Year A
All Saints

Eye Candy:
“River of Life“, by Jan Richardson (art and commentary);
“All Saints Day” by Vasilii Kandinsky;
“Communion of Saints” by Elise Ritter

Ear Worm:
“For all the saints” two ways: Indellible Grace and congregational singing, this is visually appealing too;
“I sing a song of the saints of God” sung by kids (forgive the initial seconds when the image is sideways)

Brain Food:
“All Saints Day: Facing Death” from Huffington Post (Ed's note: very interesting in that this was at the time of Ebola & now we have COVID19);
“Blessed“, poem by Steve Garnass-Holmes from Unfolding light weblog (scroll down);
“What is a saint?“, self-guided retreat from At the edge of the enclosure weblog

Parables:
“There’s something about Mary“, two suitors who are in love with how Mary makes them feel;
“Bedazzled“, “blessed are the persecuted”;
“The Cider House Rules“, “blessed are the pure in heart”

About the Beatitudes.

Here is an explication of the Beatitudes in today's world from Pope Francis.

From Nadia Bolz-Weber (more about her here):

Blessed are the agnostics.
Blessed are they who doubt. Those who aren’t sure, who can still be surprised.
Blessed are they who are spiritually impoverished and therefore not so certain about everything that they no longer take in new information.
Blessed are those who have nothing to offer. Blessed are the preschoolers who cut in line at communion. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are they for whom death is not an abstraction.
Blessed are they who have buried their loved ones, for whom tears could fill an ocean. Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like.
Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried.
Blessed are they who don’t have the luxury of taking things for granted anymore.
Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else.
Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.”
Blessed are those who mourn. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are those who no one else notices. The kids who sit alone at middle-school lunch tables. The laundry guys at the hospital. The sex workers and the night-shift street sweepers.
Blessed are the forgotten. Blessed are the closeted.
Blessed are the unemployed, the unimpressive, the underrepresented.
Blessed are the teens who have to figure out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms. Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are the wrongly accused, the ones who never catch a break, the ones for whom life is hard, for Jesus chose to surround himself with people like them.
Blessed are those without documentation. Blessed are the ones without lobbyists.
Blessed are foster kids and special-ed kids and every other kid who just wants to feel safe and loved.
Blessed are those who make terrible business decisions for the sake of people.
Blessed are the burned-out social workers and the overworked teachers and the pro bono case takers.
Blessed are the kindhearted football players and the fundraising trophy wives.
Blessed are the kids who step between the bullies and the weak. Blessed are they who hear that they are forgiven.
Blessed is everyone who has ever forgiven me when I didn’t deserve it.
Blessed are the merciful, for they totally get it.

From Rite Lite

Now, as we enter the last weeks of the Church year, the liturgy is focused on the “last things,” and especially the return of Christ as Judge. The Gospel reading is the familiar parable of the wise and foolish maidens. The emphasis here is always to live in readiness for the Lord’s return.

We are drawing near the end of our reading through the ancient story of God’s people. The Israelites have now settled in the Promised Land. Joshua has called them together to renew the Covenant they made with God at Mount Sinai. This renewal recalls to them all the mighty acts God has done on their behalf from the time of Abraham to their own time.

The first reading today is from Amos. The prophet lives in a time in which the people of God are very “religious” in carrying out the rites and sacrifices of worship, but are blind to the injustice and inequities in the social and economic life of their nation. The Word of God is that in the Day of Judgment, performance of religious rites will not be enough if there is not also justice and social righteousness in the center of our living as a people.

The second reading continues the first letter to the Thessalonians. Some in that church, expecting the Lord to return in their lifetimes, have begun to doubt because some of the members have died. Paul assures these early Christians that those who die before the Lord’s return will nonetheless be saved.

In our Eucharistic gathering, we are in a kind of rehearsal for life in the Day of Judgment. We find in our prayer the model for the commitment to ministry and social justice, which gives heart and soul to our worship; and in communion, we meet the Lord as judge and as Savior.