à ses disciples comme un hymne au bonheur!

Céleste

En proclamant, ce message inouï, éblouissant même dans ses exigences comme :

Heureux ceux qui pleurent, ou ceux qui sont persécutés pour la justice, Jésus nous livre son autoportrait. L’homme des béatitudes, c’est lui, lui seul les a vécues en plénitude. C’est lui notre Maître en sainteté, notre modèle et notre chemin.

Par le Baptême, nous avons été plongés dans sa Pâques: mystère de la mort et de la résurrection: « tous les élus doivent traverser cette grande épreuve, laver leur vêtements dans le Sang de l’Agneau » ( Ap.7, 17)

Le chemin des Béatitudes est en effet souvent rude ! Mais le Ressuscité nous y entraîne à sa suite, Il nous tient fermement, pour nous mener là où nous n’aurions peut-être pas voulu aller nous-mêmes.

Que sa force soutienne donc notre vie et fasse grandir en nous le désir de la sainteté puisque nous sommes faits pour cela!

Une sainteté non pas à conquérir par nos propres forces mais à recevoir de notre Père, par son Fils, comme le plus beau cadeau.

Oui, un cadeau sublime et que nous allons à notre tour distribuer.

La contemplation de la fête de tous les saints, nous pousse à nous émerveiller du projet de Dieu sur toute l’humanité , la diversité des dons de l’Esprit Saint et celle des réponses de chacun et de chacune de nous.

Aujourd’hui nous célébrons aussi les saints de de nos pays respectifs, ceux qui sont tombé sous les machettes du génocide dans nos deux pays où je suis née le Burundi et le Rwanda. Oui les saints de nos familles, ceux qui sont morts à cause de la haine fratricide. Les saints dans les rues qui meurent pour sauver les autres, dans les prisons. Ceux qui attrapent des maladies dans les hôpitaux comme ces aumôniers en Italie, ces 60 prêtres qui sont morts du virus COVID-19 pour sauver les oubliés dans les maisons des personnes âgées. dans les camps des réfugiés, les saints qui se noient pour sauver les autres dans la méditerranée, ceux qui essaient de traverser les frontières pour donner une vie à leurs enfants

Oui, cette fête nous révèle une fois pour toute que notre monde est un gisement de sainteté non exploité disait le Père Daniel Ange.

Serions -nous assez audacieux de le proclamer à notre tour dans «les déserts de notre monde atrocement sous-alimenté, privé des nourritures les plus élémentaires, privé de lait maternel ?

Oui, marchons avec confiance à la suite du Christ, Soutenus par la prière et l’exemple des Saints que la liturgie nous présente et que l’humanité nous offre jour après jour.

Avançons joyeusement, jusqu’au jour où nous pourrons enfin goûter en plénitude les fruits de la Vie.

Oui, c’est cela notre bienheureuse Espérance.

Très sainte fête de tous les Saints

First Reading

Rv 7:2-4, 9-14

PSALM

Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

Second Reading

1 Jn 3:1-3

GOSPEL

Mt 5:1-12a
Read texts at usccb.org

Marguerite Barankitse

Marguerite Barankitse

Marguerite Barankitse, better known as “Maggy,” has always lived a life out of the ordinary. She was born in Ruyigi, Burundi in 1956.

Maggy studied to become a teacher then she went on to study theology for 3 years in Lourdes (France).

When she returned to Burundi, she taught French in a secondary school in Ruyigi, and tutored students after class. Aged only 23, Maggy adopted one of her students, Chloe, who had been orphaned for a long time. In the years to come, Maggy welcomed four other children in her home. She raised them as if they had always been part of her family, without ethnic distinction.

After studying administration in Switzerland at the end of the 1980s, Maggy returned to Ruyigi, and started working as the secretary to the bishop until 24 October 1993.

In October 1993, Burundi was in tension. In Ruyigi, chaos struck on 24 October.

Maggy was forced to powerlessly witness the massacre of 72 people who were hidden with her in the diocese. The violence was brutal, but Maggy managed to convince the killers to spare 25 children. As chaos continued in the region, she welcomed and took care of more orphans with no distinction.

Faced with this situation, Maggy realised that her mission would be to fight against the hate and indifference which were ravaging the Great Lakes region, giving to her children, and to the 47,000 who would follow, an alternative to hate: it will be a home of peace and love, where the life of each and every human, and their dignity, will be respected. It will be “Maison Shalom”.

To this day, she continues to advocate for Burundian refugees so that they can retain their dignity while in exile, preparing them for a constructive return to their home country.

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