All Ye Holy Men and Women
Saturday, November 1st Readings Reflection: Solemnity of All Saints
Today is the Feast of All Saints, on which the Church commemorates all those who have entered eternal life and now glory in the Beatific Vision forever. For those of us in the United States, the USCCB has promulgated that today is not a holyday of obligation; however, the Church still encourages us to attend Mass in observance of this great feast.
Today’s Epistle comes from the Book of Apocalypse, in which St. John describes his vision of the just souls in Heaven. These souls stood before the throne of God, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, crying: “Salvation to our God, [W]ho sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb” (Apoc 7:10 DRB). St. John numbers these souls at one hundred forty-four thousand, a number traditionally understood to symbolize the faithful. This number should not be interpreted literally but rather symbolically, referring to the vast multitude of souls in Heaven.
As Catholics, we know that those in Heaven are rightly called saints. Many of these have been canonized by the Church in formal recognition of their sanctity. There are, however, countless other souls in Heaven who have not been canonized but still belong to the Church Triumphant. Today’s feast honors all the saints in Heaven, including those who have not been canonized. These are the saints for whose intercession we pray in the Litany of Saints: “All ye holy men and women, Saints of God, intercede for us.”
These saints in Heaven—both canonized and not canonized—give us an example to follow as we strive to walk along the straight and narrow path to Heaven ourselves. They have gone before us, living ordinary lives, suffering ordinary sorrows, struggling with the same vices and temptations as we do. Yet, they participated with God’s grace, “fought a good fight,… finished [their] course,… [and] kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). These saints have earned their “crown of justice” (2 Tim 4:7), giving us hope that we, too, can do the same after our own ordinary yet grace-gilled lives.
As Dom Prosper Gueranger wrote, “They that have gone before us wept as they turned the furrows and cast in the seed; but now their triumphant joy overflows upon us as an anticipated glory in this valley of tears. Without waiting for the dawn of eternity, the present solemnity [of all saints] gives us to enter by hope into the land of light, whither our fathers have followed Jesus the divine forerunner” (The Liturgical Year).
On this great Feast of All Saints, may all the saints in Heaven pray for us, that we may imitate them in responding to God’s grace so that we might one day share their eternal reward.
All ye holy men and women, Saints of God, intercede for us.
