The Feast of All Saints

The Feast of All Saints – 1 November 2021
Lectionary Readings: Rev. 7:2-4, 9-14; Ps. 24:1-6; 1 Jn. 3:1-3; Mt. 5:1-12
Theme: Feast of all Saints

This Sunday’s liturgy we celebrate the feast of all saints. It is a practice that began in the Eastern Church, during the fourth century when the celebration took place on the Sunday that followed Pentecost Sunday, then, gradually, over the centuries it became a celebration of the whole Church.

The liturgy is not restricted to official saints, those proclaimed by the Church, but contemplates all men and women who have guided their lives according to the Word of God, in search of becoming saints.

The texts of the proposed readings do not include any from the First Testament, as we can see, except for Psalm 24 while the other readings are from the Second Testament. However, with a little attention, we realize that all texts are built on the Jewish Scriptures which is the definition taught by the Church.

The book of Revelation 7:2-14, contemplates the end time, the eschatology, the fulfillment of the prophecies where all Nations will recognize the God who reveals himself to Israel: And all the peoples of the whole earth will be converted and will fear God in truth (Tobit 14:6); “To him shall all nations come, many peoples shall come, saying, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us concerning his ways, and thus we may walk in his paths’ (Is. 2:2); Lift your eyes around and see: they all come together and come to you (Is. 49:18); Nations will walk in your light, and kings in the brightness of your rising sun (Is. 60:3). The proposed text from Revelation contemplates that concluding messianic moment in which the God of Israel is recognized throughout the Earth as the Unique God, as Zechariah affirms: On that day the Lord will be the Unique and His name will be the Unique” (Zach. 14:9).

This prophetic and apocalyptic vision is perfectly in harmony with Paul’s theology that teaches us that the moment all Nations recognize the God of Israel, history ends and then all Israel will be saved (cf. Rom. 11:26). In a way it is asserting that God thus delays the final arrival of Israel so that all Nations may be saved; the primacy is of Israel at that eschatological moment ‘all the tribes of the children of Israel’ and then ‘a great multitude … of all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages‘. The criterion is recognition of the uniqueness of the God who reveals himself to Israel and displays fidelity to his Word as a source of holiness.

Similarly, the proposed Psalm (24) states that The Lord’s are the earth (HaAretz) and that which exists in it, the world and its inhabitants and being close to the Lord supposes to seek to be holy, to seek the face of the God of Jacob. Rashi comments on this Psalm saying that the expression: “The Lord’s is the earth (HaAretz), refers to the Land of Israel, a specific land, as well as the Lord’s the world and its inhabitants”. God sanctifies the world from the Land of Israel. Israel, for its part, is called to bear witness to this holiness, seeking God’s face through the practice of its Word.

Matthew 5:1-12, in turn, makes a biblical list of the essential principles of the search for holiness according to the Word of God and which are contemplated in the Kingdom of Heaven. He composes the beatitudes using the Holy Scriptures, showing people’s attitudes of holiness. The text shows Jesus in the context of Torah study and teaching. Jesus’ teaching here echoes Psalm 1 in which he opens the book of Psalms saying that the Beatitudes are not in following evil, but finding your pleasure in the law of the Lord and meditating on it, day and night.      Therefore, the celebration of today’s liturgy summarizes the entire biblical perspective, which is the search for holiness, to be perfect, for each person and for the community of faith, which supposes to be in the world, but not of it, separated for God, belonging to Him alone. Israel is the model of this separation, of the search for holiness: You will be holy (set apart) for me, because I, the Lord, am holy and I have set you apart from among the peoples to be mine (Lv. 20:26) and through Jesus, we (coming from the Nations) associate with this call of holiness and we become sons and daughters of God (I Jn. 3:1) and not daughters and sons of the world: bu finding your pleasure in the law of the Lord and meditating on it, day and night.

Therefore, the celebration of today’s liturgy summarizes the entire biblical perspective, which is the search for holiness, to be perfect, for each person and for the community of faith, which supposes to be in the world, but not of it, separated for God, belonging to Him alone. Israel is the model of this separation, of the search for holiness: You will be holy (set apart) for me, because I, the Lord, am holy and I have set you apart from among the peoples to be mine (Lv. 20:26) and through Jesus, we (coming from the Nations) associate with this call of holiness and we become sons and daughters of God (I Jn. 3:1) and not daughters and sons of the world: but called to holiness.

This week’s Parasha Commentary was prepared by
Br Elio Passeto, nds , Israel, Bat Kol director