“And I saw a second angel coming up from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered to lay waste land and sea; ‘Do not lay waste land or sea or wood, until we have put a seal on the foreheads of those who serve our God.’ Then I heard the count of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand of them, taken from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Juda, twelve thousand from the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad; twelve thousand from the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasses; twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar; twelve thousand from the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin. And then I saw a great multitude, past all counting, taken from all nations and tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne in the Lamb’s presence, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, ‘To our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, all saving power belongs.’ And all the angels that were standing round the throne, round the elders and the living figures, fell prostrate before the throne and paid God worship; ‘Amen,’ they cried, ‘blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength belong to our God through endless ages, Amen.’ And now one of the elders turned to me, and asked, ‘Who are they, and whence do they come, these who are robed in white?’ ‘My Lord,’ said I, ‘thou canst tell me.’ ‘These,’ he said, ‘have come here out of the great affliction; they have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.’“
Book of Apocalypse (aka. Revelation), 7: 2-14 [link]
We honour this weekend the holy Saints of God, men and women like us who made their choice for Him and made great sacrifices to preserve their perfect communion with Him in this life. And their witness gives us great hope, for they are many, many in number. Some of seemingly inaccessible and angelic purity, great lights of the Church, whom we look upon with awe. Others who gave up lives of sin to live in the seclusion of the monasteries and conventual houses as penitents. And still others like ourselves, living in the world but not of the world, struggling daily with temptation and sin, endlessly penitent, but also continually sanctifying themselves and their lives with the daily practice of religion, pursuing lives of charity, their eyes fixed upon Christ, our refuge and our great hope.
In the course of the year, we remember several Saints on particular calendar days, the great names we are so attached to: Dominic, Teresa, Francis, Anthony, all the Elizabeths, all the Peters and Johns… But there is a multitude of Saints even greater than those that fit in the calendar year, many not known by name. And it is the great band of all of them that we honour today, looking upon them through the window that the book of Apocalypse gives us in our first reading, above. The word ‘apocalypse’ is simply Greek for ‘revelation,’ or ‘unveiling,’ and S. John (who wrote this book) pulls aside the veil so that we can look into the heavenly sanctuary to see a vast number of white-robed people of every nation and tribe, gathered before the throne of the Holy One. Is this all of mankind? By no means. We have to be realistic. What does S. John say to us again, but this time in our second reading?
“See how the Father has shewn His love towards us; that we should be counted as God’s sons, should be His sons. If the world does not recognise us, that is because it never recognised Him. Beloved, we are sons of God even now, and what we shall be hereafter, has not been made known as yet. But we know that when He comes we shall be like Him; we shall see Him, then, as He is. Now, a man who rests these hopes in Him lives a life of holiness; He, too, is holy. The man who commits sin, violates order; sin of its nature is disorder.”
First letter of S. John, 3: 1-3 [link]
It is the Christians who are God’s children, made so in baptism – a great gift and privilege. The Church gathered around the Lamb of God is by its nature exclusive. John says that we have to choose for Christ, and in so doing we separate ourselves from the world, which refuses to recognise Christ. We look about ourselves today in the ruin of what was Christian England and we see the truth of this. The first reading gives us a window, please God, into our own future, we who still choose for Christ. May we stand one day, beyond the travail of this life, within that merry crowd of white-robed Saints, delighting in their company, and they in ours.
But meanwhile, John says at the end of this second reading, Surely everyone who entertains such a hope must purify themselves and strive to be as pure as Christ, as pure as the angels. I mentioned at the beginning of this post the awe-inspiring men and women who were beacons of purity in their lives, many of them from infancy. We know that the New Testament addresses the general Catholic faithful as saints, ‘holy ones,’ chosen by God and Elect of His. We are all called to the highest levels of purity. Let us then imitate the Saints, as we imitate Christ, and be as perfect as they.
“Jesus, when He saw how great was their number, went up on to the mountain-side; there He sat down, and His disciples came about Him. And He began speaking to them; this was the teaching He gave. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are the patient; they shall inherit the land. Blessed are those who mourn; they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness; they shall have their fill. Blessed are the merciful; they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart; they shall see God. Blessed are the peace-makers; they shall be counted the children of God. Blessed are those who suffer persecution in the cause of right; the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are you, when men revile you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsely, because of Me. Be glad and light-hearted, for a rich reward awaits you in heaven; so it was they persecuted the prophets who went before you.”
Gospel of S. Matthew, 5: 1-12 [link]
We remember the Gospel lessons of the last several Sundays. They are all summarised for us in the blueprint for the Christian life that are the Beatitudes, the subject of our Gospel reading above. These Beatitudes are not bullet-points on a clipboard, that we can tick off, and say that we have done them. They are all inter-related, and their inner logic is humility before God and untiring charity. The poor in spirit know that they cannot rule their own lives, that it is only God Who can do this. This is humility – the maker of Saints.
Before humility falls pride and the desire to dominate others. The humble man or woman becomes gentle and values life, mourning its passing away and hoping in the restoration promised by the Holy One. In this hope, they are comforted and they will be comforted again in the renewal of all things at the end, in the apocalypse. In their love for the life they see about them, the humble children of God want justice and righteousness in this world, and they are merciful and forgiving of offence against themselves. In their great love for justice and righteousness before God, seeking Him before every worldly pleasure, they are clean of heart. And in their sorrow over the destruction and disorder brought about by sin and evil, they are peacemakers and bridge-builders.
And finally, their embrace of God will lead to them to give everything , even their own lives, for the sake of Him, and for the cause of Charity. For God is Charity. We shall strive to be like them. And we too shall be Saints!
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 