Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” November-December 2023

All Saints (solemnity)
proper

FIRST READING

From the Book of Revelation of Saint John the Apostle (Rev 7:2-4, 9-14)
I, John, saw another angel ascending from the east, with the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage the earth and the sea: “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.” And 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 saw: behold, an immense multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and they held palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they bowed down with their faces to the ground before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me and said: “These who are dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” I answered him: “My lord, you know.” And he said to me: “These are the ones who have come through the great tribulation and have washed their robes, making them white in the blood of the Lamb.” – The Word of God.

Commentary on the First Reading

A magnificent scene is described in Revelation. Everyone is turned toward the slain Lamb, who is Christ the Lord. They may be from every language, tribe and nation, but if they are saved, they are saved thanks to the Lord Jesus, who paid for all and suffered on the cross for all. The cry of the redeemed is clear: “Salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb!” Not to other creeds or supposed divinities. Whoever, then, finds themselves in that place and in that praise will have had on earth a more or less explicit relationship with the slain Lamb. In heaven there is a great community, united in the same thanksgiving of praise and worship. Paradise is described to us as a “place” of multitudes, where we will all finally be brothers and sisters, and children of one Father. The final note is important: the white robes (purity) are obtained by washing them in red (the blood of the Lamb), something that here on earth is impossible for any washerwoman to imagine. This means that it is Christ’s sacrifice itself that obtains our passport to heaven. Let us therefore worship, from now on, that precious blood which opens the gates of heaven to us!

SECOND READING

From the First Letter of Saint John the Apostle (1 Jn 3:1-3)
Beloved, see what great love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because 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 he 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, just as he is pure. – The Word of God.

Commentary on the Second Reading

This passage from the First Letter of John is important because it tells us that it is true that we are already children of God through Baptism, but we are not yet, so to speak, fully so, if it is true that “what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” But then, in Paradise, will we be children of God in a different way? What do we lack now in order to be as we should be? We lack death, the fundamental passage of our existence, in which we will be able to give everything to God, even our very life, which is the most precious gift. In this life we try to grow in faith, hope and charity, but we will reach full maturity only in Paradise. It is like children, who are already human by nature, but until the age of twenty they must grow in height, build, attitude and maturity. Let us contemplate today, on All Saints’ Day, what we will be one day, what the saints in heaven already are. This will help us never to lose hope or the goal we are called to reach. Life here is still a becoming, a continual growth, a running toward the perfection of our being.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 5:1-12a)
At that time, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely utter every kind of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

Every year, on All Saints’ Day, we are offered the Gospel of the Beatitudes. Why? Because the way to reach heaven is the path traced by our Lord: to be poor in spirit, meek, peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and so on. The saints in Paradise are precisely those who were merciful and pure in heart on earth and endured persecution. It is important to note that these attitudes are already linked to a beatitude that is realized, at least partially, in this earthly life. Paradise, in fact, has already begun in us too, if we believe in Christ and live in God’s grace. We are not blessed because we lack nothing, because we have a good job or good health, but we are blessed in relation to God. Poverty, in fact, is a means of becoming rich in God; the trials that afflict us purify us from our idolatries in relation to God; to hunger and thirst for righteousness is good because we desire a higher justice, which is God’s... and so it is for all the Beatitudes. In the end we can say that beatitude (happiness) is God himself. What, then, will Paradise be? An immense beatitude, which is the very life of God, communicated to us.