This year the Feast of All Saints occurs on a Sunday. So that is our celebration today. Our Bible readings feature two gatherings around Christ. The gospel is the familiar beatitudes. The setting is a crowd of people gathered around Jesus on a mountain side. They are willing to be taught. They are willing to be led. What follows is the three-chapter Sermon on the Mount. We place ourselves in this scene every time we gather for the Eucharist. Christ is at the center. We are in his company and in the company of other believers.
The other gathering in the Liturgy today is from the Book of Revelation. A great multitude of people is gathered around the Risen Christ, the Lamb of God. They are wearing white robes, symbolic of their baptismal identity. They praise and worship the Christ with their words and by waving palm branches (similar to the scene on Palm Sunday).
We see ourselves in these gatherings. We experience the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. And we yearn for the heavenly gathering with all the saints. When are you especially aware of being in the company of Christ?