Solemnity of All Saints
Lectionary: 667
Reading 1
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
R. (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 2
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
R. 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.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
We are in the midst of a great celebration within the Holy Catholic Church. It is a celebration that lasts three days starting at sundown on October 31st and ends on November 02nd. This is known as a Triduum which is Latin for “three days.” There are only two of these per year on the Church Calendar with the other one being The Easter Triduum. The one we are celebrating now is known by several different names including Allhallowtide. It begins with the Vigil of All Saints, continues with All Saints Day, and ends with All Souls Day. All these have in common that it is the time of year when we focus on the mystical side of The Church and remember all of the dead; those who have gone before us while we remain here.
The Vigil of All Saints and All Saints Day are dedicated to those who have died and now are in the Communion of Saints which marks the final destination for all of us one day when we die and go back to God; becoming participators in the Beatific Vision. We are taught that those within the Communion of Saints can hear us when we ask for their prayers and that they too can interrelate with use on a spiritual level. Separated physically, we are living our lives on this earth while they are completely with God. We are not separated from God spiritually and thus are still united with them in our faith. These days we honor them and lift up our petitions to them knowing that the prayers are heard and responded to.
The Third Day is known as All Souls Day. This is a day of remembrance and prayer for all of the Suffering Souls in Purgatory. Purgatory is the name given to the period of spiritual cleansing that occurs after we die and before we join the Communion of Saints. This process is mentioned in the Gospels and also in the Pauline Letters. We are taught that it is good to pray for the dead and give alms in their name, for we are still with them spiritually if separated physically. Prayer is all about relationship and, just like with Jesus, our relationship with everything in God’s creation does not end just because it has ended in the physical sense. Our spirituality lasts forever and so does God’s creation. We were made perfect by God, corrupted by our free will, and will return to God perfect through the process of Purgatory. This perfection represents The Church Triumphant.
Allhallowtide encourages us to explore our spiritual nature in deeper depth and to understand our connection with the Spiritual World. In the Nicene Creed we proclaim every Sunday that,
“I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.”
The invisible is the Mystical Church and the Spiritual World. What it entails we don’t fully know and it is one of the great mysteries of our faith. Even though this is the case we are able to glimpse into its depths through prayer and a deep relationship with God. Familiarity is the key to furthering our understanding of this. We are reminded through the celebration of this Triduum that Jesus Christ has triumphed over death and that there is so much more in store for us than what we experienced or will experience in this physical world. It is through this celebration that we are told to keep in mind that death is not the end but only the beginning.
The Letter of John tells us that when we become witnesses to the love that God has for us then our birthright as His children will be revealed to us. As a consequence of us recognizing God’s love for us we will be transformed now and for eternity. Some of what is going to happen to us remains a mystery but we do know that we will indeed be like Him and all things about Him will be revealed to us. When we become closer to God we naturally become closer to the Mystical Church. Our spirituality will deepen and what the physical world offers to us will become of less importance to us than what can be offered to us through our understanding of God. The physical becomes less important than the spiritual. The visible is less attractive when compared to the invisible. We become more mystical ourselves and less physical in our needs, wants, and desires. What happens to us is a small precursor to what sainthood is like. It is something that we all are destined for and the journey to it begins here on this earth.
The Church guides us through our life here on this earth. This is its appointed mission being the Bride of Christ. Through our participation in the Church we learn more about our faith and about God. It is the apparatus that we work inside of to better ourselves and to open ourselves up to God. It can serve as a map of sorts along our journey back to God. The more we work within this construct the more we will be able to realize what being a child of God really means. All that came before, all that is, and all that will be until all enemies are put beneath Jesus’ feet is present in Christ’s Church. It is here where we can journey towards sainthood, guided by Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and its teachings. The Church is the path and Jesus is the gate which we all pass through to be welcomed into The Communion of Saints and to be with God.
We are reminded through celebrations such as these that there is so much more to life than what we see before us in this physical life. We are members of a community that starts here but extends into eternity; beyond the barriers of time and space. The experiences that we may have in conjunction with our fellow man and with those who are already with God are limitless. It is only us who can create limits and barriers. It is through God that these can be removed. Jesus expresses in The Beatitudes a perfect state of being and what can be achieved once we become witnesses to the love that God has for us. We can all become participators in this if we choose to do so. The saints, all those who have gone before us, serve as an example and our greatest advocates so as to help us achieve this. They are there waiting for us to ask for their help, wisdom, and guidance. They are also there to pray for us and with us. In God’s infinite wisdom He has kept all of us together; inseparable throughout eternity.
Deacon Tom
“Salvation comes
from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.”
It is good to meditate on where we are in our faith as Children of God and where we are going. Where we are going meaning our ultimate destination to become one with our Creator and one with all those who have gone before us and those who are with us now. We are all on a spectacular journey which began at the exact moment that we were conceived within our mother’s womb. Entering this world, we became a part of God’s Creation; the most important part of it. Created out of love we are commissioned to love everything and everyone. With that in mind, it must be realized that our ultimate destination is also that of love. So, on this day, the Solemnity of All Saints, we look towards that ultimate end and celebrate all of our brothers and sisters who are now with God. They are there, with God, waiting for us and living with us as we continue forward.
We are celebrating the Story of Salvation and the promise of eternal life. Our faith teaches us that what we are living now is but a small part of our existence and there is so much more that lies beyond in the Spiritual World. Even though we are separated from it physically, we are united with it through our spirituality. When we pray, all barriers between the physical and spiritual are lowered and we are invited to experience the mystical side of our existence; that which is God and everything that he created. Our flesh may rebel against this experience because we are urged through the influence of Satan and society to ignore it but through perserverance and faith we can overcome these obstacles and enter into a new state of being guided by God.
God longs for us to envelope ourselves in his love and to cry out to him with joy, sadness, pain, and suffering. He wants all that we do and say; all of our actions and deeds to be prompted with the thoughts of him in our hearts, body, and soul. When we do this, we become a celebration of him who is our Father. This celebration is ajoined with the celebration of those who are with him: all the saints who are now in paradise in everlasting communion with him. They sing with him, give glory to him, and love him eternally. They also look to us, praying for us to soon experience what they are experiencing. They are our advocates and protectors. Gone from this part of creation they are still with us, for nothing can separate us from our God and his creation.
While living here we need to recognize the eternity that is God’s creation. We cannot limit ourselves or our experiences; numbing our senses to only that which is in front of us. To do that puts limits on us and God. He is limitless and us as his children have that capability also if we just accept him as he is: eternal. We are all a part of that eternity and have the capability of experiencing it now. If we open ourselves up as receptors to God’s Grace now then we can also experience that which awaits us. Each day becomes a revelation. Why deny that which can bring us joy now and forever.
Deacon Tom
This year the Solemnity of All Saints takes precedence over the Sunday liturgy. This celebration honors all those who have died and are now with the Lord. Traditionally we say it honors those who have already been purified and are in the full presence of God’s love. Tomorrow, on All Souls’ Day, we shall pray for those who have died and are in need of purification.
For most of us, there is a question about what it means to be a saint. It is a good question because often we think only of the extraordinary saints who have been proclaimed saints by the Church. We have to be honest and say that we do not know how all of this works but we know one thing: God loves us and invites each one of us to be a saint. All we have to do is try to be faithful to God’s will in our lives and live with God’s love. Of course we will fail in these attempts but we can always get up and try again. It is this loving God of ours who can accomplish this transformation in us, but only if we keep trying to be faithful and loving.
Our joy today is about having this inner longing to be like the saints—not in some unreal way but in our desire to know and to serve the living God. Each of us has his or her own way to holiness because God created each one of us as a special gift of divine love. Part of living is to discover this individual and unique gift of God’s love in our life. Again, the only way to do this is to try to be faithful and loving.
The first reading, from the Book of Revelation, tells us about the uncountable numbers of saints. God chooses us and we must respond: salvation comes from our God! Always the initiative of grace comes from this God who loves us and invites us to share His life. If we are pure of heart, it is because we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus dies for us and His blood, his love for us, washes us clean if we will only accept Him.
The second reading, from the First Letter of Saint John, tells us that we are God’s children now. We don’t know how it will be in the Kingdom that will come but now we are God’s children. The implication, of course, is that we shall be so much more than we are now. We shall be like Him. We shall be pure just as He is pure.
The Gospel gives us the beatitudes. These are ways of following the Lord. We don’t have to think that we must live each beatitude. Rather, we will know in each situation what we must do if we are living in the Spirit. There is so much to be thankful for. God is not setting out to trip us up and make impossible conditions for the Kingdom of Heaven. Rather God is telling us that the road to heaven is doing His will and letting go of our own. We will suffer—this is always a condition of the Kingdom. We suffer because we must let go of all that we might prefer to God’s will. Most of us get caught up in pleasures of one type or the other; we get caught up in judging others; we find ourselves attached to what we want to do rather than to seeking God’s will. We suffer when we begin to choose what God wants.
When we love someone or something, we are quite willing to suffer for a cause or for a person. As we come deeper into the love of God, we are more willing to suffer everything so that we can live in that Divine Presence more and more. The canonized saints teach us this but the example of all those who seek God in humility and in the everyday awareness of their failures also speaks eloquently of the love of God growing through suffering. May the saints in heaven intercede for us today that we may walk in their paths and choose to follow our Lord.
BROTHER ABBOT
ALL SAINTS DAY (Nov 1, 2020) (Rv 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a) in one page
The feast and its objectives: All baptized Christians who have died and are now with God in glory are considered saints. All Saints Day is intended to honor the memory of countless unknown and uncanonized saints who have no feast days. Today we thank God for giving ordinary men and women a share in His holiness and Heavenly glory as a reward for their Faith. This feast is observed to teach us to honor the saints, both by imitating their lives and by seeking their intercession for us before Christ, the only mediator between God and man (I Tm 2:5). The Church reminds us today that God’s call for holiness is universal, that all of us are called to live in His love and to make His love real in the lives of those around us. Holiness is related to the word wholesomeness. We grow in holiness when we live wholesome lives of integrity, truth, justice, charity, mercy, and compassion, sharing our blessings with others. (+ an anecdote)
Reasons why we honor the saints: 1- The saints put their trust in Christ and lived heroic lives of Faith. St. Paul asks us to serve and honor such noble souls. In his Epistles to the Corinthians, to Philip and to Timothy, he advises Christians to welcome, serve and honor those who have put their trust in Jesus. The saints enjoy Heavenly bliss as a reward for their Faith in Jesus. Hence, they deserve our veneration of them.
2- The saints are our role models. They teach us by their lives that Christ’s holy life of love, mercy and unconditional forgiveness can, with the grace of God, be lived by ordinary people from all walks of life and at all times.
3- The saints are our Heavenly mediators who intercede for us before Jesus, the only mediator between God and us. (Jas 5:16-18, Ex 32:13, Jer 15:1, Rv 8:3-4,). 4- The saints are the instruments that God uses to work miracles at present, just as He used the staff of Moses (Ex), the bones of the prophet Elisha (2Kgs 13:21), the towel of Paul (Acts 19:12) and the shadow of Peter (Acts 5:15) to work miracles.
Life messages: 1) We need to accept the challenge to become saints. Jesus exhorts us: “Be made perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect” (Mt 5:48). St. Augustine asked: “If he and she can become saints, why can’t I?” (Si iste et ista, cur non ego?). We all can become saints by choosing well by doing good and avoiding evil, by choosing to follow Christ, all the way to heaven.
2) We need to take the shortcuts practiced by three St. Teresas: i) St. Teresa of Avila: Recharge your spiritual batteries every day by prayer, namely, listening to God and talking to Him ii) St. Therese of Lisieux: Convert every action into prayer by offering it to God for His glory and for the salvation of souls and by doing God’s will to the best of your ability. iii) St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa): Do ordinary things with great love. Do something beautiful for God.
FATHER TONY
The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed(All Souls)
Lectionary: 668
The following are a selection of the readings that may be chosen for this day.
Reading 1
The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the LORD shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I
shall want.
or:
R. Though
I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The
Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though
I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The
Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though
I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The
Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though
I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The
Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though
I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”
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