Holy Mother, mother of all saints, pray for us sinners so that we too may be united with you and all the saints in adoring the Eucharist unveiled for all eternity, which is to see the face of God and to be one with Him in a eternal communion of love. Amen.

Homily for All Saints

Today we celebrate the great feast of All Saints. This feast encompasses all the saints, not just the ones canonized that we celebrate in the Liturgical Calendar. The vast majority of saints are ones that we don’t even know their name. In fact, some of the greatest saints may be unknown to us…those souls whose lives passed away in obscurity, their silent hidden faithful lives unknown but to God alone, who sees all. We are told in the book of Revelation that St. John saw, “a great multitude, which not one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” This multitude is all of the saints in heaven, better know as the Church Triumphant.

And so we could call today’s feast, the feast of the Church Triumphant. That is the feast of those members of the Church who have merited heaven by their holiness of lives and are now singing their triumphant song of Joy. Because of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ and to His truth and so because of their faithfulness to His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, they have achieved their salvation and are now rejoicing with Him, forever in paradise: “They stood before the Lamb and before the throne... They cried out in a loud voice- salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne and from the Lamb.” This is the vision of the Church gathered around the sacred altar of heaven prostrated before the Holy Eucharist revealed and unveiled to them in all of its glory. What great joy!

The Members of the Church Triumphant in heaven have not forgotten us. This is a feast day in which we not only give glory to God for His great work in making these souls shine like the stars of heaven, but a day in which we evoke the saints for their help in living out our lives as theirs, in faithful obedience to Jesus and to His One true Church on earth, so we like them can one day save our souls, and be with them in paradise. We cannot presume our salvation, we must work it out with fear and trembling. But our great hope comes from this feast in which we realize that this great throng of witnesses in heaven spurs us on to victory, and are ever ready to help us if we but call on their intercession. This is why this feast day is so important, why the Church has made it a holy day of obligation. We open our eyes, to the reality that we need the help of all of those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. Celebrating this feast by coming to Holy Mass is an act of faith, an acceptance of God’s design, while failure to celebrate it knowingly only shows a lack of faith and a rejection of God’s plan.

The Church requires our presence at Mass this day, because here at the Holy Mass is the only place on this earth where we can be one with the Church Triumphant in adoration the Holy Eucharist—of God. The only difference is that they see the Eucharist unveiled, Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity in all of His glory, while we must see this glory through the eyes of faith…O Lord help us to see!!! When the priest says, right before the Holy, Holy, Holy and now we join with all the angels and saints in their song of joy, the priest is not saying that the saints are somewhere far off singing Holy Holy Holy with us, no, no…the priest is reminding us the Holy Mass makes present all of the saints in heaven right here in this Church with us, along with all of the angels as well. As the bishop of Madison Wisconsin once wrote as he was discussing the Hymns we sing at Mass; We must remember that as we pray before the "Holy, Holy, Holy," the angels and saints are present with us giving praise to the Trinity. The hymns we sing (at Mass) should be worthy of the participation of the angels and saints. The Holy Mass, through the power of the priesthood, opens heaven to us, so that when we are at Mass, we are more in heaven than we are on earth.…Do we have the faith of a child to believe this, do we have the faith of Child to believe that the saints are here with us…if we don’t, now is the time to beg God to humble us and increase our faith.

Tomorrow we will celebrate the Commemoration of the Dead-that is all of those holy souls who are in purgatory, being purged of their lack of love which stems from their lack of knowledge of the teachings of the Church or any error they may have with regards to that teaching. The Souls in purgatory are that part of the Body of Christ known as the Church Suffering. These souls too, can help us if we pray for them and to them asking for their help. At they same time, they cannot pray for themselves, they need our prayers to help them. So, while not a holy day of Obligation, attendance at Mass on all souls is a great act of charity to these suffering souls in purgatory, some of which are members of our own family and friends for sure…

These days, we the Church Militant, that is the members of the Church, still embroiled in the great battle for our soul and the souls of all here on earth, by celebrating all Saints day and all souls day, join ourselves in a deeper communion with the entire Church, that is the Church Triumphant in heaven, the Church Suffering in purgatory and of Course with the rest of the members of the Church Militant on earth. It is through the blood of the Lamb that we are united. United from all times and places in the union of the heart of the Lamb, who was slain for us. Our union and communion is through Him, with Him and In Him. It is at this Holy Mass and at all the Holy Masses that the blood of the Lamb and the Heart of the Lamb of God are made truly, physically, substantially and sacramentally present for us to partake in, in order to share in the Unity of the entire Church, the Church in heaven, the Church in purgatory and the Church here on earth. Today, the entire Church looks to the Lamb and glorifies Him and adores Him with love, united in one voice and one heart.

Let us today rejoice that we too gather around the great altar of Lamb, who was slain and who is our salvation. Our reception of Holy Communion joins us not only to the celebration of the Holy Mass on earth, but also to the celebration of the Holy Mass unveiled in heaven. It brings us communion with the entire Church, the Church Triumphant in Heaven, the Church suffering in purgatory and the Church Militant here on earth. May Our Lord strengthen our faith and hope through the intercession of all the saints around His throne.

Holy Mother, mother of all saints, pray for us sinners so that we too may be united with you and all the saints in adoring the Eucharist unveiled for all eternity, which is to see the face of God and to be one with Him in a eternal communion of love. Amen.