Let us make haste to our brethren who are awaiting us

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

Today, November 1st, as our Church celebrates the solemnity of All Saints, we are invited to first read and reflect on a [passage from the book of Revelation (5:1-4) entitled “You redeemed us for God from every tribe and tongue, people and nation". Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot.

All Saints' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Solemnity of All Saints, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints of the Church, whether they are known or unknown. From the 4th century feasts commemorating all Christian martyrs were held in various places, on various dates near Easter and Pentecost. In the 9th century, some churches in the British Isles began holding the commemoration of all saints on November 1st, and in the 9th century this was extended to the whole Catholic Church by Pope Gregory IV. In Western Christianity, it is still celebrated on November 1st by the Roman Catholic Church as well as many Protestant churches, such as the Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist traditions.

Bernard of Clairvaux, venerated as Saint Bernard, was an early eleventh century abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through the nascent Cistercian Order. He was sent to found Clairvaux Abbey in southeast France in an area known as Bar-sur-Aube. In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, which soon became an ideal of Christian nobility. Both monastic rule and military manual, the Rule is a unique document and an important historical source.

The Apocalypse, or Revelation to John, the last book of the Bible, is one of the most difficult to understand because it abounds in unfamiliar and extravagant symbolism, which at best appears unusual to the modern reader. Symbolic language, however, is one of the chief characteristics of apocalyptic literature, of which this book is an outstanding example. Such literature enjoyed wide popularity in both Jewish and Christian circles from ca. 200 B.C. to A.D. 200.

This book contains an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language borrowed extensively from the Old Testament, especially Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel. Whether or not these visions were real experiences of the author or simply literary conventions employed by him is an open question.