Solemnity of All Saints

10-31-2020Weekly ReflectionFr. James Aboyi

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints which allows us to experience the joy of being part of the great family of God’s friends. The liturgy again presents the expression full of surprise of the Apostle John: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

Yes, to be saints means to realize fully what we already are insofar as raised in Christ Jesus to the dignity of adopted sons and daughters of God. He who believes in Christ, the Son of God, is reborn. This mystery is enacted in the sacrament of baptism, through which Mother Church gives birth to “saints.”

For one who lives in Christ, death is the passage of the earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland where the Father welcomes all of his children, “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues,” as we read today in the Book of Revelation (7:9).

For this reason, it is very significant and appropriate that, a[ er the feast of All Saints, the liturgy makes us celebrate tomorrow the commemoration of all the deceased faithful. The “communion of saints,” which we profess in the creed, is a reality that is constituted here, but which will be fully manifested when we see God “as he is” (1 John 3:2).

It is the reality of a family united by profound bonds of spiritual solidarity which unites the faithful deceased; a mysterious, but real, bond nourished by prayer and participation in the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Mystical Body of Christ, the souls of the faithful meet, surmounting the barrier of death, pray for one another, realize in charity a profound exchange of gifts. With this dimension of faith is also understood the practice of offering prayers for the repose of the deceased, through the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ, who has opened to believers the entrance to eternal life.

Dear brothers and sisters, may the traditional visit of these days to the tombs and memories of our dead be an opportunity to think without fear about the mystery of death and cultivate that incessant vigilance that prepares us to face it with serenity

BACK TO LIST