Many years ago, when I was a poor missionary walking in Cubao, a huge man from behind suddenly bumped me hard and walked off. After a few minutes, I realized my wallet had vanished. I was devastated. I couldn’t sleep that night! Because my wallet had P500, equal to a million pesos for a poor missionary like me!

Fast forward 30 years later. I was buying bottled water. I dug through my pocket for my P500. But it probably fell. So I got my wallet and paid for the water. Yes, I still felt a loss, but I slept soundly that night. Why? Because I’m now a millionaire. (Naks.)

The only reason you give in to bitterness and pettiness is because you think you’re small. But the moment you remember that God made you a giant—that He loves you in a gigantic way—you won’t be bothered by small things. Even if people try to hurt or offend you, you won’t be affected by them. There is peace in your heart for everyone. 

Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com) 

reflect

“It is better to be a child of God than king of the whole world.” (St. Aloysius Gonzaga)

Dear Lord, help me to always remember that You made me a giant, that You love me in a gigantic way. Thank You for Your love, Lord. Amen.

All Saints, pray for us.

First Reading | Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14

We who believe and trust in Christ never stand alone. We are always accompanied by the vast throng of saints who have gone before us in the life of faith. Let us call upon them in our time of need, that they may intercede for us before the presence of God. This is the promise of salvation—those who have been saved now dwell with Jesus and share in the life of the Trinity. Let us live with our hearts fixed on God’s will for us.

² I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, ³ “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” ⁴ I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the Israelites. ⁹ After this, I had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.” ¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshipped God, ¹² and exclaimed: “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” ¹³ Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R: Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

¹ The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. ² For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. (R) ³ Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? ⁴ One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain. (R) ⁵ He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior. ⁶ Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. (R)

Second Reading | 1 John 3:1-3

It’s impossible for the Father to not love us. We can be sure of His love and mercy no matter what we do. When we sin, we need to repent and seek His grace to transform us according to His will. True fulfillment comes from obedience to His will. The world does not come close to doing this. Let us pray for the grace to see the lies and distractions of the world and cling to the love of God in all things.

¹ Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.

Gspel | Matthew 5:1-12 o

Jesus shapes our hearts in light of the beauty and truth found in the Beatitudes. Let us pray for the grace to desire Him above all else, and to love others with sincerity of heart, mind, and soul. May we turn away from the patterns of sin, that we may be conformed more deeply to Christ each day. And may He bless us with the grace to hear His Word—and to follow it faithfully.

Gospel Acclamation

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord. 

¹ When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. ² He began to teach them, saying: ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. ⁶ Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. ⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸ Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. ⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰ Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Reflect

“We need to build up society in the light of the Beatitudes, walking towards the Kingdom with the least among us.” (Pope Francis)

Read the Bible in one year! Read ISAIAH 41 - 44 today.

Heaven, Our Promised Land

Our faith teaches us that any soul who enters heaven is a saint—whether officially recognized by the Church through beatification and canonization, or mostly unknown. That is why we have this Solemnity of All Saints.

All Saints’ Day reminds us not only to remember but, most of all, to emulate those who have gone ahead of us into heaven. Heaven is God’s Promised Land in Jesus Christ our Savior. All those stories in the Old Testament of the exodus of the Chosen People from Egypt into the Promised Land, fulfilled in the Pasch of Jesus in the New Testament, teach us that heaven is union with God—in Christ, through Christ, with Christ. In His passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus brought heaven (and God) closest to us. That is why in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus included in His Beatitudes, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land.” 

Inheriting the land means orienting our goals toward making Christ’s reign of peace a reality, even amid the troubles of life on Earth. History has proven how violent and powerful people have come and gone, with the humble and lowly outlasting them, like the saints now in heaven. The saints are the best examples of how meekness helps one inherit the Promised Land, because in fulfilling God’s will by living out the Gospel, they have actualized the many possibilities of good things dreamt only in the future. Through their works that continue to this day, we get a glimpse of heaven, so to speak. The legacies of our own departed loved ones make us aspire to experience heaven in its fullness. 

Fr. Nick Lalog

reflection questions

What things are you pursuing in life today? Will they help you inherit heaven?

Enable us, dear Jesus, to always listen, pray, and most of all, abide in Your words like the saints who have truly lived Your Gospel. May we, like them, inherit heaven despite all the odds and difficulties we experience in this life. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________