Catechism Links[1]
CCC 61, 946-962, 1090, 1137-1139, 1370: The Church, a communion of saints
CCC 956, 2683: The intercession of the saints
CCC 828, 867, 1173, 2030, 2683-2684: The saints, examples of holiness
Additional Information about the Solemnity of All Saints
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| “Madonna and Child with Saints” by Andrea Del Castagno, c. 1445 |
Readings for the Solemnity of All Saints[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible[3]
Readings and Commentary:[4]
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 +).”[5]
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" (Saint John Paul II, "Homily" 1 November 1981).
CCC: Rv 7:2-3 1296; Rv 7:9 775, 1138
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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 ascend the mountain of the Lord?" The psalmist 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 an entrance hymn , sung as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple at Jerusalem, followed by the faithful. Once again in this song, we find a reference borrowed by St. John’s Revelation (Revelation 14:5), and an image created in the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:22). Who are the ones allowed full access to God?
CCC: Ps 24:6 2582
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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.” [6] “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.
CCC: 1 Jn 3 2822; 1 Jn 3:1 1692; 1 Jn 3:2 163, 1023, 1161, 1720, 2519, 2772
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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 with “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”(Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:13; Sirach 25:8-9) This designation identifies those without material resources, completely dependent upon God. (This distinction is for the devout poor.) The discourse continues, blessing those 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.
CCC: Mt 5:1 581; Mt 5:3-12 1716; Mt 5:3 544, 2546; Mt 5-7 2763; Mt 5-6 764; Mt 5:8 1720, 2518; Mt 5:9 2305, 2330; Mt 5:11-12 520
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Reflection:
Perhaps this year, of all years, when most children will not celebrate the secular tradition of “Halloween” or “All hallows eve” out of fear of contagion (recall just a year ago, parents’ major concern was that the candy would have something malevolent, e.g. poison or a foreign object, hidden in it?), we pray for the intercession of those saints who have fostered hope, the gift of Christ, in their contemporaries. We ask that, through their prayers, we might regain the hope promised by the Lord in his Beatitudes. Was he not reminding all the people who listened to him that the love of God would be theirs if they did not lose hope and if they entrusted their fears to him? And was he not speaking, not to just those few true saints that were present (Mary was certainly there as were his disciples all but one of whom were named saints), but to all of us? Let us take the words of the Lord, recalled in St. Matthew’s chronicle, to heart and rejoice in the gift of hope, even as we work to instill caution within our families.
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 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) [7]
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 and 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.
For those of us still not able to receive Christ in the Eucharist, either out of caution or availability to attend Mass physically we offer this prayer:
My Jesus, I believe that You Are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, And I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen
Pax
In other years: Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Madonna and Child with Saints” by Andrea Del Castagno, c. 1445.
[4] 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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. p. 501.
[6] NAB footnote on 1 Jn 3:1-3.
[7] English Translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, © 1994 United States Catholic Conference Inc., Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 828.
