November 1, 2015 –Solemnity of All Saints – Lectionary: 667
Reading 1 – Reveleations 7:2-4, 9-14
I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,
holding the seal of the living God.
He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels
who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
“Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees
until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,
one hundred and forty-four thousand marked
from every tribe of the children of Israel.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.”
All the angels stood around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They prostrated themselves before the throne,
worshiped God, and exclaimed:
“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
“Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.”
He said to me,
“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 24:1bc-4b, 5-6
- Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers. -
Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain. - Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. - Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Reading 2 – 1 John 3:1-3
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.
Alleluia – Matthew 11:28
- Alleluia, alleluia.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel – Matthew 5:1-12A
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Top of Form
Solemn Feast of All Saints – 1 November 2015
(Let me share this reflection with you as I prepare to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints.)
Whenever I celebrate this feast of All Saints, the celebration gives me such strength, encouragement and nurtures my own hope. For when I look at the multitude and variety of saints I begin to understand anew the height, depth, breath and width of the love of God, the all-embrasiveness of the kingdom. Such a celebration renews in my own heart and keeps alive in the midst of the community the belief (maybe the reality – if we can see it) that we can share a common vision even though we see with many and very different eyes. When we celebrate the feast of All Saints and the many different saints throughout the Church Year we are challenged (we are invited) to grow in our awareness and to expand our vision; we are invited to a greater openness of spirit, to broadening our horizons of understanding, to a new and ever rich fraternity with others who have different modes (ways) of thought, different ways of praying, different life styles; we are invited to be enriched by such solidarity.
We cannot help but realize when we celebrate this feast and the feasts of saints throughout the year that there is far more than one way (our way) to God; that many are the roads by which God leads his own (home – to heaven).
In this celebration of saints so different in so many ways from ourselves we grow (enter) into a new relationship with such differentness; a relationship that is based on tolerance, openness and a love for all. We enter into a kind of dialogue with others who are different, yet equal, a dialogue which we approach with profound humility recognizing that truth (His truth) is always bigger than any one man’s or any group’s grasp of it. We kneel humbly in such a celebration recognizing that no one person or group or no one church for that matter can possibly grasp all truth. In such recognition we do not make the basis of our tolerance, our openness, a lazy acceptance of anything nor do we stand before these differences (different ways) with a feeling that there cannot be assurance anywhere. The basis of our tolerance, our openness to the different modes of thought, the diverse ways of praying, the dissimilar life-styles such saints lay before us, is simply the recognition of the magnitude of (the orb of) – (His) truth.
Just as the Church has become Indian, Bangladeshi, Ghanaian, Ugandan, Chilean, Nigerian, South African, Brazilian as well as being French, Canadian and American so is my own Holy Cross Community becoming. Such celebrations as this feast of All Saints invite us to be enriched by the varying contexts and cultures in which we (the Church/and our various communities) live.
But enrichment can only happen when we have reverence for all the possibilities of truth; it means acknowledgement that she (the truth) dwells in diverse mansions, and wears vestures (clothing) of many colors, and speaks in strange tongues. It means a frank respect for uniqueness and differentness, for the freedom of the indwelling Spirit who can bear fruit in so many multifarious ways. When I celebrate such a feast (as this feast of All Saints) one of the gifts I ask for from the Spirit is to help me to always remember that intolerance of any kind is a sign of arrogance and ignorance – that I may never come to the point where I believe that there is no truth (or way) beyond the truth I see or the way I live.
I pray that wherever life / our mission takes us we will move in the Spirit of this feast – that we will work collaboratively to continue to build a new vision for our Church, our world, our communities; we do not seek to set aside or destroy the old, but, rather, to build a new way; to see with many and different eyes and to arrive at a shared vision; may such feasts assist us in our continued efforts to learn, to share and to grow with each other. This feast reminds us that God’s Spirit transcends us all and that no one people or culture will ever experience God fully and completely. There is always something more to God. In sharing our experience of God with each other different as we are, with people of different cultures and traditions, our experience is enriched – we are enriched. May it be so.
SAINTS OF EVERY RACE AND NATION
Mohandas Gandhi, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr., form a famous trio on a familiar poster. An Indian Hindu, a white Roman Catholic, and a black Baptist, they are a modern microcosm of that grand picture in Revelation: people from every nation, race, and language who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. The communion of saints is a great democracy, for holiness is a universal call.
Saints are people like Archbishop Romero and hundreds of other Latin American martyrs—peace workers, journalists, human rights activists, labor organizers—who continue to live in the people for whom they were willing to die. They are people we love who are already close to God in a new way, in life after death. Saints are next to us, ordinary people who try to live justly and endure trials patiently, to help rather than hurt, to spread joy rather than sorrow.
Since holiness and happiness are close relatives, in the beatitudes Jesus describes those who are blessed as those who suffer and those who try to alleviate suffering. The beatitudes name three basic causes of pain: poverty, grief, and persecution. Gandhi, Day, and King suffered these, and stood with others who did as well. They also tried to reverse evil, death-dealing forces by exhibiting those qualities identified in the other beatitudes: gentleness, justice, compassion, integrity, and peacemaking. The portrait Jesus paints is of someone already living under the reign of God.
This reign is marked by universal justice and peace. Its citizens acknowledge no artificial barriers between people and nations. No country lives in another’s “backyard,” and no one is evaluated and valued according to another’s “economic interests.” The reign of God is marked by respect and unity. Gandhi wanted the British to leave India as friends; Day knew that the Catholic Worker House entertained angels; and King had a dream that all God’s children would live together in harmony.
Confirmed and led by the Holy Spirit, we are called with special urgency to usher in the reign of God as we enter into the first decades of a new millennium. Merely a human marker, this point in history nevertheless reminds us to prepare for the fullness of time, for the reign of God is here and hereafter. Holy ones, visible and invisible, are with us. We are preceded by a cloud of witnesses and celebrate, especially today, a great communion of saints.
Scripture Readings for the Feast of All Saints
Reading I: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-12
Responsorial Psalm: 24:1-4b, 5-6
Reading II: 1 John 3:1-3
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12a
PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
For the Church: that we may recognize our need for God and daily turn to God for the strength, vision and courage to be faithful disciples, let us pray to the Lord.
For this community of faith: that our worship may be joined with the heavenly worship and draw us into greater communion with God, let us pray to the Lord.
For greater unity in the church: that women and men from south and north, east and west; from poverty and riches, authority and powerlessness; from every race, language, and culture, may joined in Christ into one Body of faith, service, and witness by the one Spirit, let us pray to the Lord.
For the grace of transformation: that we may more and more put on the mind of Christ and be sustained by the vision of whom God is calling us to be, let us pray to the Lord.
For the gift of integrity: that we may honestly claim our gifts and admit our weaknesses, and thereby live in singleness of heart, let us pray to the Lord.
For a deeper appreciation of our Baptism: that we find our deepest value and source of dignity in being children of God, let us pray to the Lord.
For inspiration and vision: that the women and men who have gone before us may inspire us to greater efforts to live the Gospel and greater trust in God’s providence, let us pray to the Lord.
For a greater awareness of God’s grace at work around and within us: that we may recognize the work of God in those who love us, forgive us, teach us, and call us to be our truest selves, let us pray to the Lord.
For all who are persecuted for their faith, particularly the Christians of the Middle East: that God’s strength will sustain them and that they may continue to offer witness to the source of all life, let us pray to the Lord.
For leaders of nations and business: that the Spirit of God will remind them of the weak, vulnerable, and powerless of society as they develop and implement policies, let us pray to the Lord.
For great hope: that we may approach death as a passageway into the fuller life of God’s kingdom of mercy and peace, let us pray to the Lord.
For peacemakers: that God will give them courage to work for peace even when events darken the future and hearts seem hardened, let us pray to the Lord.
For nations facing financial crisis: that God will open new ways for governments to resolve their debt and meet citizen’s needs for safety, healthcare, education and energy, let us pray to the Lord.
For the grace of hospitality: that we may welcome the stranger or newcomer into our community and recognize them as our sister or brother in Christ, let us pray to the Lord.
For all who fear death and have no hope in the resurrection: that they may encounter the Risen Lord and come to faith in Christ who is the resurrection and the life, let us pray to the Lord.
For all who have died, particularly those who have died during the last year, let us pray to the Lord.