All Saints Sunday November 2, 2025

Prayer of the Day Almighty God, you have knit your people together in one communion in the mystical body of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment, and to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel: Luke 6:20-31 20 Then [Jesus] looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “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. 26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Reflections: Who could imagine living in a world where a government defines an act of terrorism as peaceful protesting wearing an inflatable frog costume? Wha if such “shenanigans” were a way of loving one’s enemies?

I would say this next bit in “all caps” or shouting- When Jesus commands, yes commands, that everyone within earshot to love their enemies he is not condoning abuse. He is most certainly NOT telling those abused to endure because they will find relief in the afterlife. What is Jesus saying to the powerless and poor?

What is Jesus saying about a system where it is legal for soldiers to confiscate your coat or to slap you just because they feel like it?

Turning the other cheek is the moral equivalent to the peaceful protest wearing an inflatable frog costume. Imagine the shame, if folk even have that capacity anymore, a thug would feel for picking on a puffy little t rex or a frog or for that matter an 85 year old grandmother or a pastor wearing her clergy collar?

Loving one’s enemy is not the same as liking them. Love is known for seeking what is best for the sake of the beloved—maybe that means lampooning boorish brutality and abusive in hopes the abuser might come to their senses. Maybe objecting to injustice could simultaneously bring some sort of redemption for the oppressor and relief for the oppressed. And there, dear siblings is the very heart of what some call liberation theology —where EVERYONE is liberated because Jesus overcomes death and the grave and opens for everyone the possibility of liberation.

Our world lives by a garishly tarnished Golden Rule: Them with the gold make the rules. Such rule enshrines abuse, oppression, retaliation and revenge. Jesus confronts all of that and calls us to do the same…without vitriol or violence or retribution campaigns.

Jesus calls us to be different. Fun fact: the word saint connotes a sense of being set apart as a people of contrast— the world needs quiet saints offering kindness in the most everyday ways, the world needs saintly wagers of peace and maybe even a few people among us daring enough to put on that inflatable frog costume.