November 1
Solemnity of All Saints
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intention
7:45 AM – Sheila Guinto / Claude & Mary Anne
5:30 PM – Sally Torba / M/M Timothy Byce
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Revelations 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.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 24:1 bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. (see 6) 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.
Second Reading
1 John 3:1-3
Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that 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 it 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, as he is pure.
Gospel Acclamation
Matthew 11:28
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 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.”
“Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.”
Reflection
Today is one of the most important feasts of our liturgical year. Unlike many other faiths, the Catholic faith has a belief that those people who have gone before us who have lived lives of faith and service to the Lord are even now in heaven, enjoying the beauty, justice and peace that come with entry into the eternal paradise that awaits us when our time on this earth is through. These saints of the church not only enjoy the perfect love of heaven, but they also have access to God. Even more importantly, this access allows them to assist us, their descendants in our day-to-day trials and travails.
Think of how this works. We all have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other progenitors who have finished their time on the earth. They fought the good fight, they kept the faith, they finished the race, as Paul says in his second letter to Timothy. Because of this, they are now wearing the crown of Righteousness that Paul speaks of. This is not to mention that we also have the ability to enlist the greatest saints of our church in praying for our benefit. St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Pope John Paul II and all of the pantheon of our church’s best people are in that “white-robed multitude” that John speaks of in our reading from Revelations today.
What our church calls this process of saintly assistance is “The Communion of Saints.” We attest to our belief in this system of advocacy when we pray the Nicene Creed each Sunday. When we say this today, let us think of all those who have gone before us in faith. They can help us to get to heaven. All we have to do is ask.
Keep the faith,
Deacon Dare
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