All Saints Day

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All Saints
Memorial of all the saints whose names are written in heaven. In communion with them, we turn to the Lord, recognizing ourselves as his children.


First Reading

Revelation 7,2-4.9-14

Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, 'Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.' And I heard how many had been sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel. After that I saw that there was a huge number, impossible for anyone to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted in a loud voice, 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!' And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four living creatures, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God with these words: Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen. One of the elders then spoke and asked me, 'Who are these people, dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?' I answered him, 'You can tell me, sir.' Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.

Psalmody

Psalm 23

Antiphon

Lord you are the king of glory.

The Lord is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.

It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?

The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things
who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbour,

He shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who saves him.

Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.

O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!

Who is the king of glory?
The Lord, the mighty, the valiant,
the Lord, the valiant in war.

O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!

Who is he the king of glory?
He, the Lord of armies, he is the king of glory.

Second Reading

1 John 3,1-3

You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children -- which is what we are! The reason why the world does not acknowledge us is that it did not acknowledge him. My dear friends, we are already God's children, but what we shall be in the future has not yet been revealed. We are well aware that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. Whoever treasures this hope of him purifies himself, to be as pure as he is.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 5,1-12

Seeing the crowds, he went onto the mountain. And when he was seated his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them: How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Blessed are the gentle: they shall have the earth as inheritance. Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their fill. Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 'Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

Today is the feats of all saints. The Book of Revelation seems to make us contemplate them: "There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands." They are men and women coming from every nation and people, all different for stories and belonging, but they all welcomed God's mercy and persevered on the way of the Gospel. It is large , borderless people that now live in the House of the Father where there are many dwellings and where the risen Jesus went to prepare a place for everyone. It is not a people separated from us in a distant and inaccessible place. This feast helps us understand that holiness does not begin after one's death, but from the time one becomes part of the "familia Dei" and is "separated" (this is the meaning of "holy") from the destiny of sin and death and we are made part of the holy people of God. John, in his first letter, reminds the often forgetful disciples this extraordinary gift we have received from the Lord: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are... Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed."
We are now children of God, precisely, because we have been welcomed into His people, because we are generated by this Mother who continues to bend down lovingly and patiently over us to lead us upwards, to heaven, to the holy people who are in front of to the Lord. The Church accompanies us every day on the paths of mercy, uninterruptedly gathers us for prayer in the many places scattered around the world and makes us look up to the heaven of God, as if to let us taste today what we will be tomorrow. Holiness is not a private way, it is not a reward for personal achievements or merits, it is not an individual journey.
Contemplating the face of the Church still pilgrim on earth, but which has many children already in heaven, we see the faces of the brothers and sisters who have been given to us, we meet the gaze of the poor and the weak that the Lord asks us to love and to serve as brothers and sisters. Yes, this Mother (the Church) and the poor are the visible face on earth of that holy people who have already reached heaven. In this vision we inscribe our thoughts, our actions, our choices, our projects, because this is the holy people of God. Walking with this people means walking on the path of holiness. The saints are not those who never sin. The saints are not those who believe they are righteous. Saints are those who never cease to be with this mother by witnessing love, working for justice and peace, looking at the poor and weak with merciful and moved eyes. Saints are also the sinners who kneel before the Lord and weep for their sins. That's why everyone, really everyone, can be saints. We sinners are made holy when we allow ourselves to be loved by this Mother.