First Reading – Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14
©
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6
©
Second Reading – 1 John 3:1-3 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:28
The Gospel According to Matthew 5:1 –
12a ©
(NJB)
The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
All Saints Day, A Holy Day of
Obligation
God is not
a king. God does not sit on a throne.
The
multitude that John witnessed in his vision was numberless, there number was
without measure, without end.
It is the
full number of those who have experienced the persecution of the living, and
have come to God, the creator of the universe over their long sojourn through
time and space.
It is all
of us, all of God’s children gathered together as one people, with none of us lost.
Have faith!
The good shepherd has ensured it.
Be mindful.
We do not
arrive in this place by the blood of the lamb, not the literal blood, not by
the blood Jesus shed on the cross. That is a metaphor, we are not sanctified by
animal sacrifice. We never have been and we never will be.
The world
does not operate by such magical principles.
We are
sanctified through the way, by fulfilling God’s will for us, as God
leads us down the path.
We come
into God’s presence when we have let go of all our enmities, when we have
finally forgiven all who have wronged us, as God has forgiven us, and when we
have accepted the forgiveness of those we have wronged.
It is then
and only then that we stand in the presence of the fullness of God, together
with that great number of all our sisters and brothers, the number of people John
witnessed, the number that is impossible to count.
Be mindful!
Do not look
for God in the vestiges of glory and power and honors; for those kinds of
illusions are easy to dwell on…cling to, and easy to misunderstand. Remember
the humility of Jesus, and look for God there, in his wisdom, as if God were as
soft and gentle as a lamb.
Consider
the psalm for today.
All things
and person have their being in God, who is the foundation of all that is and
without whom there is nothing, true nothingness in which there is not even the
possibility of something.
If you wish
to climb the mountain to find God, that is fine, though God might prefer for
you to turn to your neighbors to see God reflected in their face.
See them,
behold the face of God, and in that holy presence give thanks.
Be mindful,
and do not worry about your own holiness. Know that God loved you before the creation
of the world, when only the possibility of you and all that you are existed. And
know that all things and everyone who are loved by God, are holy.
There is no
vanity in emulating the love that God bears for all of God’s children.
Look for
God’s blessing in the service you provide to your neighbor, to your mother and
father, to your sister and brother. Seek justification through the quality and
extent of your mercy.
If you look
for the God of Jacob, instead of seeing God in Jacob you will only be looking
at idols. God is not confined to the pages of a book, of by the inked letter on
a scroll, neither is God bound by the history and mythology of a people. Look
to those things for glimpses of God, and remembrances of past encounters, but
seek the living God in living beings.
Be mindful
of the words of the apostle…he is not always right, and in the reading for
today he is wrong.
Know this!
Every
person is a child of God. God, the creator of the universe, God loves all
people equally, and there is not a single one of us whom God rejects.
Understand
this, the devil has no children.
There is no
devil.
Acknowledge
your own faults without blaming the “forces of evil.”
Every one
of us has sinned, no one is free from it. Living a saintly life does not wipe
out sin, or make it so that the sins we have committed never happened. God’s
promise is not to erase our sins as if they never happened, but to undo the
harm they have caused to us and others, to transform the consequences of those
sins into something good.
The
teachings of Jesus cannot be treated like a shell game, though they are, and
have been since the beginning, as Matthew’s illustrates.
The way of Jesus
is not a long con, it is not a bait and switch, it is a simple teaching that
cannot be controlled or owned by any one group of people.
The truth
is in the open for anyone to see.
The wise
and the powerful, the learned and the clever, the weak and the meek, everyone
has access to the same truth, to the knowledge of God, of justice, of hope and
love.
Who are the
wise and powerful, who are the learned and the clever, who are the faithful and
childlike. In every generation, you will see a new group labeling the elder
group as out of touch, blind, privileged, in the dark, corrupt.
It is an
endless cycle, and the way remains the same; love justice, be merciful,
do good, serve God through the loving service you provide to one another: your
family, your friend, your neighbor, the stranger, even your enemy.
Just
because a person may be wise and powerful, learned and clever, or a child of
the Church, does not mean they will inerrantly recognize the truth when they
see it, or act upon it when they do.
It is not
your station in society, it is not how other people regard you, it is not the
titles you have earned, or the ways that you have been marginalized that give that
determine how you will fulfill the calling to follow Jesus. What matters is
what is in your heart, and your willingness to trust in the content of your
hope, the hope you hope for yourself and the hope you hope for everyone.
Consider
the Gospel for today.
Much has been written about the sermon on the mount.
It is hard for me to believe that I would have anything new to add to that
discussion, but adding something new is not as important as sharing the story
itself, and how it shapes our understanding of the Gospel.
It is important that we share our perspective and
keep the conversation moving.
In this teaching Jesus shares a way of seeing the
world, of living in society, of understanding our relationship to the creator;
it is a teaching that reverses the expectations that were prevalent in his
time.
He might have said; the providence of heaven belongs
to all people, regardless of who they are or where they came from or how far
they think they are from the love of the creator, no matter what creed they
profess, or what traditions bind them, and no matter how little they may think
about God.
The gentle seek no possessions, they have nothing to
guard, are themselves unguarded and free. By freeing themselves from their
desires they have gained everything.
Have hope, all sadness and all mourning come to an
end.
Strive for what is right and just, for what is
universal and true, for what touches all people, give up your concerns for
yourself and your tribe.
The narrow path leads to misery, and the broad road
leads to joy.
Mercy follows upon mercy, as the sun follows the
rain.
All people will come to the vision of God, as
certain as they will come to know their true selves. The fullness of God is at
the center of all people; it is the indelible bond that connects us to one another,
from the beginning of time to the end.
Accept the parentage of the divine. Take up the task
God has set before us. Love justice, be merciful, make peace.
The providence of heaven belongs to all people, to possess
it you must share.
If you are abused and persecuted for the sake of
peace and mercy. Have no fear, the powers of sin and evil, and the pain they
bring, the reality of sickness and death, these are temporary; they will end.
First Reading – Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14
©
I Saw a Huge Number, Impossible to Count,
of People from Every Nation, Race—Tribe and Language
I, John, 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.’ Then I heard how many were sealed: a hundred and
forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.
After that I saw a huge number, impossible 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 aloud, ‘Victory 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 animals,
prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their
foreheads, worshipping God with these words, ‘Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and
ever. Amen.’
One of the elders then spoke, and asked me, ‘Do you
know who these people are, dressed in white robes, and where they have come
from?’ I answered him, ‘You can tell me, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the
people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their
robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.’
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6
©
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
The Lord’s 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.
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
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.
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
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.
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
Second Reading – 1 John 3:1-3 ©
We Shall be Like God Because We Shall
See Him as He Really Is
Think of the love that the Father has lavished on
us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are.
Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore
it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we are already the children of God but
what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that
when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really
is.
Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify
himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.
Gospel
Acclamation – Matthew 11:28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and
I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew 5:1 –
12a ©
How
Happy Are the Poor in Spirit
Seeing
the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his
disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:
‘How
happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy
the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy
those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
Happy
those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied.
Happy
the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy
the pure in heart: they shall see God.
Happy
the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God.
Happy
those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
‘Happy
are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny
against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great
in heaven.’
The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
All Saints Day, A Holy Day of
Obligation
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