Saints + Scripture: Solemnity of All Saints

Saints of the Day

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 intecessors,
an abundance of the reconcilation with You
for which we earnestly long.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives & reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever & ever.

'Tis the Solemnity of All Saints (A.K.A. All Saints' Day, All Hallows' Day): All Saints-link ūnus, All Saints-link duo, All Saints-link trēs, All Saints-link Array of Hope, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Allhallowtide.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth Minute Meditations from the Popes:

Martyrs & Apostles, pray for me. Missionaries & teachers, pray for me. Holy men & women, pray for me. All you Saints of God, pray for me.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Solemnity of All Saints
The Book of Revelation, chapter seven, verses two, three, four, & nine thru fourteen;
Psalm Twenty-four (R/. cf. six), verses one(b/c) & two, three & four(a/b), & five & six;
The First Letter of John, chapter three, verses one, two, & three;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter five, verses one thru twelve(a).

Commentary: Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Many who have stood in the presence of the Gothic rose windows—brightly fashioned with images of the saints—have heard the windows sing. The Lord Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it,” and this wonderful loss of self happens when we listen to the singing of the rose window.

The rose is also an evocative symbol of what the spiritual masters refer to as the center. At the center is a depiction of Christ. Then wheeling around the Christic core is a harmoniously arranged amalgam of “medallions,” images, from the lives of the saints.

The medallions are often connected to one another and to the center by a series of spokes. This structured harmony is intended to be a picture of the well-ordered soul. When the divine power is the uncompromised center of our lives—as it is for the saints—then the myriad energies of our souls—intellectual, moral, physical, emotional, sexual—tend to fall into harmony around it.

When Christ is the “ground” of the soul, the soul finds peace, order and beauty. Make God’s will the center of your concerns, and your proximate needs, desires and longings will tend to find their place.

Video reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire): Sunday Sermon.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.

Scripture Study—Day 91: Havel Highlands, Day 42
The Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter twelve, verses nine thru fourteen.

Commentary: Epilogue (Ecclesiastes, 12:9-14).

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Christians need human examples in order to better follow God. Let us not overlook this most effective means to holiness, that of following the exampleof those who preceded us."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, r. 1963-1978; feast: 29 May)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart."
—St. Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Jesus permits the spirtual combat as a purification, not as a punishment. The trial is not unto death but unto salvation."
—St. Pius of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap. (1887-1968, feast: 23 September)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"In the temple at the time of our Lord, the veil was about sixty feet high. This great veil was sprinkled with blood by the high priest on the Day of Atonement. He alone could enter on this day & commune with divinity. When he sprinkled the blood, it gave him the right to go behind the veil. On the hill of Calvary, on that great Passover, other blood was being sprinkled. At the moment that the lance was run into the side of our Blessed Lord, this veil of the temple was rent, not from bottom to top, for a man could do that, but rent from top to bottom. The holy of holies, which the people were never allowed to see (except for the high priest on the Day of Atonement) was opened. This was merely the earthly counterpart of something else that was opened on the hill of Calvary. A mystery beautifully described in the epistle to the Hebrews: 'So now, my friends, the blood of Jesus makes us free to enter boldly into the sanctuary by the new living way which He has opened for us through the curtain, the way of His flesh.' So there were two curtains, the curtain in the temple in Jerusalem, & the curtain of the flesh on Mount Calvary. The holy of holies, which was only a symbol, was opened & revealed to human eyes. The holy of holies, the Heart of Christ, was opened on the hill of Calvary. So the blood of Christ makes us free to enter the sanctuary by the new living way which He has opened through the curtain of His flesh. Heaven was opened by that act."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)