November 1, 2026 ~ Solemnity of all Saints ~ Year A

Spiritual Reflection

November 1, 2026  ~  Solemnity of all Saints ~ Year A (pdf)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the Kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:3

The supernatural gifts are what become vital for the person who is trying to live the interior life. Such a person thinks that in this perspective of the journey to God the spiritual gifts make him somebody and that they assure him a strong spiritual position. But can we really determine our actual spiritual progress by these standards?

The person poor in spirit is the one who does not have any reliance other than God. Illusory reliances in the spiritual realm, which are constantly being generated by our self-love, prevent us from fulfilling the evangelical beatitudes and from living in communion with God. Our Lord, being a jealous God, wants to be united with the soul to the degree to which the soul is purified from attachments. This can occur only to the extent to which we make room for Him.

One of our most common reliances is a good self-image. Everyone wants to believe that he is good and think about himself in the best possible way, and to rely on this positive vision of himself. This reliance on our good self-image concerns not only our physical abilities, intellectual capabilities, or personality traits, but also our spiritual values.

When our Lord gets closer to us, His light enables us to see our imperfections and our faults more clearly. How do we react to this? Usually, at all costs, we want to change and improve ourselves, to get rid of our faults, to finally become ‘different persons.’

But when we take a closer look at our desires for improvement, we notice that, in essence, what we seek is reliance on our own perfection. Our desire is to conquer and possess the interior capacity to do good so that we can rely on this.

When we dream about the fastest way to acquire this perfection based on the illusion that we can ‘conquer God’ through our own efforts, we then resemble a greedy rich person. We resemble someone who, having everything, still wants to possess one more thing. In this example, we desire yet more spiritual gifts.

Conversely, the person poor in spirit does not have anything and desires nothing. Such a person does not own either perfection or virtues. The process of becoming poor in spirit puts us on the road of unceasing openness to grace. Then we will, in each moment, surrender to God’s action, and humbly admit that every good thing born in us comes only from God.

In a humble person, there is no room to possess perfection, or to freely use any personal attributes or capabilities. This posture of the poor in spirit indicates a desire that is opposite from what was previously described. It indicates that Jesus can use us freely; that we can be at His total disposal with our whole body and soul.

Only this attitude of spiritual poverty can protect us from the temptation of attributing to ourselves graces that God wants to give us. It prevents us from desiring to possess the good, which God does through us and in us. To have this attitude, however, requires us to be poor in relation to everything we do and everything we have. On the way to spiritual poverty you can become a true Christian, a good father or a loving wife, only when you agree that you will never become the master of virtues nor have the interior disposition needed for such a state to happen. Moreover, you need to agree to accept the experiences that will reassure you that in yourself you are completely incapable of doing anything.

Slawomir Biela, God Alone Suffices, pp.79-81

 Reference from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

 2546 "Blessed are the poor in spirit."338 The Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness and grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs:339   The Word speaks of voluntary humility as "poverty in spirit"; the Apostle gives an example of God's poverty when he says: "For your sakes he became poor."340

 2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. 68 Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows. 69

 Questions for Reflection 

 1.    In this Gospel, what did Jesus teach his disciples about the Kingdom of heaven? What is he teaching me about becoming a saint?

 2.    How does my perception of holiness affect my daily life? How do I react to my achievements, to my faults and imperfections?

 3.    How is God’s love manifested in my experiences? My response?

 Prayer after sharing

 Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful love.