Your Reward Will Be Great

Your Reward Will Be Great

Solemnity of All Saints

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These 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." Revelation 7:13-14

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed 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. 1 John 3:2-3

Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven. Matthew 5:12A

Piety

Today we commemorate All Saints' Day and tomorrow All Souls' Day. Holy men & women, pray for us!  Amen.

Study

We start November with back-to-back Holydays.  Today, dedicated to the Saints in heaven, the Good News we get seems pretty earth-bound. However, it is really a roadmap to heaven.  Through teaching the Beatitudes, Jesus places his disciples in the line of the persecuted prophets of Israel. Some might even think that Matthew considers all Christian disciples as prophets.   

However, it’s “earthiness” is not as surprising as you might think. As we celebrate the great Solemnity of All Saints, Jesus asks us to remember all those in heaven.  But that’s not all.  We also have to consider our vocation to become saints.

When we find ourselves burdened by the responsibilities of faith, it is helpful to recall the way Jesus beckons us to his side. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord.”

Action

All Saints Day (today) is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation.  That means that there is no traditional requirement for Friday penance and abstinence from meat. Happy feasting! Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven.