Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-14; Psalm 23(24):1-6; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a
‘Do you know who these people are, dressed in white robes, and where they have come from?’ I answered him, ‘You can tell me, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.’ [Rev 7:14]
This is from the first reading of the great feast day, All Saints. All Hallows, as it is sometimes called, seems in popular culture to have been overtaken by the goings on to celebrate Halloween: it is rather putting the cart before the horse! All Saints - what is a saint? Someone who has been through a trial, been found able to still know and Love God after. By no means are all the saints martyrs - it is not necessary to suffer death for God. The manner of death is not so relevant as what was done in the life of a saint.