FOOD4DSOUL
(15th
Post: November 1, 2014)
First Reading (Revelation 7:2-4,9-14)
Then I 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
Israelites: 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.
Psalm (24:1-6)
A psalm of David. The Earth is the
LORD’S and all it holds, the world and those who live there. For God founded it
on the seas, established it over the rivers. Who may go up the mountain of the
LORD? Who can stand in this holy place? “The clean of hand and pure of heart,
who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely. They will receive
blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving God. Such are the people
that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob.” Selah
Second Reading (1 John 3:1-3)
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 (Matthew 5:1-12)
When he 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. Thus they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.
