November 1, 2015 — Solemnity of All Saints
Rv 7: 2-4, 9-14; Ps 24: 1-6; 1 Jn 3: 1-3; Mt 5: 1-12A
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Most of us are aware that every day of the year is Feast Day for some saints. In fact, and this is of great consequence to our understanding, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia “The Solemnity of All Saints is when the Church honors all saints, known and unknown.”
Those who have Feast Days are “known.” Yet, each of us has known “saints” in our lives who fall into the category of “unknown.” It may have been a parent or a sibling or a friend or a co-worker or a neighbor or a member of our parish or merely someone with whom we came in contact at some point in time. The crux is that on this day we need to pray and to honor those saints who have been an important part of our life in some way.
Indeed this is a day which should remind us that we, too, are called to sainthood. Not that we aspire to be honored publicly by the Pope or by the Church, but we do need to recognize that each of us is called to holiness. It is those “unknown” saints who provide examples of how to live and love and treat others, how to be good stewards. May we pray for them and may we seek to be like them in our own lives!
