Oftentimes when I hear the Scripture reading for today’s Feast of All Saints from the Book of Revelation, the painting by Jan van Eyck of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb comes to mind.
“I, John, 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… 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, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”
This beautiful 1432 painting is part of a much bigger altarpiece at the Cathedral of Saint Bavo in Ghent, Belgium. Eyck gives us a glimpse of the Heavenly Jerusalem where all the saints worship unceasingly the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Today on the Feast of All Saints, we rejoice that all of us who are baptized in Christ live in a divine communion or fellowship. In Christ we have all become one. Us the baptized on Earth are united to the saints in heaven in the communion of saints. We all worship the One True Lamb together. We are all invited to the same one supper of the Lamb.
The well known hymn For All the Saints beautifully and accurately describes the communion of saints:
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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