On All Saints' Day, it is no surprise to find the Beatitudes and a passage from Revelation among the readings. But the three verses from the First Letter of John seem surprising, and therefore very important...
On All Saints' Day, it is no surprise to find the Beatitudes and a passage from Revelation among the readings. But the three verses from the First Letter of John seem surprising, and therefore very important. What do we immediately find, at first glance, in the Sermon on the Mount and the Apocalypse in relation to this feast? Of course, that holiness is the lot of the chosen few and is marked by qualities an ordinary person cannot attain, however hard they try. This is perhaps the one occasion when someone is ready to admit to being ordinary and good for nothing. But then we come upon these words: “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” That is, to the purity of holiness, as God is holy. And there is a certain hope that can purify anyone to this unimaginable state. This hope—or even knowledge, as the preceding verse says—is that “when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” On the one hand, it is simply the knowledge that we shall be like Him when we see Him. It is hard to doubt such changes: something is bound to happen when someone sees God as He is. On the other hand, it is very difficult to imagine that someone living by hatred, war, malice, greed, or anything of the kind is acting sensibly in saying, “I know I shall see Him, and everything will be all right.” Something is clearly missing here. Apparently, it is what the Beatitudes say to each of us personally, right now: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
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7:13 And one of the elders - What stands, Rev 7:13-17, might have immediately followed the tenth verse;but that the praise of the angels, which was at the same time with that of the "great multitude," came in between. Answered - He answered St. John's desire to know, not any words that hespoke.
7:14 My lord - Or, my master; a common term of respect. So Zechariah, likewise, bespeaks the angel, Zec 1:9; Zec 4:4; Zec 6:4. Thou knowest - That is, I know not; but thou dost. These are they - Not martyrs; for these are not such a multitude as no man cannumber. But as all the angels appear here, so do all the souls of the righteous who had lived from the beginning of the world.Who come - He does not say, who did come; but, who come now also: to whom, likewise, pertain all who will come hereafter. Out of great affliction - Of various kinds, wisely and graciously allotted by God to all his children. And have washed their robes - From all guilt. And made them white - In all holiness. By theblood of the Lamb - Which not only cleanses, but adorns us also.