Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: November 1, 2024

Date: Solemnity of All Saints

Scripture Text: Revelation of John 7:2-4, 9-14

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, "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." 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 children of Israel.

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. They cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb."

All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed:

"Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen."

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" 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."

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The first reading for today brings us one of John’s visions as recounted in the Revelation of John, the vision of the holy ones, the saints, in heaven around the throne of the LORD. The number given, 144,000 or 12 squared, is symbolic, denoting a huge throng. They are identified as “servants of our God” who have “survived the times of great distress” and who were purified by the “Blood of the Lamb”, by Christ’s death on the cross for our salvation.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Do I embrace the call to sainthood, the call to holiness? Do I seek daily to live as one who knows of the salvation through Christ’s sacrifice?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, your love for us in indescribable and seen most clearly in your sending of your only begotten Son to take on our human nature and to give His life to redeem us of our sins. Send your Spirit to kindle in us the fire of your love. Grant that we may seek daily to journey in faith, hope and love home to life in abundance with You. Let us pick up our mantles of discipleship and follow in the footsteps of your Son to life with You. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit, one LORD, forever and ever. Amen.