“Lord, this is the People that longs to see Your Face.”… “… 
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 … ‘Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.'” … “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the Children of God.” … “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of Righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
”MASS READINGS 11.1.16 – FIRST READING: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 – PSALM 24:1BC-2, 3-4AB, 5-6 – SECOND READING: 1 John 3:1-3 – GOSPEL: Matthew 5:1-12A – FIND A MASS: MassTimes.org – FIND A MASS: TheCatholicDirectory.com
ALL SAINTS TV MASS: Boston
ALL SAINTS TV MASS: Heart of the Nation (Wisconsin)
LINKS & RESOURCES
- Gospel Commentary by Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church – “I had a vision of a great mulititude… from every nation, race, people and tongue… standing before the throne”- DailyGospel.org
- Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington: “Some Thoughts on the Feast of All Saints”
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass — Washington, D.C.
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – Wisconsin
FIRST READING
FIRST READING: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
Saint John the Apostle, relating his vision of the Apocalypse, speaks of the countless multitudes of those Saved for Eternal Life, from all peoples and places.
There is a smaller, but still large group marked with a seal on their foreheads as “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.
Then there is a larger multitude standing before the Throne of God the Father and the Lamb, all of whom have survived the time of great distress.
… 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 ….
They cried out in a loud voice:‘Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.’
An elder standing nearby explains to John:
‘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
Lord, this is the People that longs to see Your Face.
SECOND READING
Saint John the Apostle, in one of his Epistles, exhorts the recipients, and us, to be conscious of God’s Love for us and how we are to be Children of God.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the Children of God.
Yet so we are.
Being Children of God, receiving His Love, is wonderful. Yet, in the short run, we encounter the fact that the rest of the world has alienated itself from God.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
The full nature of our future with God is not yet fully known to us, yet we shall know Him in Person. We are to be more like Him, and therefore are called to make ourselves pure.
… we are God’s children now;
… 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.
GOSPEL
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us the Eight Beatitudes, promises about the ultimate rewards, ultimate salvation and ultimate Mercy bestowed on those who are Faithful followers of His in various ways. In the process, He describes aspects of virtue and sanctity from which we can learn, which we are called to imitate. In the process, He both warns and exhorts. He predicts trials and ultimate relief from trials, and He exhorts us to imitate the virtues He describes.
Central to all of this is Blessedness. Jesus Blesses us if we live out what describes, and our most immediate and ultimate reward is Blessedness coming from God.
‘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.’
Jesus essentially looks across time and into Eternity when He explains the full landscape of these unfolding elements of Salvation History, lived out in the lives of those who answer His Call to Discipleship and Eternal Life.
We are to:
- be poor in spirit, living in humility, simplicity and detachment from earthly greed or presumptiousness
- trust in God during our mourning, trusting that He will comfort us
- be meek and humble of heart, embracing humility
- show mercy
- seek purity of heart
- be peacemakers
- persevere through persecution while seeking righteousness
- when enduring persecution for following Christ, rejoice that we have been worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ and the Kingdom of God, trusting in God’s Promise of Eternal Life
[Scripture passages excerpted or adapted from the NABRE, available online from the USCCB, which provides the following rights statement:
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.]
