Today, November 1st is the Feast of all the Holy Saints in Heaven… the Church Triumphant! It includes all the saints throughout the vast history of our wonderful Holy Mother Church…those known and unknown…from the very first martyrs to those who were most recently canonized. It also includes those who have a made their way to heaven, their path known only to God. It spans the entire history of the Church’s glorious past. It is a great way for us… the Church militant to renew our vigor…to renew our resolve to serve the Lord with all of our strength…all of our hope…all of our love.

The saints are in communion with Jesus in heaven…which means they are enjoying the beatific vision that God afforded them due to their uniting themselves to His Will as they served Him here on earth…it is through the goodness of God and His mercy…that anyone merits heaven at all.  Among the saints are included the heavenly angels  who remained faithful to the Lord when Lucifer became defiant to God and fell from heaven, taking with him all the angels who chose to disobey God, losing their place in heaven.

This feast is also a day to remember the Blessed Mother, who was kept pure by the grace of God, yet, whose own freewill allowed her to say yes…Her fiat to the Lord…allowing her to become the vessel which God would use to save mankind… Chosen by God, She is the greatest among all the saints...in Luke’s gospel we read how she was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say that “all generations shall call me blessed.” So on this feast let us remember that She holds a place of honor among the saints… crowned by God, as Queen of Heaven.

As we celebrate the saints, we should get into the habit of not only remembering them, but also venerating them and praising God for allowing them the grace needed to fulfill their role on earth with purity and resolve….And we should get in the habit of asking them for their intercession as we make our way, so that one day we too shall be able to hear the words that each of us should long to hear….”Well, done my good and faithful servant.”

                              Catholic Prayer for Veneration of the Holy Saints

How shining and splendid are your gifts, O Lord
which you give us for our eternal well-being
Your glory shines radiantly in your saints, O God
In the honor and noble victory of the martyrs.
The white-robed company follow you,
bright with their abundant faith;
They scorned the wicked words of those with this world’s power.
For you they sustained fierce beatings, chains, and torments,
they were drained by cruel punishments.
They bore their holy witness to you
who were grounded deep within their hearts;
they were sustained by patience and constancy.
Endowed with your everlasting grace,
may we rejoice forever
with the martyrs in our bright fatherland.
O Christ, in your goodness,
grant to us the gracious heavenly realms of eternal life.
Unknown author, 10th century

Almighty and Everlasting God,
who dost enkindle the flame of Thy love in the hearts of the saints,
grant unto us the same faith and power of love;
that, as we rejoice in their triumphs
we may profit by their examples, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gothic Missal