Solemnity of All Saints (Cycle B, Year I)

Community Word:  True disciples of Christ hunger & thirst for His righteousness.

Theme:    We hunger & thirst for His righteousness when we live out the Beatitudes.

Promise:  “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”(Mt 5:12)

Reflection:

All Saints Day – we honor all the saints, known and unknown, and pray to them that we too may follow in their footsteps and be like them, for we too are children of God.  Like us, saints experienced all kinds of trials while living in this world.  To become a saint is our greatest triumph!  We do not have to do anything extraordinary, but we do have to do ordinary things with extraordinary passion for love of God.

Blessedness is to be like God.  To be blessed generally means to be happy, a quality frequently associated with a person who has accomplished or achieved what he has aspired for.  But in terms of the gospel, blessedness means sharing the characteristics of God, especially His righteousness, which allows us to act and to behave in accordance with the will of God.

To be blessed is to remain with God amidst sufferings and in spite of difficulties.  We believe that God is our true provider and protector.  Let us constantly turn to Him in every situation and problem in life.  To be blessed is to believe and to depend on the assurance that God is in control, and His power and concern for us are our unfailing protection.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints, we are being challenged to live a blessed life, a life rooted in obedience, not in resistance, to the will of God, and strengthened by God’s ways.  We are also challenged to be whom we are celebrating now – holy men and holy women.  We all have the potential to be saints.  But as the Beatitudes remind us, we must be pure of heart, meek, humble, and merciful, and be peacemakers ready to accept persecution for the sake of righteousness and for God’s greater glory.

Let us be like St. Therese of the Child Jesus who said: “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth.”  In the end we can claim God’s promise to us in Matthew 5: 12, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Prayer:
Almighty God, how true it is that when we are poor in spirit, your Kingdom is ours.  Forgive us when we are afraid to suffer and so we do not experience your comfort.  Forgive us that we no longer hunger and thirst for your righteousness and so we are never satisfied.  Lead us to purity of heart that we may see you at work in every person and every situation.  May the blessing, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be among us and remain with us always.  All for your name sake.  Amen

Reflection Questions:
1. Can you name the times you experienced blessedness according to the beatitudes?
2. How are we a source of blessing to others?
3. In what ways are we saint-like?

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
November 1, 2015 (Sun)    Rv 7:2-4,9-14/Ps 24:1-2,3-4,5-6/1 Jn 3:1-3/Mt 5:1-12
November 2, 2015 (Mon)    2Mc 12:43-46,Ps 103/Rom 8:31-35/Jn 14:1-6
November 3, 2015 (Tue)    Rom 12:5-16/Ps 131:1,2,3/Lk 14:15-24
November 4, 2015 (Wed)   Rom 13:8-10/Ps 112:1-2,4-5,9/Lk 14:25-33
November 5, 2015 (Thu)    Rom 14:7-12/Ps 27:1,4,13-14/Lk 15:1-10
November 6, 2015 (Fri)      Rom 15:14-21/Ps 1,2-3,3-4/Lk 16:1-8
November 7, 2015 (Sat)    Rom 16:3-9,16,22-27/Ps 145:2-3,4-5,10-11/Lk 16:9-15

“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.  Read your Bible daily!”

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