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The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Feast Days
The Feast of All Saints
As early as the fourth century, saints were commemorated in the Eucharistic prayer. The Feast of All Saints can be traced back to at least the fifth century in the churches at Antioch and Edessa, and from there it made its way to Rome. Around 600, Pope Gregory the Great (of Gregorian Chant fame) assigned the feast to November 1, and it has stayed there ever since. Within about 200 years, the feast had become nearly universal, celebrated outside Rome and beyond.
This is a feast for all those we know to be saints who are not formally canonized. It celebrates the memory of all the baptized who have gone before us and whose lives were virtuous. It’s important to remember that this liturgy celebrates these saints but, more importantly, it celebrates a God who is surrounded by their ceaseless praise. The focus of liturgy is always on God and praising him.
This feast helps us mark a subtle shift in the lectionary: since the Easter season, we’ve been focused on the life of discipleship: what that looks like, how to live it out. Today’s readings have that, to be sure. But there is also a focus on the last days, eschatology.
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
A key thing to keep in mind about the book of Revelation is that it was written as a drama and intended to not just be read but performed.
In chps 4-8 the speaker has a vision of scrolls with seven seals which are broken as the scrolls are read. All of chp 7 is an insert or parenthesis to this bigger vision which deals with ultimate salvation of the righteous.
In vv1-8 there is a sealing of the faithful on earth. Vv 9-17 are a victory song in heaven. It’s almost as those these two scenes are happening in parallel, at the same time. It really gives us that feeling of “now but not yet” which is a hallmark of eschatology. The end is coming and it’s sort of here but not yet.
The chapter begins with four angels at the four corners of the earth. On stage right, another angel enters, and he’s triumphantly holding the seal of the living God. He issues instructions to the other four angels.
They are told to put a seal on the foreheads of God’s servants. To mark the elect with a sign or seal was a common feature of apocalyptic literature. It’s not meant to protect someone from death; rather, it protects them through a great tribulation, which may include death. The sacrament of confirmation was originally known as the sealing. A person would be baptized, and then they would be sealed in that baptism. So for Catholics, this imagery of being sealed puts us in mind of the sacraments.
There is a reference in v4 to the 144,000, who are detailed in vv5-8: 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. It’s a specific number, but also highly symbolic. In ancient times, it represented an impossible-to-conceive amount. It would have been considered a vast multitude.
In v9, it’s clear that the multitude was a very diverse population, not just Jewish. They’re standing before God’s throne, wearing white robes, which symbolize purity. They also carry palm branches, a badge of victory in Greek culture. The great multitude is engaged in worship, along with the angels.
V15-17 are not in the lectionary, but they’re worth reading because they are a poetic description of salvation. They use a variety of metaphors to the meaning of salvation: the satisfaction of physical and emotional needs, which symbolizes the fulfillment of the whole person. And, of course, all this is fulfilled in the presence of God.
We always have to interpret the feast readings in relation to the feast. So we could say that all the saints who have gone before us, canonized or not, can be pictured in this multitude. They’re in the presence of God, praising God, enjoying salvation.
1 John 3:1-3
Would title chp 3, “Love as the Mark of God’s Children.” V1 makes clear that we are children of God. There are three consequences of that:
- Christians do not belong to the “world” (those who fail to receive Jesus) – v1: the world does not know us, just as it did not know Christ
- Christians must lead lives of holiness, just as Christ was holy. V2 we shall be like him and v3 the Christian makes himself pure
- Christians are confident of an even greater salvation in the future. V2 what we shall be has not yet been revealed – we have something greater to look forward to.
The saints who have gone before us lived in this way: they did not belong to the world; they led lives of holiness in imitation of Christ; and they have been granted that greater salvation: what they shall be has been revealed. We glimpse a picture of that in the Revelation passage.
Matthew 5:1-12a
I cover this reading during Ordinary Time here.
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
© 2023 Kelly Sollinger