“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven”
Overview
All Saints’ Day begins a season of remembrance, a time when we remember not only the saints great and small but also that we are part of a great community that continues throughout time and eternity.
The images and symbols in Revelation 7:9-17 seem far removed from our everyday lives but the vision tries to capture a sense of that “great multitude” of people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” of which we are a part.
Revelation speaks of those “who have been through the great ordeal” but Matthew 5:1-12 includes the unsung many who daily struggle to bring peace, give comfort and seek justice.
We are not on our own. We are connected to all those who went before us and all those who live out their faith each day across the earth. We are all held in one love. We all believe in the same promise. We share one vision of a world in which God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
The readings encourage us to commit ourselves to living out our faith in the ordinary and everyday trials of life, as well as in times of crisis, knowing that God works in us and that we are supported by that great Cloud of Witnesses to which we belong.
FIRST READING
Revelation 7:9-17
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing,
‘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, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
GOSPEL
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people 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, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
