These are my question suggestions for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) for Sunday, November 1, 2020 ~~ All Saints Day
Breaking Open of the Word
Feast of All Saints – Year A
November 1, 2020
- What was your ‘high’ moment since we last met?
- What was your ‘low’ moment since we last met?
- What word or phrase stands out to you from the readings today? Why?
- The ‘Book of Revelation’, from which the First reading is taken was written during a time of persecution of the first Christians. It is meant to give hope that the trials being endured will lead to salvation and exultation of God. Where do you look to find signs of hope in your Christian journey? What signs give you hope?
- The 2nd Reading speaks of the followers of Jesus as ‘children of God’ because we are loved by God. How would you explain that sentence? What actions do you take because God loves you?
- In ‘Year A’ of the Church, we hear the reading of the Beatitudes as we celebrate the Saints in Heaven. When your time comes to enter Heaven, what beatitude do you hope to have shown during your earthly life?
Feast of All Saints – Year A
1st Reading: Rev: 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.”
2nd Reading 1 John 3:10-I
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.
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.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.
Gospel MT 5:1-12a
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Glossary of Terms
Seal of the living God: a signet ring or metal punch that can make an imprint to mark their possessions.
Servants of God: the seal protects these people from the coming trial.
144,000: number represents the remaining people of the twelve tribes of Israel who acknowledge the Lamb of God (Jesus)
Holding Palm branches: people in biblical ages waved palm branches when victorious armies returned home. The people in the Author’s vision are waving palms to welcome Jesus, the Lamb when He returns at the end of time.
Robes washed in the blood of the Lamb: martyrs and the baptized of every generation who are scrubbed clean of impurities as they unite themselves to the Lamb’s death. They have laid down their life for others.
Children of God: through the work of the Holy Spirit, God seeks to unite all humanity to Him through baptism. Children of God follow the teachings and example of Jesus, deepening their understanding of God’s will and relationship with Christ.. Children of ‘the world’ focus on the materialistic things and human experiences that do not last.
Wonder and Awe 