AllSts20.   Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14.  This book is a form of apocalyptic literature which conveys its messages through symbolic and not literal language and forms.  The number ‘one hundred and forty-four thousand’ or twelve times twelve times one thousand is symbolic.  It is a way of saying that that is the group of people that God thinks should be in heaven: no more, no less.  It is not saying that that is the exact numerical amount that is in heaven.  The amount of souls who are in heaven meet God’s expectation of the amount or perfect number in God’s eyes who would choose to faithfully serve God’s Will.  They are the saints who adore God now and forever.  The last lines of this reading refer to those who endured persecution and remained faithful.

Matthew 5:1-13.  In his chapter 5 Matthew selects Jesus’ words and statements that show that his new people are distinct from the Old Testament People of God.  They are expected to develop further and beyond from the Old Testament People of God.  In his beatitudes Jesus outlines that interior development or maturation process that goes far beyond the Old Testament Torah or Law that are expressed in the Ten Commandments.  The beatitudes internalize what the Torah only did externally.  The beatitudes call for a new holy person to be made; whereas before, the Law only required external things to be done without necessarily changing the inner person to develop into a holy person.

1 John 3:1-3.  “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.”  By our baptism we have become children of God our Father. We have the right to be saints in heaven if daily we join ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit who enables us to grow in holiness.  As the suffering and crucifixion were not easy for Jesus, our day by day development in holiness is not and will not be easy for us.  We must live as strangers in a world that treats us as rejected foreigners.  In Matthew 10:34b Jesus said, “I have come not to bring peace but the sword.” In John 15:19 b, c, Jesus said: “But because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.”  Holiness and worldliness are directly opposed to one another.  If the world sees us for who we truly are, it will treat us as an absurdity.  As we grow daily to be more and more into the children of God, our goal is to be “like him” so that one can see that we are truly his children in his image and likeness.