Today the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints, as it does every year on November 1. As Christians we believe that life is not ended at the moment of death but merely changed. We believe that our relationship with Christ, the Lord, and the Father Who sent Him to us continues even after death. The point to this celebration of All Saints is two fold: Firstly, since relatively few names of the many who have been faithful to their calling to holiness throughout the ages are known to us, this is an opportunity to honor all of them. Secondly, it reminds us of every Christian�s calling to holiness which includes each of us and it is an opportunity to consider what it really means to be committed to Christ. The question raised in my mind by the day itself is, �How faithful am I in my own walk with Christ and His disciples through my own life�? In the Gospel reading, Jesus provides us with a pattern that a faithful life would follow.
First Reading: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
2Then I 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,
3“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.”
4I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the Israelites:
5twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad,
6twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh,
7twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar,
8twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, and twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Benjamin.
9After 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.
10They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.”
11All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God,
12and exclaimed:
“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
14 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.
Notes on First Reading:
* 7:2 In the vision, the elect receive the seal of the living God as protection against the coming cataclysm. See Rev 14:1; Ezekiel 9:4-6; 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; 4:30. The main source of this image is Ezekiel 9.
This verse expresses the ancient belief that God regulated the events of nature through the agency of angels. Thus nature itself can be a means of punishment.
The angel came from the east literally, “rising of the sun” which was considered the source of light and the place of paradise (Genesis 2:8).
The seal was used to mark belongings as well as documents. Whatever was marked by the impression of one�s signet ring belonged to that person and was under his protection.
* 7:4 The numbers are all symbolic. Twelve was the number of fullness, all twelve tribes. 1000 was symbolic of a large multitude or very many.
* 7:9 The words in parentheses were added to identify the antecedent of the personal pronoun. White robes, white garments and palm branches were all common symbols of joy and victory.
* 7:14 The elder takes on the role usually filled by an “interpreting angel” which is common in apocalyptic texts.
The robes represent the inner or spiritual condition of the person. The transformation from soiled (sinful) to clean or white (holy) is related to the death of Christ understood as a sacrifice (blood). The allusion is to repentance, conversion, and baptism all taken together as the transformation of the believer. The great tribulation or ordeal is the intense persecution by the Romans or the crisis at the end-time which also involves persecution. The reference to it implies that the transformation must include perseverance which might result in martyrdom.
Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-3
1 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. 2 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. 3 Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 3:1-3 Jesus Himself is the greatest sign of God�s love because He is the Son of God given for us that has made Christians true children of God. Although this relationship is already a reality, it will not be fully manifest until the life to come. True knowledge of God will ultimately be gained but Christians prepare themselves now by virtuous lives in imitation of the Son.
There are three consequences of this affirmation:
1. Christians do not belong to the world which failed to receive Jesus (John 15:18-19; 17:14-16).
2. Christians will lead lives of holiness like Christ (John 17:17-19).
3. Christians are confident of an even greater salvation in the future (John 17:24).
* 3:2 What (Who) will be revealed is most probably Christ, Himself. There was a common theme in Hellenistic religious literature “that like would know like.” The human who knows God is Divinized. For the Johannine tradition this was mediated through Jesus. Jesus possessed the Divine name and equality with God (John 17:11-12). He has shared that name with His followers (John 17:6, 26). They in turn have shared Jesus� fate at the hands of the world (John 15:21) and will witness His glory (John 17:24). see also 1 Cor 13:12; 2 Cor 3:18.
Gospel Reading: Mt 5:1-12a
1 When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
6Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
NOTES on the Gospel Reading:
* 5:1 This verse begins the first of the five discourses that are a central part of the structure of Matthew�s Gospel. The Lucan parallel is in that gospel�s “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6:20-49), although some of the sayings in Matthew�s “Sermon on the Mount” have their parallels in other parts of Luke. It seems that the careful topical arrangement of the sermon may stem from a previous structured discourse of Jesus that acted as one of Matthew�s sources rather than being his own invention.
Unlike Luke�s sermon, verse 7:28 indicates that this is addressed not only to the disciples but to the crowds.
Oriental teachers of the time taught from a sitting position. Matthew presents the mountain as a mountain of revelation as is common in the Bible.
* 5:2 This is a solemn introduction. While the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew�s construction, the material itself was probably derived from Jesus� own teaching.
* 5:3-12 The linguistic form, “Blessed are (is),” occurs frequently in the Old Testament in the Wisdom literature and in the psalms. Although probably modified by Matthew, the first, second, fourth, and ninth beatitudes have Lucan parallels (Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:4; Luke 6:21,22; Matthew 5:6; Luke 6:21a; Matthew 5:11-12; Luke 5:22-23). The others are believed by most scholars to have been added by the evangelist and are likely to be his own composition. A few manuscripts, Western and Alexandrian, and many versions and patristic quotations give the second and third beatitudes in inverted order.In the Old Testament, the poor (anawim) are those who are without material possessions and whose confidence is in God (see Isaiah 61:1; Zeph 2:3) The NAB translates the word as lowly and humble, respectively, in those texts.
It is likely that Matthew added “in spirit” in order either to limit the term only the devout poor or to extend the beatitude to all, regardless of social rank, who recognized their complete dependence on God. The same phrase, poor in spirit, is found in the Qumran literature.
* 5:4 The Old Testament source for this saying comes from Isaiah 61:2 which reads: “(The Lord has sent me) . . . to comfort all who mourn.” The language used here is called a “theological passive” equivalent to the active “God will comfort them”. This is also the case in Matthew 5:6,7.
* 5:5 The text from Psalm 37:11,”. . . the meek shall possess the land” has been adapted. In the psalm “the land” means the land of Israel but here it means the kingdom.
* 5:8 Psalm 24:4 says that only one “whose heart is clean” can take part in the temple worship. Psalm 42:2 describes being with God in the temple as “beholding His face,” but here the promise to the clean of heart is that they will see God not in the temple but in the coming kingdom.
* 5:10 For Matthew righteousness usually means doing God�s will.
* 5:12 Matthew is placing the disciples in the line and tradition of the persecuted prophets of Israel.
Scripture text: New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Commentary Sources:
Vince Del Greco
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990) (Eds. Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy)