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| “Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints” by Andrea Del Sarto, 1528 |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Revelation 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.”
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Commentary
on
Rv 7:2-4, 9-14
St. John’s vision of the heavenly kingdom unfolds in this passage
with an image of those who have gone from this life to the next and now stand
before the throne of God. “A seal is a mark of ownership and
protection. Here the seal of God is
related to the seals of the scroll, giving protection to the believing remnant
of Israel, who will pass through the tribulation. This may refer to a grace of spiritual
perseverance rather than a guarantee of physical survival. In the broader context of Revelation, there
is a contrast between the seal of God stamped on the foreheads of the righteous
and the mark of the beast inscribed on the brows of the wicked (Revelation 13:16).
The former bears the divine name of God (Revelation 14:1; 22:4) while the latter bears the demonic name of
the beast (CCC 1296). […] The
entire scene parallels Ezekiel 9:1-7 where the
messenger seals the foreheads of the righteous in Israel to protect them from
the wrath of God poured out on Jerusalem. The seal was shaped like the Hebrew
letter taw, which in ancient script
looked like a cross (x or +).”[4]
Hebrew numerology provides the number- one hundred and forty four
thousand (from each of the tribes of Israel) representing a huge number (1,000
times 12 times 12), possibly a number of completeness, and follows that with
uncounted Saints from the Gentiles beginning with the martyrs (those who have washed their robes in the
Blood of the Lamb).” The blood of the Lamb, who has been offered
in sacrifice for all, has exercised its universal and most effective redemptive
power in every corner of the earth, extending grace and salvation to that
'great multitude'. After undergoing the trials and being purified in the blood
of Christ, they -- the redeemed -- are now safe in the Kingdom of God, whom
they praise and bless for ever and ever" (Pope John Paul II,
"Homily", 1 November 1981).
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
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.
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Commentary
on Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab,
5-6
Psalm 24 is a processional song. It recalls that God is the great
creator and he calls his people to be faithful. It asks the question who can
come into his presence and answers only those who are sinless (completely
reconciled to God). They who achieve that beatified state will receive the
reward of eternal life from the savior. It focuses on the character of the one
who worthily seeks God and the one who is worthy to come into God’s kingdom and
stand before him. We are answered; “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is
clean, who desires not what is vain.”
This is part of a hymn of entrance, sung as the Arc of the
Covenant was brought into the Temple followed by the faithful. Once again in
this song we find a reference borrowed by St. John’s Revelation (Revelations 14:5) and an image created in Hebrews
10:22 .
Who are the ones allowed full access to God?
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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.
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Commentary
on 1 Jn 3:1-3
“The
greatest sign of God's love is the gift of his Son (John 3:16) that has made Christians true
children of God. This relationship is a present reality and also part of the
life to come; true knowledge of God will ultimately be gained, and Christians
prepare themselves now by virtuous lives in imitation of the Son.”[5] “the world” is the biblical term
consistently used in reference to the non-Christian populations of that
era. In modern terminology it would
refer to secular society.
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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.”
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Commentary
on Mt 5:1-12a
This section of the Sermon on the Mount begins the first
of five great discourses in St. Matthew’s Gospel. He begins using a formula common in the Wisdom
literature of the Old Testament (Job
5:17; Proverbs 3:13;
Sirach 25:8-9) with “Blessed
are the poor in spirit.” This
designation identifies those without material resources, completely dependent
upon God. (This distinction is for the devout poor). The discourse continues blessing they who
mourn, who are meek, who “hunger” for righteousness (-to adopt the Lord’s law
of love in their hearts), the merciful, the clean of heart (-those who are
reconciled to God), the peacemakers, the persecuted, and finally those who will
be reviled because they profess faith in Christ.
The litany of praises for those to be blessed by the Lord
has an overarching theme. It holds up the spiritual strength of complete
dependence on God for life, health, and prosperity. St. Matthew captures the
strength in that dependence and God’s promise of salvation through the words of
the Savior.
It is noteworthy that the word “Blessed” [μακάριοι (makάrios) in Greek and Beati in Latin] is translated “Happy” in
many Old Testament texts. The idea of
happiness or peace as a blessing from God is an important understanding about
the intent of this discourse.
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Reflection:
On
this the Solemnity of All Saints we celebrate those who have listened to God’s
word, heard his call, and faithfully followed him. We differentiate the Saints,
known and unknown from those who we remember tomorrow on the Feast of All Souls
because we do not know all those whom God has admitted to his heavenly court.
Some of those whose lives we celebrate are in the list of Saints, the exact
number is not easy to find but it is thought to be over 8,000 (Saints and
Blessed according to the Saints.SPQN.Com) but a recent
article from Catholic Exchange challenges that number.
While one might think this is a huge number, consider that this list started
two thousand years ago. If there are, as supposed over 8:000, that’s really
only about four a year; roughly lottery statistics.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says the following:
By
canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they
practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church
recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope
of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.
"The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most
difficult moments in the Church's history." Indeed, "holiness is the
hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary
zeal."
(CCC
828)
The
important fact about this celebration is that we remember all of the men and
women who have demonstrated heroic virtue for the cause of the Holy Church.
Their examples of faith and fidelity span almost every conceivable
circumstance, era, and life-style. There is, within the ranks of those at the
foot of the Throne of God, a Saint with whom every person on earth may identify
and say – “That one is almost like me.” And that is the idea behind All Saints.
To recall the various paths offered by God to the holy men and women who so
faithfully served him on earth. We are given this day to reflect on our own
lives and what they may yet become in the service of the Lord.
There
is a reason that St. Matthew’s recollection of the beginning of the Sermon on
the Mount is given to us on this Feast Day. The Lord invites all of us to
participate in being called “blessed”. He calls and has called all peoples of
all nations of ranks from the loftiest halls of power to the lowliest beggar in
the street to follow him and serve his great plan.
Today
we think about all those wondrous men and women who have gone before us in
faith and provided Holy Mother Church with the great and small Saints who have
done the Lord’s will throughout the ages. We give them thanks for their
examples, praise for their faithfulness, and ask for their prayers that we too
might come into that heavenly presence and join them in their hymns of praise.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints” by Andrea Del
Sarto, 1528
[3] The readings are taken from the New
American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were
developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by
USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Ignatius
Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. pp. 501
[5] See NAB footnote on 1 Jn 3:1-3
