THE VICTORY OF GOD IN THE SAINTS

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

Rev 7:2-4,9-14; Ps 24:1-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12

The Blessed Children of the Eternal Father

We celebrate the solemn feast of All Saints. It is a celebration of all the triumphant members of the Church. We praise and thank God for the great work of salvation he has accomplished in our brothers and sisters who have made it to the banquet of heaven, now waiting for us to complete their number. The revelation given to John captures the essence of our celebration. “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 front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands.” This vision confirms what we have reflected on from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians throughout the week. We contemplate the mystery of God’s heavenly blessings given to all peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike, in Jesus Christ. He explained how faith in Jesus Christ admits everyone to the eternal inheritance God has prepared for us. Both the number of Jews and innumerable numbers from the Gentile world were standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb. The vision confirms that God redeemed all of them by the Blood of the Lamb of God, indicated by their white robes. They were saved through the humanity of the Eternal Word and the will of the Father. Every single one of the redeemed walked the difficult and narrow path that leads to death. Hence, their shouting: “Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

We called them blessed ones because the will of the Father reigns supreme in their lives through the efficacy of the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. The angel explained this to John. “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.” They were sinners like us, but through faith, the Lamb washed away their sins with his blood. This is by the eternal will of the Father who lavished his love on us even before the world began in Christ. “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.” The evidence of this love of the Father is the presence of his Son in our nature. His coming to dwell among us was not because of anything we have done but because of the Father’s love for us. Through this eternal love, he blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heaven. Thus, John confidently holds that we shall be like the Son when the Father reveals him. His faith turned to vision in what he presented to us, the blessed standing in front of the Lamb, singing his praise in worship of him and the Father.

Our constant dwelling on this thought of the Father’s everlasting love for us propels us on our journey on the narrow and difficult path. We grow in the knowledge of the love of the Father by contemplating the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ daily. This is the blessed path the Lord laid before us in his sermon on the Beatitudes. “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.” In these beatitudes, the Lord shows us the path leading to the inheritance of the heavenly blessings. It is the path of those seeking the face of God. Understanding the love of the Father to some extent, helps us to divest ourselves of worldly things to seek the heavenly riches, to be gentle of heart, to mourn our sins and the sins of others against God, to hunger for righteousness, to show mercy to others, to purify our hearts of impurities, to make peace with everyone, to suffer persecution in the cause of right, to endure calumny and abuse for the love of him who loved us to death. This blessed path leads to heaven. “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.” Let us seek to do the will of the Father in all things for the love he bears for us.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, by whose gift we venerate in one celebration the merits of all the Saints, bestow on us, we pray, through the prayers of so many intercessors, an abundance of the reconciliation with you for which we earnestly long. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.