Solemnity of All Saints
November 1, 2021
Solemnity of All Saints
Lectionary: 667
Reading I
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
- (see 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.
R. 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.
R. 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.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Reading II
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
- 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
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.”
Reflection: THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
The communion of saints' is part of the creed. Hence this must be taken seriously as we celebrate the feast of All Saints. The Catholic tradition has it that we, the 'pilgrim or militant church' on earth together with the 'suffering church' of those in the stage of purification, the feast of all souls that we will celebrate tomorrow, form an intimate communion with the "triumphant church” of the saints in heaven. We Christians know that the beatitudes' form the soul or the embodiment of the books of the Gospel. The entire Gospel could be summarized in the 8 beatitudes. Together they present us with a prophetic vision, and they challenge us for a radical following of Christ. The overall message of the beatitudes appears at its face value as an impossible ideal or a dream. But, the feast of All Saints tells us that it is possible for us and many ordinary people like you and me (those recognized by the church and those who died without having officially been recognized but who lived as saints) have lived it before us. The most democratic call of the Vatican II that 'all are called to holiness' (young and old, poor and rich, religious and lay people, from the East and the West, etc.) urges us further to become saints. The radical following of Christ consists not in doing great things. But it invites us to do all things with genuine love! Each of the beatitudes could be reduced to an expression of genuine love. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” could refer to loving God and loving people more than things on this earth. The one who loves God and the fellow human beings is worthy of the kingdom of God and he is basically poor in spirit. “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” is an invitation to love God and the people unconditionally with an undivided heart! It is true that we are frail human beings! But we often forget that we have potentials that are much greater than we hardly ever imagine. Let us allow the grace of God to transform us into holy people like the saints. Remember 'every saint had a past and every sinner has a future!