Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-01-13, Solemnity, All Saints Day

Responsorial Psalm PS 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

21 posted on 10/31/2013 9:03:38 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Daily Gospel Commentary

All Saints - Solemnity

Commentary of the day
Catechism of the Catholic Church
§ 946, 955-961

« I believe in the communion of saints »

After confessing "the holy catholic Church," the Apostles' Creed adds "the communion of saints." In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?" (Nicetas) The communion of saints is the Church...

The communion of the Church of heaven and of earth: "So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods" (Vatican II, LG49). The intercession of the saints: "Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped” (LG 49). “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life” (St. Dominic); “I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth” (St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus).

Communion with the saints...: "Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom... issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself" (LG 50)... In the one family of God: "For if we continue to love one another and to join in praising the Most Holy Trinity - all of us who are sons of God and form one family in Christ - we will be faithful to the deepest vocation of the Church" (LG 51).

In brief: The Church is a "communion of saints": this expression refers first to the "holy things", above all the Eucharist, by which "the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both represented and brought about" (LG 3). The term "communion of saints" refers also to the communion of "holy persons" in Christ who "died for all," so that what each one does or suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all.

22 posted on 10/31/2013 9:18:24 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Friday, November 01, 2013
All Saints (Solemnity)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
Psalm 24:1-6
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord: seek ye the Lord, and be strengthened: seek His face evermore.

-- Psalm civ. 3,4

23 posted on 10/31/2013 9:21:07 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Thanks for the Litany to the Holy souls in Purgatory. I am off to Mass shortly, will print this out and pray for all souls.

24 posted on 11/01/2013 4:46:38 AM PDT by Gerish (Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.)

Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 5
1.	AND seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him.	Videns autem Jesus turbas, ascendit in montem, et cum sedisset, accesserunt ad eum discipuli ejus,	ιδων δε τους οχλους ανεβη εις το ορος και καθισαντος αυτου προσηλθον αυτω οι μαθηται αυτου
2.	And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying:	et aperiens os suum docebat eos dicens :	και ανοιξας το στομα αυτου εδιδασκεν αυτους λεγων
3.	Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	Beati pauperes spiritu : quoniam ipsorum est regnum cælorum.	μακαριοι οι πτωχοι τω πνευματι οτι αυτων εστιν η βασιλεια των ουρανων
4.	Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.	Beati mites : quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram.	μακαριοι οι πενθουντες οτι αυτοι παρακληθησονται
5.	Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.	Beati qui lugent : quoniam ipsi consolabuntur.	μακαριοι οι πραεις οτι αυτοι κληρονομησουσιν την γην
6.	Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.	Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam : quoniam ipsi saturabuntur.	μακαριοι οι πεινωντες και διψωντες την δικαιοσυνην οτι αυτοι χορτασθησονται
7.	Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.	Beati misericordes : quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur.	μακαριοι οι ελεημονες οτι αυτοι ελεηθησονται
8.	Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.	Beati mundo corde : quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt.	μακαριοι οι καθαροι τη καρδια οτι αυτοι τον θεον οψονται
9.	Blesses are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.	Beati pacifici : quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur.	μακαριοι οι ειρηνοποιοι οτι αυτοι υιοι θεου κληθησονται
10.	Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter justitiam : quoniam ipsorum est regnum cælorum.	μακαριοι οι δεδιωγμενοι ενεκεν δικαιοσυνης οτι αυτων εστιν η βασιλεια των ουρανων
11.	Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake:	Beati estis cum maledixerint vobis, et persecuti vos fuerint, et dixerint omne malum adversum vos mentientes, propter me :	μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον ρημα καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου
12.	Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.	gaudete, et exsultate, quoniam merces vestra copiosa est in cælis. Sic enim persecuti sunt prophetas, qui fuerunt ante vos.	χαιρετε και αγαλλιασθε οτι ο μισθος υμων πολυς εν τοις ουρανοις ουτως γαρ εδιωξαν τους προφητας τους προ υμων

25 posted on 11/01/2013 5:16:02 AM PDT by annalex (fear them not)

1. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when he was set, His disciples came to Him.
2. And he opened His mouth, and taught them, saying,
3. Blessed are they the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Every man in his own trade or profession rejoices when he sees an opportunity of exercising it; the carpenter if he sees a goodly tree desires to have it to cut down to employ his skill on, and the Priest when he sees a full Church, his heart rejoices, he is glad of the occasion to teach. So the Lord seeing a great congregation of people was stirred to teach them.

AUG. Or he may be thought to have sought to shun the thickest crowd, and to have ascended the mountain that He might speak to His disciples alone.

CHRYS. By not choosing his seat in the city, and the market place, but on a mountain in a desert, he has taught us to do nothing with ostentation, and to depart from crowds, above all when we are to be employed in philosophy, or in speaking of serious things.

REMIG. This should be known, that the Lord had three places of retirement that we read of, the ship, the mountain, and the desert; to one of these He was accustomed to withdraw whenever he was pressed by the multitude.

JEROME; Some of the less learned brethren suppose the Lord to have spoken what follows front the Mount of Olives, which is by no means the case; what went before and what follows fixes the place in Galilee. Mount Tabor. We may suppose, or any other high mountain.

CHRYS. He ascended a mountain, first, that He might fulfill the prophecy of Esaias, Get you up into a mountain; Secondly, to show that as well he who teaches, as he who hears the righteousness of God should stand on an high ground of spiritual virtues; for none can abide in the valley and speak from a mountain. If you stand on the earth, speak of the earth; if you speak of heaven, stand in heaven. Or, He ascended into the mountain to show that all who would learn the mysteries of the truth should go up into the Mount of the Church of which the Prophet speaks, The hill of God is a hill of fatness.

HILARY; Or, He ascends the mountain, because it is placed in the loftiness of His Father's Majesty that He gives commands of heavenly life.

AUG. Or, he ascends the mountain to show that the precepts of righteousness given by God through the Prophets to the Jews, who were yet under the bondage of fear, were the lesser commandments; but that at by His own Son were given the greater commandments to a people which he had determined to deliver by love.

JEROME; He spoke to them sitting and not standing, for they could not have understood Him had He appeared in His own Majesty.

AUG. Or, to teach sitting is the prerogative of the Master. His disciples came to him, that they who in spirit approached more nearly to keeping His commandments, should also approach Him nearest with their bodily presence.

RABANUS; Mystically, this sitting down of Christ is His incarnation; had He not taken flesh on Him, mankind could not have come to Him.

AUG. It causes a thought how it is that Matthew relates this sermon to have been delivered by the Lord sitting on the mountain; Luke, as he stood in the plain. This diversity in their accounts would lead us to think that the occasions were different. Why should not Christ repeat once more what He said before, or do once more what he had done before? Although another method of reconciling the two may occur to us; namely, that our Lord was first with His disciples alone on some more lofty peak of the mountain when he chose the twelve; that He then descended with them not from the mountain entirely, but from the top to some expanse of level ground in the side, capable of holding a great number of people; that he stood there while the crowd was gathering around Him, and after when He had sat down, then his disciples came near to Him, and so to them and in the presence of the rest of the multitude He spoke the same sermon on which Matthew and Luke give, in a different manner, but with equal truth of facts.

GREG. When time Lord on the mountain is about to utter His sublime precepts, it is said Opening his mouth he taught them, he who had before opened the mouth of the Prophets.

REMIG. Wherever it is said that the Lord opened His mouth, we may know how great things are to follow.

AUG. Or, the phrase is introductory of an address longer than ordinary.

CHRYS. Or, that we may understand that He sometimes teaches by opening His mouth in speech, sometimes by that voice which resounds from His works.

AUG. Whoever will take the trouble to examine with a pious and sober spirit, will find in this sermon a perfect code of the Christian life as far as relates to the conduct of daily life. Accordingly the Lord concludes it with the Every man who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, &c.

AUG. The chief good is the only motive of philosophical inquiry; but whatever confers blessedness, that is the chief good; therefore He begins, Blessed are the poor in spirit.

ID. Augmentation of 'spirit' generally implies insolence and pride. For in common speech the proud are said to have a great spirit, and rightly - for wind is a spirit, and who does not know that we say of proud men that they are 'swollen,' 'puffed up.' Here therefore by poor in spirit are rightly understood 'lowly,' 'fearing God,' not having a puffed up spirit. -

CHRYS. Or, He here calls all loftiness of soul and temper spirit; for as there are many humble against their will, constrained by their outward condition, they have no praise; the blessing is on those who humble themselves by their own choice. Thus He begins at once at the root, pulling up pride which is the root and source of all evil, setting up as its opposite humility as a firm foundation. If this be well laid, other virtues may be firmly built thereon; if that be sapped, whatever good you gather upon it perishes.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Blessed are the poor in spirit, or, according to the literal rendering of the Greek, 'they who beg,' that the humble may learn that they should be ever begging at God's almshouse. For there are many naturally humble and not of faith, who do not knock at God's almshouse; but they alone are humble who are so of faith.

CHRYS. Or, the poor in spirit may be those who fear and tremble at God's commandments, whom the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah commends. Though why more than simply humble? Of the humble there may be in this place but few, in that again an abundance.

AUG. The proud seek an earthly kingdom, of the humble only is the kingdom of Heaven.

PSEUD-CHRYS. For as all other vices, but chiefly pride, casts down to hell; so all other virtues, but chiefly humility, conduct to Heaven; it is proper that he that humbles himself should be exalted.

JEROME; The poor in spirit are those who embrace a voluntary poverty for the sake of the Holy Spirit.

AMBROSE; In the eye of Heaven blessedness begins there where misery begins in human estimation.

GLOSS. The riches of Heaven are suitably promised to those who at this present are in poverty.

4. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.

AMBROSE; When you have done thus much, attained both poverty and meekness remember that you are a sinner, mourn your sins, as he proceeds, Blessed are they that mourn. And it is suitable that the third blessing should be of those that mourn for sin, for it is the Trinity that forgives sin.

HILARY; Those that mourn, that is not loss of kindred, affronts, or losses, but who weep for past sins.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. And they who weep for their own sins are blessed, but much more so who weep for others' sins; so should all teachers do.

JEROME; For the mourning here meant is not for the dead by common course of nature, but for the dead in sins, and vices. Thus Samuel mourned for Saul, thus the Apostle Paul mourned for those who had not performed penance after uncleanness.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. The comfort of mourners is the ceasing of their mourning; they then who mourn their own sins shall be consoled when they have received remittance thereof.

CHRYS. And though it were enough for such to receive pardon, yet he rests not His mercy only there, but makes them partakers of many comforts both here and hereafter. God's mercies are always greater than our troubles.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. But they also who mourn for others' sins shall be comforted, inasmuch as they shall own God's providence in that worldly generation, understanding that they who had perished were not of God, out of whose hand none can snatch. For these leaving to mourn, they shall be comforted in their own blessedness.

AUG. Otherwise; mourning is sorrow for the loss of what is dear; but those that are turned to God lose the things that they held dear in this world; and as they have now no longer any joy in such things as before they had joy in, their sorrow may not be healed till there is formed within them a love of eternal things. They shall then be comforted by the Holy Spirit, who is therefore chiefly called, The Paraclete, that is , 'Comforter;' so that for the loss of their temporal joys, they shall gain eternal joys.

GLOSS. Or, by mourning, two kinds of sorrow are intended; one for the miseries of this world, one for lack of heavenly things; so Caleb's daughter asked both the upper and the lower springs. This kind of mourning none have but the poor and the meek, who as not having the world acknowledge themselves miserable, and therefore desire heaven. Suitably, therefore, consolation is promised to them that mourn, that he who has sorrow at this present may have joy hereafter. But the reward of the mourner is greater than that of the poor or the meek, for to rejoice in the kingdom is more than to have it, or to possess it; for many things we possess in sorrow.

CHRYS. We may remark that this blessing is given most simply, but with great force and emphasis; it is most simply, 'who have grief,' but who mourn. And indeed this command is the sum of all philosophy. For if they who mourn for the death of children or kinsfolk, throughout all that season of their sorrow, are touched with no other desires, as of money, or honor, burn not with envy, feel not wrongs, nor are open to any other vicious passion, but are solely given up to their grief; much more ought they, who mourn their own sins in such manner as they ought to mourn for them, to show this higher philosophy.

5. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

AMBROSE; When I have learned contentment in poverty, the next lesson is to govern my heart and temper. For what good is it to me to be without worldly things, unless I have besides a meek spirit? It suitably follows therefore, Blessed are the meek.

AUG. The meek are they who resist not wrongs, and give way to evil; but overcome evil of good.

AMBROSE; Soften therefore your temper that you be not angry, at least that you be angry, and sin not. It is a noble thing to govern passion by reason; nor is it a less virtue to check anger, than to be entirely without anger, since one is esteemed the sign of a weak, the other of a strong, mind.

AUG. Let the unyielding then wrangle and quarrel about earthly and temporal things, the meek are blessed, for they shall inherit the earth, and not be rooted out of it; that earth of which it is said in the Psalms, Your lot is in the land of the living, meaning the fixedness of a perpetual inheritance, in which the soul that has good dispositions rests as in its own place, as the body does in an earthly possession, it is fed by its own food, as the body by the earth; such is the rest and the life of the saints.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. This earth as some interpret, so long as it is in its present condition is the land of the dead, seeing it is subject to vanity; but when t is freed from corruption it becomes the land of the living, that the mortal may inherit an immortal country. I have read another exposition of it, as if the heaven in which the saints are to dwell is meant by the land of the living, because compared with the regions of death it is heaven, compared with the heaven above it is earth. Others again say, that this body as longs as it is subject to death is the land of the dead, when it shall be made like to Christ's glorious body, it will be the land of the living.

HILARY; Or, the Lord promises the inheritance of the earth to the meek, meaning of that Body, which Himself took on Him as his tabernacle; and as by the gentleness of our minds Christ dwells in us, we also shall be clothed with the glory of His renewed body.

CHRYS. Otherwise; Christ here has mixed things sensible with things spiritual. Because it is commonly supposed that he who is meek loses all that he possesses, Christ here gives a contrary promise, that he who is not forward shall possess his own in security, but that he of a contrary disposition many times loses his soul and his paternal inheritance. But because the Prophet had said, The meek shall inherit the earth, he used those well-known words in conveying His meaning

GLOSS. The meek, who have possessed themselves, shall possess hereafter the inheritance of the Father; to possess is more than to have, for we have many things which we lose immediately.

6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

AMBROSE; As soon as I have wept for my sins, I begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness. He who is afflicted with any sore disease, has no hunger.

JEROME; it is not enough that we desire righteousness, unless were also suffer hunger for it, by what expression we may understand that we are never righteous enough, but always hunger after works of righteousness.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. All good which men do not from love of the good itself is unpleasing before God. He hungers after righteousness who desires to walk according to the righteousness of God; he thirsts after righteousness who desires to get the knowledge thereof.

CHRYS. He may mean either general righteousness, or that particular virtue which is the opposite of covetousness. As he was going out to speak of mercy, He shows beforehand of what kind our mercy should be, that it should not be of the gains of plunder or covetousness, hence he ascribes to righteousness that which is peculiar to avarice, namely, to hunger and thirst.

HILARY; The blessedness which He appropriates to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shows that the deep longing of the saints for the doctrine of God shall receive perfect replenishment in heaven; then they shall be filled.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. Such; is the botany of a rewarding God, that at His gifts are greater than the desires of the saints.

AUG. Or he speaks of food with which they sat and he filled at this present; to wit, that food of which the Lord spoke, My food is to do the will of my Father, that is, righteousness, and that water of which whoever drinks it shall be in him a well of water springing up to life eternal.

CHRYS. Or, this is again a promise of a temporal reward; for as covetousness is thought to make many rich, He affirms on the contrary that righteousness rather makes rich, for he who loves righteousness possesses all things in safety.

7. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

GLOSS. Justice and mercy are so united, that the one ought to be mingled with the other; justice without mercy is cruelty; mercy without justice, profusion - hence He goes on to the one from the other.

REMIG. The merciful is he who has a sad heart; he counts others' misery his own, and is sad at their grief as at his own.

JEROME; Mercy here is not said only of alms, but is in every sin of a brother, if we bear one another's burdens.

AUG. He pronounces those blessed who succor the wretched, because they are rewarded in being themselves delivered from all misery; as it follows, for they shall obtain mercy.

HILARY; So greatly is God pleased with our feelings of benevolence towards all men, that He will bestow His own mercy only on the merciful.

CHRYS. The reward here seems at first to be only an equal return; but indeed it is much more; for human mercy and divine mercy are not to be put on an equality.

GLOSS. Justly is mercy dealt out to the merciful, that they should receive more than they had deserved; and as he who has more than enough receives more than he who has only enough so the glory of mercy is greater than that of the things hitherto mentioned.

8. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

AMBROSE; The merciful loses the benefit of his mercy unless he shows it from a pure heart; for if he seeks to have whereof to boast, he loses the fruit of his deeds; the next that follows therefore is, Blessed are the pure in heart.

GLOSS. Purity of heart comes properly in the sixth place, because on the sixth day man was created in the image of God, which image was shrouded by sin, but is formed anew in pure hearts by grace. It follows rightly the before - mentioned graces, because if they be not there, a clean heart is not created in a man.

CHRYS. By the pure are here meant those who possess a perfect goodness, conscious to themselves of no evil thoughts, or again those who live in such temperance as is mostly necessary to seeing God according to that of St. Paul, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall all see God. For as there are many merciful, yet unchaste, to show that mercy alone is not enough, he adds this concerning purity.

JEROME; The pure is known by purity of heart for the temple of God cannot be impure.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. He who is in thought and deed fulfills all righteousness, sees God in his heart, for righteousness is an image of God, for God is righteousness. So far as any one has rescued himself from evil and works things that are good, so far does he see God either hardly, or fully, or sometimes, or always, according to the capabilities. of human nature. But in that world to come the pure in heart shall see God face to face not in a glass, and in enigma as here.

AUG. They are foolish who seek to see God with the bodily eye, seeing He is seen only by the heart, as it is elsewhere written, In singleness of heart seek you Him; the single heart is the same as is here called the pure heart. ID. But if spiritual eyes in the spiritual body shall be able only to see so much as they we now have can see, undoubtedly God will not be able to be seen of them. ID. This seeing God is the reward of faith; to which end our hearts are made pure by faith, as it is written, cleansing their hearts by faith; but the present verse proves this still more strongly. ID. No one seeing God can be alive with the life men have on earth or with these our bodily senses. Unless one die altogether out of this life, either by totally departing from the body, or so alienated from carnal lusts that he may truly say with the Apostle, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, he is not translated that he should see this vision.

GLOSS. The reward of these is greater than the reward of the first; being not merely to dine in the King's court, but further to see His face.

9. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

AMBROSE; When you have made your inward parts clean from every spot of sin, that dissensions and contentions may not proceed from your temper, begin peace within yourself, that so you may extend it to others.

AUG. Peace is time fixedness of order; by order, I mean an arrangement of things like and unlike giving to each its own place. And as there is no man who would not willingly have joy, so is there no man who would not have peace; since even those who go to war desire nothing more than by war to come to a glorious peace.

JEROME; The peacemakers are pronounced blessed, they namely who make peace first within their own hearts, then between brethren at variance. For what avails it to make peace between others, while in your own heart are wars of rebellious vices.

AUG. The peacemakers within themselves are they who having stilled all disturbances of their spirits, having subjected them to reason, have overcome their carnal desires., and become the kingdom of God. There all things are so disposed, that that which is most chief and excellent in man, governs those parts. which we have in common with the brutes, though they struggle against it; nay even that in man which is excellent is subjected to a yet greater, namely, the very Truths, the Son of God. For it would not be able to govern what is inferior to it, if it were not subject to what is above it. And this is the peace which is given on earth to men of good will.

ID. No man can attain in this life that there be not in his members a law resisting the law of his mind. But the peacemakers attain thus fat by overcoming the lusts of the flesh, that in time they come to a most perfect peace.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. The peacemakers with others are not only those who reconcile enemies, but those who unmindful of wrongs cultivate peace. That peace only is blessed which is lodged in the heart, and does not consist only in words. And they who love peace, they are the sons of peace.

HILARY; The blessedness of the peacemakers is the reward of adoption, they shall be called the sons of God. For God is our communion parent, and no other way can we pass into His family than by living in brotherly love together.

CHRYS. Or, if the peacemakers are they who do not contend one with another, but reconcile those that are at strife, they are rightly called the sons of God, seeing that was the chief employment of the only begotten Son, to reconcile things separated, to give peace to things at war.

AUG. Or, because peace is then perfect when there is no where any opposition, the peacemakers are called the sons of God, because nothing resists God, and the children ought to bear the likeness of their Father.

GLOSS. The peacemakers have thus the place of highest honor, inasmuch as he who is called the king's son, is the highest in the king's house. This beatitude is placed the seventh in order, because in the sabbath shall be given the repose of true peace, time six ages being passed away.

10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

CHRYS; Blessed are they who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake, that is for virtue, for defending others, for piety, for all these things are spoken of under the title of righteousness. This follows the beatitude upon the peacemakers, that we may not be led to suppose that it is good to seek peace at all times.

AUG. When peace is once firmly established within, whatever persecutions he who has been cast without raises, or carries on, he increases that glory which is the sight of God.

JEROME; For righteousness' sake He adds expressly, for many suffer persecution for their sins, and are not therefore righteousness. Likewise consider how the eighth beatitude of the true circumcision is terminated by martyrdom.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. he said not, Blessed are they who suffers persecution of the Gentiles; that we may not suppose the blessing pronounced on those only who are persecuted for refusing to sacrifice to idols; yea, whoever suffers persecution of heretics because he will not forsake the truth is likewise blessed, seeing he suffers for righteousness. Moreover, if any of the great ones, who seem to be Christians, being corrected by you on account of his sins, shall persecute you, you are blessed with John the Baptist. For if the Prophets are truly martyrs when they are killed by their own countrymen, without a doubt he who suffers in the cause of God has the reward of martyrdom though he suffers from his own people. Scripture therefore does not mention the persons of the persecutors, but only the cause of the persecution, that you may learn to look, not by whom but why you suffer.

HILARY; Thus, lastly, He includes those in the beatitudes whose will is ready to suffer all things for Christ, who is our righteousness. For these then also is the kingdom preserved, for they are in the contempt of this world poor in spirit.

AUG. Or, the eighth beatitude, as it were, returns to the commencement, because it shows the perfect complete character. In the first then and the eighth, the kingdom of heaven is named, for the seven go to make the perfect man, the eighth manifests and proves his perfectness, that all may be conducted to perfection by these steps.

AMBROSE; Otherwise; the first kingdom of heaven was promised to the Saints, in deliverance from this body; the second, that after the resurrection they should be with Christ. For after your resurrection you should begin to possess the earth delivered from death, and in that possession shall find comfort. Pleasure follows comfort, and His divine mercy pleasure. But on whom God has mercy, him He calls, and he whom he calls, behold Him that called him. He who beholds God is adopted into the rights of divine birth, and then at length as the son of God is delighted with the riches of the heavenly kingdom. The first then begins, the last is perfected.

CHRYS. Wonder not if you do not hear the kingdom mentioned under each beatitude; for in saying shall be comforted, shall find mercy, and the rest, in all these the kingdom of heaven is tacitly understood, so that you must not look for any of the things of sense. For indeed he would not be blessed who was to be crowned with those things which depart with this life.

AUG. The number of these sentences should be carefully attended to; to these seven degrees of blessedness agree the operation of that seven - form Holy Spirit which Isaiah described. But as He began from the highest, so here he begins from the lowest; for there we are taught that the Son of God will descend to the lowest; here that man will ascend from the lowest to the likeness of God. Here the first place is given to fear, which is suitable for the humble, of whom it is said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, that is, those who think not high things, but who fear. The second is piety, which belongs to the meek; for he who seeks piously, reverences, does not find fault, does not resist; and this is to become meek. The third is knowledge, which belongs to those that mourn, who have learned to what evils they are enslaved which they once pursued as goods. The fourth, which is fortitude, rightly belongs to those who hunger and thirst, who are seeking joy in true goods, labor to turn away from earthly lusts. The fifth, counsel, is appropriate for the merciful, for there is one remedy to deliver form so great evils, viz. to give and to distribute to others. The sixth is understanding, and belongs to the pure in heart, who with purged eye can see what eye sees not. The seventh is wisdom, and may be assigned to the peacemakers, in whom is no rebellious motion, but they obey the Spirit. Thus the one reward, the kingdom of heaven, is put forth under various names. In the first, as was right, is placed the kingdom of heaven, which is the beginning of perfect wisdom; as if it should be said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To the meek, an inheritance, as to those who with piety seek the execution of a father's ill. To those that mourn, comfort, as to persons who know what they had lost, and in what they were immersed. To the hungry, plenty, as a refreshment to those who labor for salvation. To the merciful, mercy, that to those who have followed the best counsel, that may be showed which they have showed to others. To the pure in heart the faculty of seeing God, as to men hearing a pure eye to understand the things of eternity. To the peacemakers, the likeness of God. And all these things we believe may be attained in this life, as we believe they were fulfilled in the Apostles; for as to the things after this life they cannot be expressed in any words.

11. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.
12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

RABANUS; The preceding blessings were general; he now begins to address His discourse to them that were present, foretelling them the persecutions which they should suffer for His name.

AUG. It may be asked, what difference there is between 'they shall revile you'; and 'shall speak all manner of evil of you;' to revile, it may be said, being but to speak evil of. But a reproach thrown with insult in the face of one present is a different thing from a slander cast on the character of the absent. To persecute includes both open violence and secret snares.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. But if it be true that he who offers a cup of water does not lose his reward, consequently he who has been wronged but by a single word of calumny, shall not be without a reward. But that the reviled may have a claim to this blessing, two things are necessary, it must be false, and it must he for God's sake; otherwise he has not the reward of this blessing; therefore he adds, falsely for my sake.

AUG. This I suppose was added because of those who wish to boast of persecutions and evil reports of their shame, and therefore claim to belong to Christ because many evil things are said of them; but either these are true, or when false yet they are not for Christ's sake.

GREG. What hurt can you receive when men detract from you, though you have no defense but only your own conscience? But as we ought not to stir up willfully the tongues of slanderers, lest they perish for their slander, yet when their own malice has instigated them, we should endure it with equanimity, that our merit may be added to. Rejoice, he says, and exult, for your reward is abundant in heaven,

GLOSS. Rejoice, that is, in mind, exult with the body, for your reward is not great only but abundant in heaven.

AUG. Do not suppose that by heaven here is meant the upper regions of the sky of this visible world, for your reward is not to be placed in things that are seen, but by in heaven understand the spiritual firmament, where everlasting righteousness dwells. Those then whose joy is in things spiritual will even here have some foretaste of that reward; but it will be unable perfect in every part when this mortal shall have put on immortality.

JEROME; This it is in the power of any one of us to attain, that when our good character is injured by calumny, we rejoice in the Lord. He only who seeks after empty glory cannot attain this. Let us then rejoice and exult, that our reward may be prepared for us in heaven.

PSEUDO- CHRYS. For by how much any is pleased with the praise of men, by so much is he grieved with their evil speaking. But if you seek your glory in heaven, you will not fear any slanders on earth.

GREG; Yet ought we sometimes to check our defamers, lest by spreading evil reports of us, they corrupt the innocent hearts of those who might hear good from us.

GLOSS. He invites them to patience not only by the prospect of reward, but by example, when He adds, for so persecuted they the Prophets who were before you.

REMIG. For a man in sorrow receives great comfort from the recollection of the sufferings of others, who are set before him as an example of patience; as if he had said, Remember that you are His Apostles, of whom also they were Prophets.

CHRYS. At the same time He signifies His equality in honor with His Father, as if He had said, As they suffered for my Father, so shall you suffer for me. And in saying, The Prophets who were before you, He teaches that they themselves are already become Prophets.

AUG. Persecuted He says generally, comprehending both reproaches and defamation of character.

Catena Aurea Matthew 5

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All Saints of British Isles and Ireland

Paul Drozdowski, iconographer

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All Saints

All Saints
Solemnity
November 1

Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven
Fra Angelico - 1428-30, Tempera on wood - National Gallery, London

"The glorious company of the apostles praise Thee.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise Thee.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise Thee.
All Thy saints and elect with one voice do acknowledge Thee,
O Blessed Trinity, one God!"
-- Feast of All Saints (November 1), Antiphon at Lauds. from the Te Deum

Prayers - Scripture Readings | Family Activities

Origin of All Saint's Day as a feast of the ChurchWhat makes this feast so important that the Church celebrates both the night before All Saints and the day after it?
The Church has always honored those early witnesses to the Christian faith who have died in the Lord. (The Greek word for "witness" is martyr.) During the first three hundred years Christians were serverly persecuted, often suffering torture and bloody death -- because they were faithful . They refused to deny Christ, even when this denial might have saved their own lives, or the lives of their children and families.
The early history of the Church is filled with stories of the heroic faith of these of witnesses to Christ's truth. The stories of these saints -- these baptized Christians of all ages and all states in life, whose fidelity and courage led to their sanctity or holiness -- have provided models for every other Christian throughout history.
Many of those especially holy people whose names and stories were known, the Church later canonized (that is, the Church formally recognized that the life of that person was without any doubt holy, or sanctified -- a "saint" who is an example for us.) The Church's calendar contains many saint's days, which Catholics observe at Mass -- some with special festivities.
But there were thousands and thousands of early Christian martyrs, the majority of whose names are known only to God -- and throughout the history of the Church there have been countless others who really are saints, who are with God in heaven, even if their names are not on the list of canonized saints.
In order to honor the memory -- and our own debt -- to these unnamed saints, and to recall their example, the Church dedicated a special feast day -- a sort of "memorial day" -- so that all living Christians would celebrate at a special Mass the lives and witness of those "who have died and gone before us into the presence of the Lord".
This feast that we know as All Saint's Day originated as a feast of All Martyrs, sometime in the 4th century. At first it was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. It came to be observed on May 13 when Pope St. Boniface IV (608-615) restored and rebuilt for use as a Christian church an ancient Roman temple which pagan Rome had dedicated to "all gods", the Pantheon. The pope re-buried the bones of many martyrs there, and dedicated this Church to the Mother of God and all the Holy Martyrs on May 13, 610.
About a hundred years later, Pope Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a new chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all saints (not just to the martyrs) on November 1, and he fixed the anniversary of this dedication as the date of the feast.
A century after that, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration of All Saints to November 1 for the entire Church.
The vigil of this important feast, All Saint's Eve, Hallowe'en, was apparently observed as early as the feast itself.
Ever since then -- for more than a millennium -- the entire Church has celebrated the feast of All Saints on November 1st, and, of course, Hallowe'en on October 31.
It is a principal feast of the Catholic Church. It is a holy day of obligation, which means that all Catholics are to attend Mass on that day.

Prayers, Scripture Readings for All SaintsCollect
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,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.
First Reading: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
I, John, saw another 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 worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor 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.
Second Reading: 1 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 every one who thus hopes in Him purifies Himself as He is pure.
Gospel Reading:
When Jesus saw the crowds, He 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.

All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation. The principal activity for every Catholic family today is to go to Mass -- together, if possible. (Note Liturgical Calendar)Other family activities:

After school, read (re-read) to your children Saint John's vision of the Resurrection of the Saints that we heard at Mass today. It is from the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse), chapter 7:2-4, 9-14.
Have them draw pictures of the descriptions it contains. Michelangelo's famous painting of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel was inspired by this scripture passage. Your refrigerator is not the Sistine Chapel, but it's a good place to display the kids' pictures!
Talk (or read) to your children about the saints they are named for. If you don't already have a good "age-appropriate" book to read from, prepare in advance by looking up the saint on this web site, or by reading from, say, Butler's Lives of the Saints, and tell them the story in your own words.
Have each child choose a favorite saint, and make a booklet of their own about the saint's life. See the saint pages on this web site.
Help them focus on how this saint gave an example of unusual courage, or devotion, or dedication to others, and how we can learn from their example.
Take the children to a religious goods shop and allow the children to look for a medal or small statue of their own patron saint, or another favorite saint, along with a prayer card for that saint to use for bed time prayers. Ask your parish priest to bless these images for the children. (They can give them to the priest themselves for the blessings.
Teach children the great hymn For All the Saints (here from The Adoremus Hymnal).

Copyright © 2000 by Helen Hull Hitchcock. Permission is hereby granted to print these pages for private use. For all other uses, permission must be requested.

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS, POPE BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS MESSAGE
St Peter's Square
Monday, November 1, 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Solemnity of All Saints, which we celebrate today, invites us to raise our gaze to Heaven and to meditate on the fullness of the divine life which awaits us. “We are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be” (1 Jn 3:2): with these words the Apostle John assures us of the reality of our profound relation to God, as too, of the certainty of our destiny.
Like beloved children, therefore, we also receive the grace to support the trials of this earthly existence — the hunger and the thirst for justice, the misunderstandings, the persecutions (cf. Mt 5:3-11) — and, at the same time, we inherit what is promised in the Gospel Beatitudes: “promises resplendent with the new image of the world and of man inaugurated by Jesus” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Milan 2007, p. 72). The holiness, imprinted in us by Christ himself, is the goal of Christian life. Blessed Antonio Rosmini wrote: “The Word impressed himself in the souls of his disciples with his physical presence... with his words... he had given to his own this grace... with which the soul immediately perceives the Word” (Supernatural Anthropology, Rome, 1983, pp. 265-266). And we have a foretaste of the gift and the beauty of sanctity every time that we participate in the Eucharistic Liturgy, the communion with the “great multitude” of holy souls, which in Heaven eternally acclaim the salvation of God and of the Lamb (cf. Rev 7:9-10). “The lives of the Saints are not limited to their earthly biographies but also include their being and working in God after death. In the Saints one thing becomes clear: those who draw near to God do not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them” (Deus Caritas Est, n. 42).
Consoled by this communion of the great family of Saints, tomorrow we shall commemorate all the faithful departed. The Liturgy of 2 November and the pious exercise of visiting cemeteries reminds us that Christian death is part of the journey toward becoming like God and it will vanish when God will be all in all to everyone. The separation from earthly affection is certainly painful, but we should not fear it, because it, accompanied by the prayer and suffrage of the Church, it cannot break the profound bond that unites us to Christ. As was previously said, St Gregory of Nyssa affirms: “He who has created every thing in wisdom, has given this painful disposition as an instrument of liberation from evil and the possibility to participate in separated goods” (De Mortuis Oratio, IX, Leiden, 1967, p. 68).
Dear Friends, Eternity is not an “unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality” (Spe Salvi, n. 12). To the Virgin Mary, the sure guide to sanctity, we entrust our pilgrimage to our heavenly home, while invoking her motherly intercession for the eternal repose of all our brothers and sisters who have been laid to rest in the hope of resurrection.
© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Hallowe'en - a Christian holiday
All Souls Day - Prayers for the Dead

Catholic Encyclopedia on All Saints Days

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Information: All Saints Day

Feast Day: November 1

30 posted on 11/01/2013 7:29:46 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Interactive Saints for Kids

All Saints Day

Feast Day: November 1

This feast day grew out of the love and devotion of God's people. The Church chose this feast to honor God in His saints, in whom He has shown Himself so wonderful. We thank God as the creator of all holiness and for the graces He has showered upon them.

The communion of saints is made up of all true children of God. They may belong to:

· the militant Church on earth

· the suffering Church in purgatory or

· the triumphant Church in heaven

Some saints needed to pass through purgatory to be purified before they were fit for the Lord's presence. They stayed there until they were ready to see God. They are with him now forever.

A few saints have their own feast day but as there are not enough days in the year we cannot celebrate a special day for each of the saints.

Some stayed close to God all their lives. Others found Him along the way. Some led good lives without too much difficulty. Others made big mistakes, but were truly sorry for their sins and drew close to God.

They made it! We celebrate their journey that led to eternal happiness with God. We celebrate our own family members, relatives, neighbors and friends whom we believe are in heaven.

Today we can rejoice in our hearts with all the saints in heaven. We can make up our own prayer to them, thanking them for the witness of their lives.

We can thank them too, for helping us overcome our difficulties and temptations. We ask them to help us on our own journey through life so we can be saints like them and go to heaven.

31 posted on 11/01/2013 7:40:23 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Ioannes Paulus PP.II 16.X.1978 - 2.IV.2005

Ioannes Paulus PP. II
Karol Wojtyla
16.X.1978 - 2.IV.2005

The best, the surest , and the most effective way of establishing everlasting peace on the face of the earth is through the great power of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament." -- Pope John Paul II

"Could you not watch one hour?" -- Mark 14:37

I am happy to testify that many young people are discovering the beauty of adoration, whether personal or in community. I invite priests to encourage youth groups in this, but also to accompany them to ensure that the forms of adoration are appropriate and dignified, with sufficient times for silence and listening to the word of God. In life today, which is often noisy and scattered, it is more important than ever to recover the capacity for interior silence and recollection: Eucharistic adoration permits one to do this not only within one's "I" but rather in the company of that "You" full of love who is Jesus Christ, "the God who is near us."

~Pope Benedict XVI

“The Pope has a great spiritual sense of worship and [importance of] reaching out to every human being,” says Msgr. Fazio. “In Buenos Aires in recent years, he has spontaneously promoted the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in parishes, and it is bearing spiritual fruit.” Furthermore, Msgr. Fazio is sure the Pope will “pay particular attention to Eucharistic adoration and the preaching of the word.”

32 posted on 11/01/2013 8:04:23 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

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CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Friday, November 1

Liturgical Color: White

Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. The
Church uses this day to honor all the saints in
heaven, including those that remain
unknown to us. Pope Gregory IV extended
this solemnity to the whole Church in the 9th
century.

35 posted on 11/01/2013 6:42:21 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:November 01, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: 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, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Golden Flake Buttermilk Doughnuts

o St. Clement's Mousse

o St. Gall Cheese Balls

o St. Mary's Mocha Surprise

o Toffee Apples

ACTIVITIES

o All Saints' Day in Louisiana

o Bobbing for Apples

o Feast of All Saints Ideas for the Home

o Feasts of All Saints and All Souls

o Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls

o Praying for the Dead and Gaining Indulgences During November

o Preparing for Heaven

o Procession for the Feast of All Saints

o Snap Apples

PRAYERS

o November Devotion: The Holy Souls in Purgatory

o Litany of the Saints

o Little Litany of the Holy Souls

o Prayer for a Happy Death

o Daily Acceptance of Death

o Ordinary Time: November 1st

o Solemnity of All Saints

Old Calendar: Feast of All Saints

Today the Church celebrates all the saints: canonized or beatified, and the multitude of those who are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision that are only known to God. During the early centuries the Saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later on the Popes set November 1 as the day for commemorating all the Saints. We all have this "universal call to holiness." What must we to do in order to join the company of the saints in heaven? We "must follow in His footsteps and conform [our]selves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. [We] must devote [our]selves with all [our] being to the glory of God and the service of [our] neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history" (Lumen Gentium, 40).

Don't forget to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory from November 1 to the 8th.

All Saints Day

During the year the Church celebrates one by one the feasts of the saints. Today she joins them all in one festival. In addition to those whose names she knows, she recalls in a magnificent vision all the others "of all nations and tribes standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, proclaiming Him who redeemed them in His Blood."

The feast of All Saints should inspire us with tremendous hope. Among the saints in heaven are some whom we have known. All lived on earth lives like our own. They were baptized, marked with the sign of faith, they were faithful to Christ's teaching and they have gone before us to the heavenly home whence they call on us to follow them. The Gospel of the Beatitudes, read today, while it shows their happiness, shows, too, the road that they followed; there is no other that will lead us whither they have gone.

"The Commemoration of All Saints" was first celebrated in the East. The feast is found in the West on different dates in the eighth century. The Roman Martyrology mentions that this date is a claim of fame for Gregory IV (827-844) and that he extended this observance to the whole of Christendom; it seems certain, however, that Gregory III (731-741) preceded him in this. At Rome, on the other hand, on May 13, there was the annual commemoration of the consecration of the basilica of St. Maria ad Martyres (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). This was the former Pantheon, the temple of Agrippa, dedicated to all the gods of paganism, to which Boniface IV had translated many relics from the catacombs. Gregory VII transferred the anniversary of this dedication to November 1.

Things to Do:

Visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead during the Octave of All Saints' Day (November 1 through November 8) will gain a plenary indulgence that can be applied only to the souls in purgatory. On other days, this work gains a partial indulgence.
Spend a little time after Mass thanking God for all the unnamed saints, some of whom could be our own relatives.
Have a special meal and if you have young children have them dress up like saints and play games.
Pray the Litany of the Saints -- you could make it really special by chanting it ("he who sings prays twice") and you could read an explanation of this litany, which is considered the model of all other litanies.
From the Catholic Culture library:
- The Church's Thanksgiving Day by Fr. Joseph Minihan,
- Ideas for Sanctifying All Saints' Day by Jennifer Gregory Miller,
- Halloween and All Saints Day by Fr. William Saunders.

Indulgences for All Souls Week
An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The indulgence is plenary each day from the first to the eighth of November; on other days of the year it is partial.

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who on the day dedicated to the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed [November 2 {as well as on the Sunday preceding or following, and on All Saints' Day}] piously visit a church. In visiting the church it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.

To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary also to fulfill the following three conditions: sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion, and prayer for the intention of the Holy Father. The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the visit; it is, however, fitting that communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day as the visit.

The condition of praying for the intention of the Holy Father is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary. A plenary indulgence can be acquired only once in the course of the day.

36 posted on 11/01/2013 7:28:12 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Matthew 5:1-12

All Saints

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

Cultures around the world have a wide range of perceptions about cleanliness. From the crumbs on the floor to the number of showers people take in a week, cleanliness standards are shaped by a mixture of politics, religion, and the availability of clean water.

Today’s readings talk about a different kind of cleanliness, the kind that has been sought by the saints whose lives we celebrate today: purity of heart. The first reading tells us that all the saints in heaven are wearing white robes, which have been washed clean in the “blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). The responsorial psalm tells us that only “the clean of hand and pure of heart” will be able to stand in God’s presence (Psalm 24:4). And the second reading says that our hope for heaven motivates us to become “pure, as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

This kind of purity is not something we can attain on our own. It’s a gift graciously given to us by the Lord. At Baptism, he cleansed us of original sin. In Confession, he washes us clean of the sins we have committed. He even cleanses our consciences every time we turn to him in prayer and ask his pardon! Over and over, his grace reaches down to our souls and offers us a new start.

As you celebrate the saints today, think of the many people who have gone before you, all those who have been purified in the blood of the Lamb. Imagine them in heaven, caught up in worship, filled with the love of the Lord. Then picture yourself there with them. This is the promise of the gospel, the promise to everyone who seeks purity of heart. Let Jesus, the Lamb of God, cleanse you all over again today. Stay close to him, and you will end up worshipping him with the great multitude!

“All blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever!”

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; Psalm 24:1-6; 1 John 3:1-3

37 posted on 11/01/2013 7:30:33 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

A Christian Pilgrim

ALL SAINTS DAY [REVELATION 7:2-4,9-14]

From the very beginning, the Church has honored and revered its martyrs and heroes. What began on a popular and local level gradually became woven into the liturgy, beginning around the fourth century in the Eucharistic Prayer. In the fifth century, a feast honoring all the saints was declared in some Eastern churches, and from there the celebration was taken up in Rome. In 835 A.D., Pope Gregory IV declared All Saints Day a feast for the entire Church.

A day commemorating the saints is actually a day of rejoicing in the greatness of the Lord and hoping in His love. The victory that we see in the saints testifies to the Lord Himself. It was not just their own efforts that produced such holiness, but the work of the Lord, who wants to pour the fullness of the life of Jesus into our hearts. This has been the hope and joy of all holy women and men always and everywhere, and it is our hope and joy as well.

The Book of Revelation contains a vision of the redeemed of the Lord, gathered around the throne of God. “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14 RSV). The victory of the redeemed came through the blood of Jesus, which washed them, purified them, and sealed them with the promise of eternal life.

The power of this precious blood of Christ is available to us every day by faith. We can turn to Jesus at any moment and ask for His blood to cover our sins and cleanse us. We can call on Jesus at any moment for Him to pour out the power of His death and resurrection to strengthen us and enable us to live as God’s children. “What love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God” (1John 3:1). We are His children; He has adopted us as His very own! Every day, our Father’s hand is extended to us and we have the great privilege to take hold of Him.

Let us fix our eyes on the Lamb at the center of the throne who has promised to be our Shepherd and to lead us to “springs of living water” (Revelation 7:17). The Lord, who has worked in the lives of the saints, is ready to work in us if we will turn to Him. Our God – who has chosen us to be His very own – is faithful!

38 posted on 11/01/2013 7:34:07 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Marriage=One Man and One Woman 'Til Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for November 1, 2013:

(All Saints Day) The Catholic Church honors all saints known and unknown today. Although your spouse may not always act like a saint, look for a saintly quality today. Is he or she generous, humble, self-sacrificing, courageous? Celebrate the saint you are living with today.

39 posted on 11/01/2013 7:39:04 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

Insight Scoop

Souls, Saints, and the "Permanent Things"

All Saints picture ("Allerheiligenbild") by Albrecht Durer (1511)

Souls, Saints, and the "Permanent Things" | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | CWR

We are in danger of losing contact with the dead in our families and in our culture

I.

A seminary in Ireland, now closed, was dedicated to the training of priests for foreign missions, for strange places such as California. It was called "All Hallows", that is, All Saints, November 1. Oxford University in England has a college called "All Souls," November 2. Taken together, all saints and all souls are designed to cover all of the final combinations of the human race except all the still living, who are waiting to join one or the other of the previous categories. Come to think of it, all "all saints" all have souls. What are left are all lost souls who, presumably, have already also made their final choices about how they are permanently to be.

Most of my relatives are buried in the Catholic Cemetery just at the edge of Pocahontas, a small county seat in rural northwest Iowa. My mother's grandparents, my grandparents on both sides of my family, my mother herself, and, I believe, all but one of her thirteen brothers and sisters are buried in this neat cemetery. Two of my father's brothers are also there; his other brother is a few miles east in the cemetery in Clare. Two of my father's four sisters are buried there, as well as numerous cousins and their families, though many are scattered in later years. My own father is buried in the cemetery in Santa Clara, and my brother in the cemetery in Spokane.

On the Second of November, many families, especially in small towns, decorate the graves with flowers, have Masses or prayers said for their deceased relatives, and in general remember them. In modern cities, I think, we are in danger of losing contact with the dead in our families and in our culture. Families move. Cremation changes things. There are so many of us. We do not have to be superstitious, of course. We believe in the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. Our contact with cemeteries is designed to recall our very mortality, but also to remind us of what we hold about death and its place in our lives.

As we get older, we find that many more of our immediate family are dead than alive. We find friends gone. Such is our lot. To wish it otherwise, while not a totally unhealthy exercise, needs to be understood clearly. It is given unto every man once to die, thence the judgment, as it says in the Book of Maccabees. Death has become a hospital, not a home, thing. The dead body is a source of parts, to be somehow passed on to others. We think almost exclusively of the living, not of the dead.

We celebrate lives at funerals. We do not worry about souls and their fates. The elderly are a problem, even a social and political problem, not sources of wisdom. Cemeteries are often desired for the land they take up. Laws exist about how long cemeteries are to be kept intact. We still notice that many Latino and Asian families somehow take care of their own elderly at home, whereas with others this care is often passed on to various institutions and specialists. This may not be all bad, but we should reflect on it.

II.

Belloc's wonderful book, The Four Men, describes a walk he took in the English county of Sussex, from October 29 till All Souls' Day, 1902. As the four walkers reach the end of their walk, the old man, who, like the other three walkers, is Belloc himself, makes the following memorable farewell reflection:

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

40 posted on 11/01/2013 8:09:01 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

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