Introit

 

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,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Rev. 7:2-4,9-14

I, John, saw an angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, saying, 3 “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel. 9 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. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels stood around the throne, around the elders and the four living creatures; they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing, 12 “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 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.”

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

R/. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Second Reading 1 Jn 3:1-3

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in God purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Verse before the Gospel

Gospel Mt 5:1-12a

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

Catena Nova

To every person, however holy they may be, there always remains some imperfection, because we have been drawn from nothingness: so that we do no injury to the saints when, in recounting their virtues, we relate their sins and defects; but, on the contrary, those who write their lives seem, for this reason, to do a great injury to them by concealing the sins and imperfections of the saints, under pretence of honouring them, not referring to the commencement of their lives, for fear of diminishing the esteem of their sanctity. Oh, no, indeed, this is not to act properly; but it is to wrong the saints and all posterity (St. Francis de Sales).

Very various are the Saints, their very variety is a token of God’s workmanship but however various and whatever was their special line of duty, they have been heroes in it – they have attained such noble self-command, they have so crucified the flesh, they have so renounced the world, they are so meek, so gentle, so tender-hearted, so merciful, so sweet, so cheerful, so full of prayer, so diligent, so forgetful of injuries, they have sustained such great and continued pains, they have persevered in such vast labours,
they have made such valiant confessions, they have wrought such abundant miracles,
they have been blessed with such strange successes, that they have been the means of setting up a standard before us of truth, of magnanimity, of holiness, of love. They are not always our examples, we are not always bound to follow them – not more than we are bound to obey literally, some of our Lord’s precepts, such as turning the cheek or giving away the coat – not more than we can follow the course of the sun, moon or stars in the heavens; but, though not always our examples, they are always our standard of right and good, they are raised up to be monuments and lessons, they remind us of God, they introduce us into the unseen world, they teach us what Christ loves, they track out for us the way which leads heavenwards.  (St. John Henry Newman).

We should imitate the virtues of the saints just as they imitated Christ, for in their virtues there shines forth under different aspects the splendor of Jesus Christ. Among some of these saints the zeal of the apostolate stood out, in others courage prevailed even to the shedding of blood, constant vigilance marked others out as they kept watch for the divine Redeemer, while in others the virginal purity of soul was resplendent and their modesty revealed the beauty of Christian humility; there burned in all of them the fire of charity towards God and their neighbor. The sacred liturgy puts all these gems of sanctity before us so that we may consider them for our salvation, and “rejoicing at their merits, we may be inflamed by their example.” It is necessary, then, to practice “in simplicity innocence, in charity concord, in humility modesty, diligence in government, readiness in helping those who labor, mercy in serving the poor, in defending truth, constancy, in the strict maintenance of discipline justice, so that nothing may be wanting in us of the virtues which have been proposed for our imitation. These are the footprints left by the saints in their journey homeward, that guided by them we might follow them into glory.” In order that we may be helped by our senses, also, the Church wishes that images of the saints be displayed in our churches, always, however, with the same intention “that we imitate the virtues of those whose images we venerate.” But there is another reason why the Christian people should honor the saints in heaven, namely, to implore their help and “that we be aided by the pleadings of those whose praise is our delight.” Hence, it is easy to understand why the sacred liturgy provides us with many different prayers to invoke the intercession of the saints (Pope Pius XII).

Who are these glorious saints? People who have lived upon earth as we have, who have known our miseries, our difficulties, our struggles. Some of them we recognize easily, for the Church has raised them to the honors of the Altar, but the great majority are entirely unknown to us. They are humble people who lived obscurely in the accomplishment of duty, without display, without renown, whom no one here below remembers, but whom the heavenly Father looked upon, knew in secret, and, having proved their fidelity, called to His glory. The honorable positions occupied by some in this vast gathering, or the mighty deeds accomplished by others, no longer possess any value of themselves: eternal beatitude is not determined by the great things achieved here below. One thing only endures, for the humble and the great, the poor and the wealthy: the degree of love they had attained, to which corresponds the degree of glory which now renders them eternally happy (Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene).

Today it is not nearly enough merely to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness itself without precedent .... I think that under this or any equivalent form it is the first thing we have to ask for now, we have to ask for it daily, hourly, like a famished child constantly asks for bread. The world needs saints who have genius, just as a plague-stricken town needs doctors (Simone Weil).

When they call you a saint, it means basically that you are not to be taken seriously.... Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed that easily (Dorothy Day).

The Beatitudes bring with them a new interpretation of reality. They are both the path and the message of Jesus the Teacher. At first glance, it seems impossible to declare as blessed those who are poor, or those who hunger and thirst for justice, the persecuted or the peacemakers. Yet, that which seems inconceivable in the world’s thinking is filled with meaning and light when brought into contact with the Kingdom of God. In the saints, we see this kingdom approaching and becoming present among us. Saint Matthew rightly presents the Beatitudes as a teaching, depicting Jesus as a Master, who transmits a new perspective on things, which is reflected in his own journey. The Beatitudes, however, are not just another teaching; they are the teaching par excellence. In the same way, the Lord Jesus is not just one of many teachers, he is the Master par excellence. Moreover, he is the Educator par excellence. We are his disciples and are in his “school.” We learn how to discover in his life, namely in the path he has travelled, a horizon of meaning capable of shining a light on all forms of knowledge. May our schools and universities always be places of listening to the Gospel and putting it into practice! (Pope Leo XIV)

Homily 

     A few weeks back, we heard the parable of the workers in the vineyard who were all paid the same wage no matter how long or how little they worked.  Pope St. Gregory the Great is among many interpreters of the parable.  He compared the different times of day in which the workers were hired to “the changing of the years in the life of every person.”  And the saints provide us with models for each of those seasons.  The following models of Christian life are but a fraction of those we could cite in the Communion of Saints.  And each reminds us, no matter where we are in life, holiness is always in season.

     Morning, says Gregory, is the childhood of our reason.  And many a child can be found in the canon of saints.  The age of persecution had its share of child martyrs such as St. Agnes and St. Tarcisius.  Closer to our own time we find people such as seminarian St. Dominic Savio (+1857), the young disciple of St. John Bosco, whose youthful piety and early death from pleurisy at age 14 made him the first non-martyr saint to be canonized at so young an age.  He paved the way for other child-saints such as siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto (+1919, +1920), two of the three visionaries of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917; the former died at 10 and the latter at 9 years of age not long after the events.  The most recent example of youthful sanctity is the first Millennial saint, Carlo Acutis (+2006) who died of leukemia at the age of 15.  He practiced an intense spiritual life focused on the Eucharist and devotion to the Rosary.  He was known as a “computer geek," was Internet savvy, totally at home in the digital age, knew enough code to build his own websites, loved  soccer, Pokémon and PlayStation.  He lies in his tomb dressed in jeans, Nike trainers, and tracksuit top. 

     The third hour, continues Gregory, can be interpreted as adolescence, because while the heat of youth increases, it is as though the sun mounts higher in the sky.  Here we find St. Joan of Arc (+1431), the Maid of Orleans who led French forces to defeat the English during the Hundred Years' War and who was burned at the stake on trumped up charges of heresy at the age of 19.   More recently there is St. Pier Giorgio Frassati (+1925) – known as the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes” we heard in the Gospel whose profound spiritual life and generous care of the poor, coupled with political activism, athleticism and love of the arts, has led him to be counted among youthful models of holiness in the 20^th Century and who died of polio at the age of 24.

     Then comes, says Gregory, the sixth hour —  young adulthood — because as the sun is now as it were in its zenith, so now is the full strength of adulthood attained.  Here we find St. Francis of Assisi (+1226), who died at the age of 44 -- church reformer, founder of a vast religious family, beloved patron of animals and the environment.  A century later, came St. Catherine of Siena (+1380) -- mystic, papal critic and confidante, peacemaker between warring Italian city-states, and doctor of the church -- who was only 33 years old when she died, accomplishing so much in such a short lifespan.  

     Mature age follows, which Gregory says is signified by the ninth hour, in which the sun descends from its highest point, because in that age humanity already declines from the heat of youth.  Gregory himself died at the age of 64 (+540) and was among the most illustrious bishops of Rome, an able administrator who provided much needed assistance to the city under threat of invasion, a prolific author, sponsor of the mission to the British Isles, and curator of the Western liturgy.  Then there’s St. Edith Stein (+1942), convert, philosopher, Carmelite nun, and one of the many martyrs who died in the crematoria of Auschwitz.  She fell victim to Nazi persecution owing to her Jewish heritage, at the age of 50 while the Conventual Franciscan, St. Maximilian Kolbe, offered his life in exchange for another prisoner and was killed in a starvation bunker in the same camp at the age of 47.  Another Carmelite, St. Titus Brandsma (+1942), journalist and fierce critic of the Nazis, was killed at Dachau at the age of 61.  As with all martyrs throughout church history, they are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb (II).

     Finally, the eleventh hour is that time of life, Gregory tell us, which is called senility or old age.  St. Alphonsus Liguori (+1787), moral theologian, founder of the Redemptorist order, author of many devotional works, bishop of a small Italian diocese, died at the age of 90 after suffering for 20 years with rheumatic arthritis which left him unable to bend his neck.  In our own time, Mother Theresa of Kolkata (+1997) continued her service to the “poorest of the poor” with the Missionaries of Charity she founded until her death at the age of 87 – despite years of declining health coupled with decades of interior struggles and doubts, even about the existence of God.

     And so, concludes Gregory, one person is called to the good life in childhood, another in youth, another in adulthood, another in later life, another in old age, the labourers are as it were called at different hours to the Vineyard. Therefore, dearly beloved, look to your manner of living, and see whether even now you are labourers of God.  

     By the way, don't forget how, in the Parable the owner of the vineyard paid the same wage no matter how long someone worked — like the Good Thief on the cross to whom Jesus promised, Today, you will be with me in paradise.  Doesn't seem fair, does it?  Well, — by human standards, it's not.  We want our due and resent someone who gets more than we deserve.  Still, in the words of St. Augustine, "all will have the same share…in the possession of eternal life; there will be equality. What is endless for all will not be longer for one and shorter for another. What has no bounds will have none either for you or for me….where eternal life is concerned there can be no question of more or less for anyone" (Sermon 87). 

     That's because grace is always free, never deserved, and God is generous where we are envious.  God, whose thoughts and ways are rarely ours, which is one reason the world rarely knows the saints anymore than it knew the Christ.  Yet we await the Day when all will be revealed — when the saints go marching into the kingdom of God — and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.  (Cf.  II). Who lives and reigns, forever and ever.  Amen.

Intercessions (Joe Milner)

For the Church: that, inspired by the witness of the saints, we may rely upon God’s mercy and providence as we strive to be faithful disciples.

For greater unity in the church: that women and men from south and north, east and west; from poverty and riches, authority and powerlessness; from every race, language, and culture, may be joined in Christ into one Body of faith, service, and witness by the one Spirit.

For all who are persecuted for their faith: that God’s strength will sustain them and help them be faithful witnesses to God who is the source of all life.

For leaders of nations and business: that the Spirit of God will remind them of the weak, vulnerable, and powerless of society as they develop and implement policies to confront disease and poverty.

For peacemakers: that God will give them the courage to work for peace even when events darken the future and hearts seem hardened.

For honest and safe voting: that the Spirit will guide us in fulfilling our civic responsibility through voting this week and that Gospel principles may inspire our choices.

For healing: that through the intercession of the saints, God will deliver the human family from everything that destroys God’s gift of life.

All-holy God, you call your people to holiness. As we keep the festival of your saints, give us their meekness and poverty of spirit, a thirst for righteousness, and purity of heart.  May we share with them the richness of your kingdom and be clothed in the glory you bestow.  Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Offertory Antiphon

 

Offertory Hymn (John Michael Talbot)

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Blessed are those who mourn
They shall be comforted
They shall be comforted

Blessed are the lowly of heart
They shall inherit the earth
Blest are those who hunger for God
Nevermore shall they hunger or thirst
Nevermore shall they hunger or thirst

Blessings upon the disciples of Jesus
Blessings upon all the multitudes
Blessings upon those who climb the mountain
With Jesus the Lord, with Jesus our Lord

Blessed are those who show mercy
They shall inherit the mercy of God
Blessed are the pure…

Communion Antiphon

 

Closing Hymn (Ralph Vaughan Williams)

 

For all the saints, who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might; Thou, Lord, their captain in the well fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light. Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west; Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest; Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!

But yonder breaks a yet more glorious day; The saints triumphant rise in bright array; The King of glory passes on His way. Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost: Alleluia, Alleluia!