Our commentary this week is provided by Auxiliary Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of San Diego. For a PDF version, visit http://www.christ-ion.com
Prayer
Father, may Your will be done. Help us to remember that we have a place in Your Kingdom along with all angels and saints, where you live and reign, together with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
1st Reading: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
Our Heavenly Kingdom consists of a “great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” This countless number, as seen by John in the Book of Revelation, is a reminder to us of how great God’s Kingdom will be for all of us who are called co-heirs. The Population Reference Bureau makes a semi-scientific guess at the number of humans who ever lived on the planet. Assuming, they say, that Homo sapiens came into existence at roughly 800,000 B.C., there may have been as many as 108 Billion people residing on earth since that time. Of course, even if this number were way off, even to count one by one the over 7 Billion people on earth today would take more than a life time. If it is hard to count 7 Billion people (or 10-20 times that), imagine the countless number in the Our Heavenly Kingdom.
On this Feast of All Saints, we look to Our Heavenly Kingdom and long to be in that number. Do you see yourself counted in that number as the Saints go marching in?
2nd Reading: 1 John 3:1-3
If we have been baptized and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may rightly count ourselves among the saints. A saint is, first and foremost, a child of God. As our 1st Reading shares, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” We know that Saint Patrick, Pope Saint John Paul II, Saint Therese of Lisieux are all enjoying a certain heavenly bliss that we have yet to enjoy, yet we and they are all children of the same God. We may not carry a big “S” as do the Saints in heaven, but we are still “God’s children now.” To be saintly means to be holy. Holiness does not begin in heaven. It begins now. It begins with God, who through His Son, makes us Holy. When we place our hope in God who created us, saved us, and sanctified us, we will share the same beatific vision of God as the Saints in heaven, “for we shall see him as he is.”
Is sainthood something to strive for or is it something that you are right now?
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
While we take time to honor the Saints of heaven and the holy men and women who have gone before us, our readings on this Feast Day point to those of us still on earth’s journey.
The readings, including our Gospel, encourage us to look to the things of heaven and keep our eyes on the prize. In order to keep our eyes on heaven and to live a holy (saintly) life, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount gives us certain “rule of life” with his Beatitudes.
Christ’s blessings upon the poor in spirit do not belong exclusively to Saints like Rose of Lima or Martin de Porres. Nor do His blessings fall upon Saint Francis alone - who was a peacemaker. The Martyrs Peter and Paul are not the only ones blessed for being persecuted. These blessings of God fall upon all of us who strive to live according to His teachings.
On this Feast of All Saints, may we all be holy as our God is holy. May we “rejoice and be glad, for our reward will be great in heaven.”
As you consider these Beatitudes are you able to rejoice and be glad?
This Week's Task
Visit a Catholic bookstore or go to your local library and get yourself aquainted with a Saint. Plenty of books on heroic Christians have been written. These books can offer us assistance on our own spiritual journey.
You may also try on-line to study the lives of the Saints. For fun, google Saint + any name and see what comes up. Yes, there are Saints named Covid, Guy, Ferrari, Hillary, and Lancelot.
The group says or sings “For all the Saints”:
For all the saints
who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world
confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The prayer continues with Psalm 24
Response: 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.
Conclude with an Our Father
No comments:
Post a Comment