(31st Sunday OT B) All Saints’

This year, the Solemnity of All Saints’ (Nov. 1) coincides with the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time. The Gospel reading is taken from Matthew 5:1-12, the so-called “Beatitudes” because beginning with the declaration “Blessed”. The day’s responsorial psalm is about those who will face the Lord: those whose hands are sinless, whose hearts are pure and who desire not vain things. The vision that John narrates in the Apocalypse is one of great comfort especially for those who have been conditioned to think that only a few will be saved. There John sees a countless multitude from different nations, race, and tongue — catholic indeed — who stand before the throne and the lamb after washing their robes white and with the palm of martyrdom in their hands. These are the nameless saints that even now intercede for us who are engaged in the battle of the last days against the forces of the Evil One.

Relevant Articles

• Matthew 5:1-12
• 1 John 3:1-3

Reading The Gospel Text

Study the illustration of the text of Matthew 5:1-12 you find here. Get a piece of paper dividing into two columns and copy on one column all those nouns that are called “blessed”; on the second column, write the reasons for which a group is said to be blessed. Note the following:

1. “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” appears in v. 1 and v. 10. This creates a kind of frame that relates all the phrases you find in the second column under one heading “kingdom of heaven.”. “Kingdom of heaven” is in the Gospel of Matthew the same as “Kingdom of God” which is the content of Jesus’ preaching and the reign he establishes by his words and deeds.
2. Count how many times the word “righteousness” appears. You find it in v. 6 and 10: in the phrase “hunger and thirst for righteousness”, and “for the sake of righteousness”. In Matthew “righteousness” is a key word. In the beatitudes it has the same sense as in Matthew 3:15 when Jesus tells John that they should “fulfill all righteousness”, that is “to do all that is God’s pleasure.” In other words, “righteousness” is equivalent to “God’s will”. Thus, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who wait that God’s will be done, just as those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are those who are made to suffer for doing God’s will.
3. Read verse 11. There you find how the nouns in your first column are actually those who have associated themselves so closely to Jesus that even they suffer what he suffered.
4. Read verse 12. “Rejoice and be glad” is a prophetic imperative reserved for the Israel of the last days. Combining this to the macharism “Blessed”, Jesus is actually saying to the YOU (plural second person, of which the reader should be a part) that the good things God reserves for last is even now being poured on them.

Comparing the Readings

The reading from Revelations is about the magnificent vision of the countless multitudes in white robe before the throne and before the Lamb. They are described as ” from every nation, race, people, and tongue… wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” In a subsequent conversation with one of the elders, John receives a further explanation:

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.
Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night within his temple;
and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more;
the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water;
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:14-17)

In other words these are the saints who have gone before those who were sealed. They come from every nation, race, people and tongue — they are therefore catholic in provenance — and they have washed their robes white in martyrdom. What the elder says about them — that they shall hunger nor thirst anymore, nor be struck by heat, that they will be pastured by the Lamb to springs of living water, and their tears wiped away — create a link with the gospel reading from Matthew. The nameless saints that stand before the throne and the Lamb are the object of this Sunday’s commemoration. We remember them because as they are, so we are also meant to be.

The second reading from 1 John emphasizes our having become “children” of God by grace. More about this here.

Suggestions for the Lesson

Since the day is a Solemnity, it would be best first, to distinguish “All Saints” from “All Souls’” Day. This day’s celebration is for those who have passed on from the purificatory fires of God’s love into His presence while tomorrow’s celebration are for those who are still being purified. Second, one will need to explain the rationale of the feast and its relevance. Here, what the Catechism teaches about “the communion of the saints” should be given emphasis (see CCC 946-959)