On All Saints Sunday, we hear Luke’s version of the Beatitudes which uniquely have blessings and woes spoken side by side. However, the “woes” are not curses or punishments, but laments of compassion. In Luke’s Gospel, God’s presence always turns the world upside down — lifting the lowly and unsettling the comfortable.
Grief, too, has that same holy ability to shake us up. It can surprise us with tears years later, or with laughter in the middle of sorrow. Both are gifts, reminders that love endures. On All Saints Sunday, as we remember the saints and light candles at the ofrenda, we are reminded that Christ stands in the thin space between blessing and woe, life and death, laughter and tears . God holds all of life, both its blessings and woes, in love. Whether you are feeling the blessing or the woe of grief, know that your Savior is drawing close.
