November: Month of the Holy Souls
Pope's Intention
| NOVEMBER |
|
Ordinary Time: November 1st
Solemnity of All Saints
It so happens that the Saints featured on the Gregory Palamas' Night Office Readings
TUESDAY 30 October 2012 Year II
First Reading Wisdom
3:1-19
Responsory
Wis 3:6.7.9
The Lord tested his chosen ones like gold
tested by fire; he has received them as a sacrificial offering; at the time of his
visitation men shall see, + for grace and mercy shall be given to his chosen ones.
V. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and
the faithful shall live with him in love. + For grace and ...
Second Reading
From a homily by
Gregory Palamas (Hom. 25: PG 151,322-323)
To
all his people God will give power and strength
God
is truly wonderful in his saints. And so when the psalmist prophesies: God
is wonderful in his saints, he adds: he will give power and strength to
his people. Think over in your minds the meaning of the prophetic words: to
all his people God will give power and strength, for God is no respecter of persons,
but it is only in his saints that he is seen in wonder.
From
heaven God showers upon all his abundant help; he is a fount of salvation and
light which flows eternally with mercy and goodness. But not everyone can
profit by his grace and power in the exercise and perfection of virtue or even
in the display of miracles; it is only those who have made the good choice and
whose actions show their faith and love of God. They have finally turned aside
from their evil ways, and clinging securely to God's commandments they keep
their mental vision fixed on Christ the sun of righteousness. Not only does
Christ stretch out from heaven an unseen hand of help to those engaged in the
struggle, but still today we can hear his voice exhorting us in the words of
the gospel:
Those who acknowledge me before the world
I shall acknowledge before my Father in heaven. And so you see how we cannot openly profess our faith
in Christ without his powerful help. Nor will our Lord Jesus Christ speak out
for us in the world to come, and unite and reconcile us with his heavenly
Father, unless we ourselves give him the chance to do so.
For
all the saints, as servants of God, have openly professed their faith during
this life on earth and in the presence of their fellow mortals, and what is
more for just a short moment in this age of time and before only a small number
of people. But our Lord Jesus Christ, as God and Lord of heaven and earth, will
speak out for us in the eternal life of the world to come in the presence of
God the Father, surrounded by angels and archangels and all the heavenly powers,
and with the whole human race present from Adam to the end of the world. For
all will rise and stand at the judgment-seat of Christ. And at that time, in the
presence and sight of all, he will praise and glorify and give the crown of
victory to those who have shown their faith in him to the end.
Responsory In 8:12; Rom 13:12
I am the light of the world. + Anyone who follows me will
not walk
in darkness, but will have the light of life.
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