November 1, 2014

All Saints

November 1, 2014:  All Saints

  • 'Angel' pin:  Angels around throne:  “Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might to our God!” (1st reading)
  • White shirt:  Saints made their robes white in blood of the Lamb (1st reading)
  • 'Abacus' tie pin:  number of the marked (1st reading)
  • 'Faces' tie:  "Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face" (psalm); Saints (feast)
  • 'Eyeball' tie pin:  we shall see God (2nd reading)
  • 'Peace sign' tie bar:  "Blessed be the peacemakers" (gospel)
  • 'Hearts' suspenders:  God's love, Saints' love
Listen
Pope Francis

 Friday homily:  Jesus described the Pharisees as hypocrites for criticizing him after he healed on the Sabbath; they lived attached to law but not love or justice.  You look for proselytes then close the door to hope, love, and salvation?  The path to being faithful to the laws, without neglecting justice and love, is from love to integrity, love to discernment, love to the laws; it leads to holiness, salvation, and encounter with Jesus (vs. egoism, arrogance, and "holiness of appearances").  Jesus shows us the right path:  he draws close to us; it proves we're on the true path.  God chose to save us through closeness; he was made flesh.  We must make ourselves like others, like the needy, like those who need our help.  Jesus’ flesh, not the letter of the law, brings us closer to God.
Angelus:  Today we praise God for all holy people, "last" for the world, "first" for God.  We remember our departed loved ones; it’s consoling they’re in the company of Mary, apostles, martyrs, and other saints.  The communion of saints unites all who belong to Christ.  There’s an unbreakable bond between us living in this world and those who have crossed the threshold of death.  We form one family; this communion takes place most intensely in the Eucharist.  We enter into communion with our brothers and sisters here and in heaven:  here helping us along our common road to heaven, and in heaven praying for us.  God reserved the first place in the assembly of saints for Mary, Mother of Jesus, unique custodian of the Christ-Church bond.  As caring mother and Jesus’ first disciple, she’s a safe guide for us, and we can entrust our desires and difficulties to her.  May the Queen of All Saints help us respond with generosity and faithfulness to God.

 Read
  • Rv 7:2-4, 9-14  Angel: “Do no damage until we put the seal on God's servants.”  144,000 were marked, from every tribe of Israel.  White-robed multitude: “Salvation comes from our God, seated on the throne, and from the Lamb!”  Angels worshiped:  “Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to God!”  Elder:  “They made their robes white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
    Wordle: Readings 11-1-14
  • Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6  "Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face."  The Lord’s are the world and those who dwell in it.  Those with clean heart may stand in God's holy place; God will bless and reward them.
  • 1 Jn 3:1-3  See the Father's love:  We're God's children now and shall be like him; we'll see him as he is.  Hope.
  • Mt 5:1-12a  Jesus taught:  “Blessed the poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungry for justice, merciful, clean of heart, peacemakers, persecuted, insulted; they'll be comforted, satisfied, shown mercy, rewarded, inherit the land, see God, be called God's children, be greatly rewarded.  Rejoice!
Reflect
    • Creighton:  The feast of All Saints began to celebrate unrecorded martyrs who couldn't be individually commemorated, so we could take encouragement from them, a “cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) cheering us to victory (an image from Greek games where previous winners cheered athletes on.  That’s part of what we mean by the “communion of saints.”  Those who went before us care and want us to follow in their footsteps. / We're saints now because the Spirit dwells in us through our baptism, through which we're God's children.  Paul urges his communities of “Saints,” whom he scolds for immorality, to be who they are, holy not from merit but from gift.  Celebrate the saints among us....
    • One Bread One Body:  'The Spirit of Hallowe'en"  We become holy by the Holy Spirit through whom we're baptized into one body.  As we follow the Spirit, we grow in holiness.  If by the Spirit we put evil deeds to death, pray, and love, we'll become holy.
    • Passionist:  Today we honor the "church triumphant" and celebrate the bond that ties the church together in the "communion of saints."  We believe our loved ones, though gone, are mysteriously present because death isn't the last word.  God first loved us.  We love each other, including those who have died before us.  Our love for them, theirs for us, and God's for us, endures beyond death. / Revelation was written to Christians in Asia Minor (now Turkey) under Roman imperial rule to challenge them to remain strong in faith and hope; today we read of the vision of the saints in heaven, triumphant, praising and thanking God.  Love triumphs over death; in us is the spark of the divine that will never die, a share in the Spirit that enables us to respond with love.  In the beatitudes Jesus lifts up virtues that lead to fullness of life.  Because we believe in the God of love, source of life, we live in hope.
    • DailyScripture.net:  Jesus says we can live a happy life by acting in line with the beatitudes.  Everyone longs for true happiness, and God alone can satisfy our deepest longings.  The beatitudes are a sign of contradiction to the world's way of happiness.  Do I know the happiness of hungering and thirsting for God alone?
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