Vol. 36 No. 56                                                                                                (Cycle B)  All SAINTS 31st SUNDAY OF THE YEAR A great reward is kept for you in heaven. ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Let us all rejoice in the Lord and keep a festival in honour of all the saints. Let us join with the angels in joyful praise to the Son of God. PENITENTIAL RITE Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. On this day we remember not only all the canonized saints who are models of radical discipleship to Christ, but also those countless un-canonized holy men and women who faithfully lived their Christian life on earth following the Gospel values. Jesus challenges us to live by the norms of the ‘Beatitudes’, so that we can be happy in this world and enjoy eternal bliss in heaven. Do we give our ear to Jesus’ message? Are we ready to obey God’s will and love God whole-heartedly? For all our failures let us be sorry and ask pardon from the Lord. I confess... Glory to God... OPENING PRAYER Let us pray: God our Father, source of all holiness, the work of your hands is manifest in your saints, the beauty of your truth is reflected in their faith. May we who aspire to have part in their joy be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that having shared their faith on earth we may also know their peace in your kingdom. Grant this through… FIRST READING (St John, in his vision, sees a huge crowd standing before God’s throne. They were from every race, tribe, nation and language. These are people who endured trials of all kinds and purified themselves in the blood of the Lamb.) A reading from the Book of Apocalypse (7: 2-4, 9-14) I John, saw an angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever ! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” This is the Word of the Lord PSALM (23) Response: 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. R./ 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. R./ 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. R./ SECOND READING (St John describes the great love of the Father for each one of us and our dignity as God’s children.) A reading from the First Letter of St John (3: 1-3) See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION (Mt 11:28) Alleluia, alleluia! Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, says the Lord. Alleluia! GOSPEL (In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us ‘the way to true happiness’. In the BEATITUDES Jesus inaugurates his manifesto for his followers with a great promise: “great reward is kept for you in heaven”.) A reading from the Holy Gospel According to St Matthew (5:1-12) Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the holy catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, as we celebrate All Saints Day, let us humbly pray to God through the intercession of all holy men and women for all our needs. Response: Lord, graciously hear us. 1. For the Pope, Bishops and all the pastors of the Church; that they may be endowed with the grace and strength of the saints and become the channels of God’s love, let us pray to the Lord. R./ 2. For the poor, the marginalized and oppressed, that they may have the courage and strength to endure all hardships, with the hope that great reward is kept for them in heaven, let us pray to the Lord. R./ 3. For all who have died in the peace of Christ, that they may be one with the saints in the kingdom of heaven, let us pray to the Lord. R./ 4. For all of us, that we may be inspired by the exemplary lives of the Saints to lead a holy life in the difficult life situations of today, let us pray to the Lord. R./ (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Loving Father, we thank you for so many of our brothers and sisters who are Saints. May the holy lives of the Saints give us inspiration and hope. In your mercy, wash clean our hearts and minds in the precious Blood of Christ, so that we may avoid sin and live a life worthy of our Christian vocation. We ask this… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, receive our gifts in honour of the holy men and women who live with you in glory. May we always be aware of their concern to help and save us. We ask this… PREFACE (P 71) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. Today we keep the festival of your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother. Around your throne the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing your praise for ever. Their glory fills us with joy, and their communion with us in your Church gives us inspiration and strength as we hasten on our pilgrimage of faith, eager to meet them. With their great company and all the angels we praise your glory as we cry out with one voice: All: Holy, holy, holy... COMMUNION ANTIPHON Happy are the pure of heart for they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers; they shall be called the sons of God. Happy are they who suffer persecution for justice sake; the kingdom of heaven is theirs. PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Father, holy one, we praise your glory reflected in the saints. May we who share at this table be filled with your love and prepared for the joy of your kingdom, where Jesus is Lord for ever and ever.   LITURGY AND LIFE   The Kingdom of God is peopled by those who have gone before us and those among us who live Gospel lives. Goodness is not limited to any age of history: neither the past nor the present has a monopoly on saints. We belong to a community that has a history of goodness and fidelity to the Gospel. We are related to those who went before us, those who linked their belief to those who went before them. We are part of that chain of holiness. We are a small part of a marvellous company of believers who struggle into holiness. And we are not abandoned to our own devices; we have our ancestors in faith who are blessed in heaven. In John’s vision he sees “a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language” (Rev 7:9). Among them are counted people who know us and love us. In today’s Gospel we have Jesus’ charter for his kingdom, ‘the beatitudes’, a list of qualities which characterize the sanctified brethren. When we listen to them we can all put faces to virtues. We remember these people and we know them. The people whose simplicity and littleness shine like a light in a world of darkness. The gentle folk whose energetic non-violence will never win medals. Those who cry and mourn their loss because they have tasted the presence of love. The ones who hunger for what is right and who stay hungry until what is right becomes a reality. Those who scandalize us with their mercy because they exclude no one from its embrace. The people who have an undivided heart, whose loyalty to God is never in question. Those who not only look for peace but do everything in their power to make peace and build a kingdom among the ruins. The faithful who are not fair-weather Christians but who suffer persecution for the sake of the Kingdom, and who still manage to smile at their persecutors. Those who are snarled at for their beliefs and who meet abuse with a blessing, who sing a song for the Lord for their captors. Today we join Jesus in the gospel and call them ‘blessed’ (or happy), because in their quiet way they were poor in spirit; hungered and thirsted for what was right, showed mercy to others and were peacemakers. In other words, the saints are people whose set of values transcends their own petty concerns and whose agenda for action is dictated by the needs of God’s people. They are the faithful ones of Jesus Christ. They are real people whose stories may never be told and whose goodness may never be celebrated. We celebrate them today and we bless them in the name of the Lord. Today we honour ordinary people who achieved extraordinary sanctity; ordinary people whose lives seemed to us very humdrum but in God’s eyes were very holy; ordinary people who didn’t always DO saintly things, yet always strove to BE good people. And when we celebrate the feast of All Saints, we are celebrating our own folks, everyone—men, women and children the faithful in Christ whose life is a witness to the love of God. They are our models in sanctity and inspiration to live a life of holiness. The sanctified brethren, today we salute them all. — Fr Denis McBride,C.SS.R.   November 2009 READINGS OF THE WEEK Psalter Week 3 2 Mon (V) ALL SOULS 3 Tue (W) St Martin de Porres, Rom 12:5-16a; Ps 130:1,2,3; Lk 14:15-24 4 Wed (W) St Charles Borromeo, bp (mem) Rom 13:8-10; Ps 111:1-2,4-5,9; Lk 14:25-33 5 Thu (G) Rom 14:7-12; Ps 26:1,4,13-14; Lk 15:1-10 6 Fri (G) Rom 15:14-21; Ps 97:1,2-3ab,3cd-4; Lk 16:1-8 7 Sat (G) Rom 16:3-9,16,22-27; Ps 144:2-3,4-5,10-11; Lk 16:9-15