DEVOTIONAL SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1 , 2015

Reading the Liturgy Week 1, 2015

Reading 1: Revelation 7: 2-4,9-14
And I saw another angel ascending from the rising sun. Having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels who were to harm the earth and the sea,
"Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads!"
And I heard the number of them who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed from all the tribes of Israel.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that can not count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm fronds in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!" And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures; they fell down before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever! Amen!" And one of the elders said to me: "Who are those who wear white robes, and whence came they?"
So I said to him: "My lord, lord knows." Then he said to me: "These are the people who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Psalms: Psalm 24: 1-2,3-4ab, 5-6.
The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, and the world and those who live in it. For he who founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
"Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?"
"The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not submit himself to the fraud, and that is not perjury.
He shall receive a blessing from God and the justice of God that saved him. That is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. "

Reading 2: 1 John 3: 1-3
Behold, how great love the Father has given to us, so we called the children of God, and indeed we are children of God. Because the world does not know us, because the world did not know Him. Dearly beloved, now are we the sons of God, but not real what our circumstances in the future; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him in His actual situation. Every person who put that hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12a
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the top of the hill and after he sat down, the disciples came unto Him. Then he began to teach 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 filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown 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 they reproach me you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,
Thus the Gospel of God

Afterthought
On the feast of all the saints, we commemorate a large group of the faithful who have kept the faith during their lives. They were happy because it has followed Christ to the end (Revelation 7: 9-14). Who are they? According to the psalmist. "One who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not surrender to fraud .... and who seek the face of God" (Psalm 24: 3-6). According to the Beatitudes, they are "people who are poor before God ...... who are persecuted for righteousness' sake ..... were denounced and persecuted for Christ .... (Matthew 5: 1-12)
On sheet issued by Abbey Trappist Mother Unifying, Gedono, Salatiga, entitled "Family, Way of Holiness" is told that on October 21, 2001, the late Pope John Paul II raised a husband and wife named Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi as Beato and Beata. This is the first time in the history of the Church, a husband and wife named a Blessed and Blessed. With this appointment the Church wants to affirm that the family is a path to holiness, the apparently less recognized by Catholics in general. In his homily at the time of the appointment, the Holy Father said that to draw strength from prayer, the Word of God and the Sacraments of the Church, the couple managed to live a life that is ordinary in an extraordinary way. Appointment of the couple be Blessed and Blessed invites us to ask God to more and more the couple who consciously live the family life as a path to holiness.

Items to contemplation.
As followers of Christ, "the Beatitudes" should be the inspiration that drives us in life. But as the saints we celebrate today, let us make an example in seeking inspiration "Beatitudes" is in our lives, in order to create a world of peace and justice.

Prayer.
Father, help us to be able to seek love in our lives every day. Amen.