Feast of All Saints

Mark Noonan  CM

After this, I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these people, robed in white, and where have they come from?”  Then he said to me, “These are the people who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Rev 7: 2-14

On November 1 we celebrate the feast of All Saints.  It is a very joyful feast full of hope and promise. It is full of hope because it reminds us of all those who have lived much the same kind of life that we live and who are now with God. They are members of our family, friends, school companions, teachers.  All now with God. So when the question is asked in chapter 7 of the Book of Revelation: Do you know who these people are? We know who these people are. They are fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers and teachers and sisters and brothers and friends whom we have known and who are now with God. In this feast of All Saints, we are celebrating their Feast day.

Do you know who these people are?

The feast of All Saints is the feast of the little people -the nameless unremembered people who struggled with the difficulties of life and who are now with God. In recalling all the innumerable people who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith, we remind ourselves that we too are called to join them in the Kingdom of God. We are all called to be saints. 

Becoming a saint is the work of a lifetime. It is never finished no matter how old we may be. None of the saints were born saints. Vincent de Paul as a young priest wanted to earn money to send to his family at home on the farm in Dax. That all changed when he started to work with people who were living in poverty. On this feast, we thank God for the hope that the feast of All Saints gives us. We thank God too for their continuing involvement with us in the communion of saints.  They are constantly with us with their support and encouragement.