SUNDAY/HOLY DAY READINGS -The Feast of All Saints FIRST READING: Revelation 7: 2-4; 9-14. I, John, saw an angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb! And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. EXPLANATION: St. John here describes two visions which he had of the elect on earth and of the countless numbers of martyrs in heaven. The chosen ones of God on earth are the new Israel, the successors of the twelve tribes. They are about to suffer persecution. Marked with the seal of God on their foreheads, they will be given the supernatural strength to bear their sufferings. In the second vision he sees the huge crowd, countless numbers in heaven wearing white robes as a sign of their victory over their enemies. They surround the throne of God and the Lamb, Christ, and sing their praises. seal of the living God: A sign or mark that indicates those who are loyal to the true God, the living God. the four angels: Described in 7: 1 as standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the winds which would destroy the earth. do not harm . . . till: The four angels are commanded to prevent destruction until Gods chosen ones are marked with Gods seal. This would give them the strength to persevere. I heard the number: John could not count them but he was told their number, a symbolic number the twelve tribes multiplied by twelve and then by a thousand. One hundred and forty-four thousand, that is an immense number. from . . . tongues: He now sees the countless numbers of saints in heaven. before . . . the lamb: They stand in the presence of the throne of God and before the Lamb, the paschal lamb who is the Savior Jesus Christ. He is the suffering servant of Isaiah who was led like a lamb to the slaughter (see Ex. 12; Is. 53: 7; Jn. 1: 29). salvation . . . God . . . the Lamb: They are singing the praises of God and of his incarnate Son who brought them salvation. elders . . . four living creatures: The elders represent the saints in praising and worshiping God. The number twenty-four is probably taken from the twenty-four priestly classes in 1 Chronicles 24: 1-9. Four living creatures: These are the four animals in Revelation which symbolize the noblest (the Lion), the strongest (the Bull), the swiftest (the Eagle) and the wisest (the Man) of Gods creatures. From the second century these four animals have been taken as symbols of the four Evangelists. worshiped God: All the inhabitants of heaven adore, worship and praise God. washed their robes . . . in the blood of the Lamb: Having suffered for Christ and shared in his crucifixion, they are now in glory with him. APPLICATION: This vision of St. John is chosen for todays reading in order to encourage us to persevere in our Christian faith. Firstly, those on earth (ourselves) have to be prepared to meet opposition in our Christian lives. From the very beginning Christ had his followers and opponents. Christ, the innocent lamb, was led to the slaughter and opened not his mouth. As our representative and Savior he saw that the perfect obedience which he was to give to his Father demanded that his enemies wicked plan should be carried out. Likewise, during the first three centuries of the Church thousands of his followers had to give their lives for his sake and for their faith. In the intervening centuries, up to and including our own day, thousands have been put to death because of their loyalty to Christ. If not for most of us today, at least for many, it is not a quick martrydom that is threatening us, but a subtle persecution which is trying to make us disloyal to Christ and to our Christian principles. Under various pretexts the enemies of Christ and of God are trying to undermine our faith. Open atheism is not the most dangerous of these enemies. Few sane men can be convinced that there is no God or nothing for man but the grave. That is the fate only of the dumb beast. The dangerous enemy is the one who, in theory, admits that there is a God and a future life, but that what we do in this life has no connexion with God or our future. We are free agents, they say. We can and should do what we like. Why should we accept any restrictions on our personal liberty? Why keep the commandments? Why control our natural instincts? We should get all the pleasure and wealth we can in this life and the next will look after itself. Today, we are reminded that every Christian on earth and everyone who wants to go to heaven must face opposition. But St. John tells us that the followers of Christ are given the necessary graces to face and overcome this opposition. Their foreheads are imprinted with the seal of the servants of God. Try to remember this when the advocates of earthly pleasures, the agents of the powers of evil, are using their wiles to make you forget that you are Gods chosen servant. His grace is there for the taking. The Christian who perseveres is he who lives his daily life at peace with God and neighbor, drawing on the sources of Gods grace---prayer and the sacraments. Another source of encouragement for us today, on this the feast day of all of Gods saints, is the countless numbers John saw in heaven. These countless numbers were men and women of flesh and blood like ourselves. They had the same weaknesses, the same human inclinations, the same faults and failings in many cases as we have. They never forgot God, they never gave up trying to live the Christian life. They died at peace with God and so went to heaven. Many good-living Christians would almost laugh if they were told that they will be saints. Yet, that is what they will be. The reason why they would laugh at this statement of fact is the wrong idea that some spiritual writers have given us of the essence of a saint. The few saints who are canonized by the Church, and whose lives are written to encourage and inspire us, were exceptional individuals. We have no written lives of the ordinary men and women who were not exceptional in any way but who lived in Gods friendship and died in his grace. They now are saints in heaven. Christ died to save all mankind. His death on the cross was not for St. Paul or St. Augustine or St. Francis only. It was for plain Mrs. Murphy and Franz Allesmanner and Signora Benvenuta also. They didnt work miracles or do anything extraordinary, but they fully lived the very ordinary, humdrum daily Christian life. Thanks to Gods infinite mercy and thanks to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, there are countless saints in heaven today. One day soon you and I, please God, will increase their number. There are close relatives of each one of us in heaven. Let us ask them and all the other millions today to intercede for us. We are anxious to get to heaven and we are anxious to do the things that will get us there. Each day we have to meet much opposition. This will obtain for us Gods grace and we shall overcome. We too will be saints in heaven praising and thanking the good God who brought us there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECOND READING: 1 Epistle of John 3:1-3. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are Gods children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. EXPLANATION: The Apostle and Evangelist St. John wrote this letter to the churches of Asia Minor to encourage them to remain faithful to Christ who was the Son of God. There were heretics and heresies arising here and there. There were proud men who questioned the divinity of Christ and the true love of God for mankind. In the verses read today he tells them (his readers) and us that God has made us his children and that if we live as true children we shall see him in heaven later on as he is. what love the Father has . . . us: The love of God for man is the central theme of all Johns writings. Through that love God has sent his Son to become flesh, to become one of us. Because Christ the Son of God is one of us, we have become brothers of Christ and therefore sons, children, of God. the world does not know us: The enemies of God, the followers of evil are the world for John. They cannot recognize Christians as children of God for they do not recognize Christ as the true Son of God. what we shall be: John states that we are Gods children now. What we shall be, that is, what changes will take place in us, when we leave this earth, John says he does not know. It has not been revealed. We shall still be the same individuals, the same we both now and in the hereafter. But we shall be changed so that we can see God as he is and live an eternal life. we shall be like him: This much John knows: we shall be like God in some limited way. St. Paul says we shall be spiritual bodies, we shall be transformed, the corruptible will become incorruptible, the mortal in us will become immortal (1 Cor.15: 53). for we shall see him as he is: We shall be in Gods presence in the future life. We shall never be able to comprehend God, for our knowledge will still be finite, but, with the aid of the grace of the beatific vision, we shall more and more understand Gods infinite qualities for all eternity. Everyone who . . . hopes: Because he wants to reach heaven and spend an eternity of happiness with God, every true Christian must strive to keep himself pure, that is, free from all sins (not impurity only). APPLICATION: We are celebrating the Feast of all Saints, that is, of the millions of men and women who are today in heaven. St. Johns words are intended to help us to persevere in our heavenward journey. The great, encouraging thought that John puts before us is the fact that God the Father has already placed us more than half-way on our road to heaven by making us his adopted children through the incarnation. No father can forget his children. He is ever ready to protect, help and guide them. Could the heavenly, all-powerful, all-loving Father forget his children? Their adoption caused the humiliation of his beloved Son in taking human nature and the sacrifice of that same beloved Son on the cross of Calvary. A human father can be inhuman and desert and neglect his human children. God can never be ungodlike. He cannot change his nature which is Love itself. He cannot forget us, his adopted children. This is surely an encouragement for us. At times we may find the uphill climb to heaven hard. But if we remember the all-loving, omnipotent Father who is watching over us, we can never despair, no matter how dark our nights of struggle and sorrow may seem. We must never forget that a loving father may have to appear severe at times in order to be truly kind. The human father has to correct his child at times. He has to make him learn obedience, to do things necessary for his health and soundness of body. If he is to prepare him to face life and earn his living he has to make him study his lessons, a thing most children would gladly avoid. Most of this discipline can appear cruel to the unthinking child. Instead it is true love and kindness. So it is with our heavenly Fathers dealings with us. We would all love to be free from all temptations, free from all anxieties, free from all physical pain but our loving Father sees otherwise. He sends us these messengers of his love in order to prepare us to face our true life and earn for ourselves an eternal living in the future. When we are looking down from heaven on the troubles and misfortunes that we thought no kind God should let us suffer, we shall see their purpose. We shall heartily thank God for having provided them to help us on our way to heaven. The reward for a few years of very limited suffering here on earth will be an eternity of happiness in the company of God and all his saints. As St. John says, we have only a limited revelation as to the nature of our existence in heaven, but we have enough knowledge of heaven to make us exert all our endeavors to get there. We shall be in the presence of God, the source and author of all that is good and enjoyable. We shall see the Son of God in his human nature. In him we shall understand the love of God for us which brought about the incarnation and all that it entailed for Christ of humiliations and sufferings for our sake. We shall be in the company of our blessed Mother and all our fellow human beings who will be intimately united with us in singing the praises of God, our common Father. Added to these joys will be the certainty that this state of happiness will last forever. Never again shall anxiety or suffering enter our lives. Pain, death and separation from those we love will never again cast a shadow on our existence. We shall feel safe with God for all eternity. God grant that every one of us will meet in this happy state some day in the future! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOSPEL: Matthew 5:1-12. Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. EXPLANATION: These verses we read today from St. Matthews Gospel are what we call the Beatitudes. The name comes from the Latin word beatus=blest with which each of the sayings begins. In the Old Testament the term blest or happy was understood of material happiness, earthly prosperity, but as a reward for carrying out the law. As given here in Matthew the statements made by Christ mean the following: the blessedness and happiness which are in store for those who do what is right and put up with sufferings and injustices are the spiritual blessings and happiness of Gods eternal kingdom. Hence the suitability of these verses for todays feast. The saints have their blessed state of eternal happiness because they carried out what is recommended in the Beatitudes. poor in spirit . . . heaven: That is, those who are really poor, through no fault of their own. Such were the vast majority of the people of the Roman Empire at the time. It is not so much the lack of temporal wealth that Matthew emphasizes, but the servile conditions under which they had to live. Christ says that they will be rich and independent in the kingdom of God later in heaven mourn . . . comforted: This refers in general to all who have heavy burdens to bear such as pain and grief, in this world. In particular it may refer to the pious Jews of that day who grieved over the lowly state of Israel which was caused by the sins of the Chosen People. Their sorrow will be changed to joy because the messianic kingdom has arrived. Our Lord applied the words of Isaiah to himself, words in which the prophet foretold that the humble, the broken-hearted, the prisoners, the mourners would all be comforted and freed when the Messiah would come (see Is. 61: 1-3 and Lk. 4: 18-21). who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Those who are anxious to serve God truly. The Pharisees boasted of their holiness because they kept the letter of the Old Law. Christ insisted that his followers must do better than that. They must serve God in spirit and truth. The law of the love of God and neighbor covers much more than the letter of the commandments (see Mt. 5: 20-6 : 34). Those who will fulfill Gods law sincerely and truly will have their abundant reward in the next life. Blessed . . . mercy: Compassion for ones neighbor, and a willingness to help him in his need, is one of the basic principles of the law of charity which is so much stressed by Christ. Those who are really merciful and kind to their neighbor will find that God will deal mercifully and kindly with them. pure . . . shall see God: The true service of God is not the external ritual of purity by ablutions which the Pharisees stressed, but the service given by a sincere God-loving heart. Our Lord quotes Isaiah to the Pharisees whom he calls hypocrites: well did Isaiah prophesy of you. This people pays me lip service, but their heart is far from me. They do me empty reverence making dogmas out of human precepts (see Is. 29: 13 and Mt. 15: 7-9). Those who follow Christs teaching will see God, that is, they will be in his kingdom in heaven. peacemakers . . . sons of God: Those who foster love among men by settling quarrels are true Christians. Peace was a mark of the messianic age and was the special gift of Christ to his disciples (Jn. 14: 27). persecuted for righteousness sake: Those who suffer because of their love for God and for their loyalty to Christ his Son, will have the eternal reward of heaven, Gods kingdom. revile . . . account: This is an expansion of the previous beatitude, but those who suffer all these false accusations and insults do so because of their fidelity to Christ, who is God as well as man. Their reward in heaven will be great. APPLICATION: The eight Beatitudes are a resume of the Christian charter. They are the boundaries within which the Christian life is successfully lived. We are celebrating today the Feast of All Saints, that is, of all those who have lived their Christian life according to the ideals that Christ placed before them in the Sermon on the Mount. They have succeeded. They have reached heaven because they followed the rules which Christ laid down for them. They loved God and they showed that love in their daily living. They kept his commandment not only according to the letter but in spirit and in truth. They bore the trials and troubles of life patiently, as part of Gods plan for their sanctification. They loved their neighbor and proved it by their deeds of charity and mercy. They forgave those who persecuted and injured them. They lived in peace with God and with their neighbor. They helped to promote peace among their fellowman wherever and whenever they could. Some of the saints whose feasts we are celebrating today were outstanding in their sanctity. They lived their lives of mortification far beyond what was required of them. They loved God with an intensity that is not expected of ordinary mortals. They served their neighbor with a life-long dedication. They set an example and made an impression on the life of their contemporaries which will never be forgotten. God be thanked for such noble examples of saintly Christians! But there are millions of others in heaven, saints of God also, who did nothing except their ordinary Christian duties. They did them sincerely and willingly. Their names are not inscribed in the Churchs Martyrology but they are written in the Book of Life in heaven. Most of us can only admire the first group from afar and thank God for the graces which their very saintly lives obtained, and are still obtaining, for the Church of God. However, we can all feel a little more confident today because of the lesser saints. What they did, we can do. Where they succeeded we too can succeed. With the help of Gods grace and the assistance of the major and minor saints in heaven we will and we shall succeed. Heaven is the eternal home that God has planned for all men of goodwill. It was to raise us up to sonship with God that Christ came down and lived and died as a man on earth. It was to help us on the way that he founded the Church and gave her the sacraments that sinners and weak mortals would need on their road to heaven. God knows the material of which we are made. He knows too how to make something far greater out of that same weak material. He has done so already with millions of very ordinary human beings. He is doing it daily and will continue to do it. All that is needed is that we put ourselves in his hands. That he fashioned Adam out of a lump of clay may be a fact or a poetic description. What he can and will make out of me is a saint, a citizen of the kingdom of eternal happiness if only I will let him. May God give me the sense and the grace to do just that, so that when I close my eyes in death, I shall see God and become one of the millions of saints whose feast I am honoring today. So be it.-c430
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:47:28 +0000
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