Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
First, we have an announcement, a nationwide announcement from the U.S. Bishops
to be announced at all the Masses this weekend.
Congress is preparing to debate health care reform legislation.
The Catholic Bishops of the United States strongly support genuine health care reform
that protects the life and dignity of all, from the moment of conception until natural death.
However, all current bills are seriously deficient on abortion and conscience rights.
And do not yet provide adequate access to health care for immigrants and the poor.
In your pews today, you'll find a special flyer from the U.S. Bishops Conference
asking you to please contact your representative and senators immediately
and urge them to fix these bills with pro-life amendments.
The flyer includes a web address that allows you to send an email message to Congress
with the click of a button.
The bishops have asked for our swift action and the commitment of our prayers for this critical effort.
Thank you for your help.
We can make sure that health care reform will be about saving lives, not destroying them.
So you can find those flyers in each of your pews.
Today, we celebrate this solemnity, maximum solemnity,
the Feast of All Saints, when the Church honors all members of the Church triumphant,
all of the saints who have gone before us,
and not only those who are listed as saints officially by the Church,
but also all of those souls who are in heaven,
who are unknown to us and are known by God alone.
And we honor them today.
And the greatest possible of ways,
first and foremost, by offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
We offer the precious blood of Jesus in their name to God the Father.
And they, in turn, support us with the help of their prayers.
We see in the readings today, they bring to light three things with regard to the saints in heaven.
First,
their diversity.
Second,
their similarity.
And finally,
their reward.
First, with regard to the saints' diversity,
the reading says this,
St. John,
I saw a great multitude which no man could number
of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues
standing before the throne and in the sight of the Lamb.
Here,
St. John is referring to the universality of the call to holiness.
It is every single person who comes into this world is called to become a saint.
This is what our Heavenly Father desires.
And this is possible as well for each and every one of us.
No matter where we're from,
no matter what our personality is like,
no matter what our vocation is,
no matter what our limitations are,
our defects,
as well as our strengths and abilities.
All of these things are different in the lives of the saints.
We see that no two saints are exactly alike.
And so that's why when we read the lives of the saints,
we should never get discouraged if we say,
you know,
I'm really not like that one.
She's not like me.
We should never get discouraged.
Because we need to become the saint that God wants us to be.
Be the saint that we are meant to be.
Now the readings also refers to the thing that all of the saints have in common.
There's similarities.
It says they are all clothed with white robes and have palms in their hands.
White robes and palms.
The white robes refers to the purification that each and every saint undergoes.
The purification that takes place either in this life or in the next.
Remember,
today we honor those saints as well who died with imperfections and had to be purified by the fires of purgatory.
But they too who have passed through that purification are now in heaven as well.
So those white robes refer to that purification that must take place before entering into the kingdom of God.
As the scripture says,
nothing impure shall enter heaven.
We must be purified.
And then it talks about the palms.
All the saints have the palm of victory in their hands.
They are victors.
They are victorious.
Over the world,
over the flesh,
and over the devil.
Some to the point of shedding their blood.
Others simply by practicing heroic virtue throughout their lives.
But every single one of us,
every single one of the saints,
has the palm of victory.
And every single one of them is a martyr.
Either a red martyr by shedding their blood,
or a white martyr by living a life of holiness.
They all have heroic virtue.
Which means in order to become a saint,
we must have the will of a martyr.
If God doesn't call us to shed our blood,
we should at least have that interior disposition to shed our blood.
In fact, that must be present.
It's necessary.
Or you won't arrive at holiness.
Finally, the reading refers to the reward.
As the Gospels say,
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
That is the reward of the saints.
Eternal bliss.
No more tears.
No more struggles.
No more difficulties.
Eternal, unbounded joy,
and everlasting peace.
This is what we are made for.
This is our destiny.
If we cooperate with grace.
And so,
we are made for this.
This is our destiny.
If we cooperate with grace.
We are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses.
While we journey here through this life.
We should look to them as our examples.
We should look to them for their intercession.
To encourage us on their way.
To follow in their footsteps.
And to arrive at the eternal dwellings.
All you saints of God,
pray for us.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.