Solemnity of All Saints
Today is a solemnity, the highest ranking feast in the Church. All Saints’ Day is also usually a holy day of obligation, when we are required to go Mass to celebrate this great feast, which commemorates all the saints, both those known and those unknown. In other words, this solemnity celebrates those who have achieved the beatific vision of God in heaven. This is in contrast with the feast we celebrate tomorrow – All Souls’ Day – of all those who have died but have not yet reached heaven.
Both today and tomorrow, however, communicate something similar to us, namely, that the dead are not simply gone and disconnected from those who are living. Rather we continue to be joined together with all those in the body of Christ, whether they are living or dead. The saints in heaven support we who are still living. And tomorrow reminds us that we can continue to support those who have died but not yet reached heaven.
Perhaps the best example of our unity with the saints is expressed in the first reading from the book of Revelation. This last book of the Bible is often one of the most confusing for people, but when we understand its liturgical content it makes a lot more sense. Today’s passage depicts the worship of God taking place in heaven. This worship of God joins those in heaven and those in earth; the angels and saints worship alongside us. They are present at every Mass we celebrate, even if they are not visible to us. The words of our liturgy make clear that we are sharing in the heavenly worship of the angels and saints. And so this solemnity also reminds us of our final end and the way we can experience a foretaste of it here on earth in our celebration of the Mass. Our final end is the end already reached by the saints – the beatific vision of God in heaven, or in the words of St. John in today’s second reading: “...when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2). And this hope of being like the saints inspires us to be pure like the saints are pure, washed in the blood of the Lamb, united with Christ in baptism.
We cannot all be wealthy, successful, attractive, or popular. But we can all be saints, and we are all called to be saints, the blessed children of God. We are all called to seek the face of God, to worship him in the Mass and to serve him constantly in all our thoughts and actions each day. Those who have been canonized as saints, as well as all those unknown saints that have reached heaven, remind us of our final end. They show us that it is possible, and our unity with them in the Mass reminds us that we have a way to practice being saints here on earth. But the saints are more than just models; they are also our support team. They sponsor us in this pilgrimage on earth.
And so today we celebrate all the saints who inspire us to grow into being children of God and who also help us to become children of God by their prayer. Let us pray that through their intercession, we too may become saints.
- Maria Morrow