Today's Scripture Readings

First Reading: Rev 7:2-4, 9-14

"... 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

Second Reading: 1 Jn 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.

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,

Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

Gospel: Mt 5:1-12a (The Beatitudes).

And Eucharistic Prayer I

In union with the whole Church we honor Mary, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God. We honor Joseph, her husband, the apostles and martyrs Peter and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; we honor Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian and all the saints. May their merits and prayers grant us your constant help and protection.

Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen.

Bless and approve our offering; make it acceptable to you, an offering in spirit and in truth. Let it become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord.

Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchisedech.

Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.

The board at the front of the church suggested that the recessional hymn would be "Soon and Very Soon," a personal favorite with strong second advent overtones, but the organist overrode the display and opted for "For All The Saints" instead. That one is fine, too. See Wiki