Happy All Saints Day!

all-saints-day

1st Reading and Gospel for All Saints:

Reading 1RV 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.”

The Word of the Lord! Thanks be to God!

GospelMT 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord! Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!

It is when we live the Beatitudes, something I am continually working on, that one day we will go to meet the Lord we will meet and become part of the rejoicing crowd! I look forward to one day meeting people I have helped get into heaven by my “offering it up” and those who have helped me get into heaven! I also look forward to meeting family once again who have gone before me. And of course best of all dwelling for all eternity with the Trinity!

I’m going to say something about just one of the Beatitudes, Blessed are the Meek. Many people today misunderstand Meekness. People tend to see it as being a “door mat” and letting people walk all over you. Yet that is not what meek is. Jesus was meek, but He was no one’s door mat. In my own lifetime St. John Paul II and St. Mother Teresa were both very meek people, but again they were no one’s door mat. It was their meekness that made them strong, able to work with with and serve everyone as Jesus!