602. November 1, All Saints' Day

Meditations no. 529 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Today we celebrate the feast of all the saints now rejoicing in heaven with God.

In the First Reading for today’s Mass, St John recalls one of his visions on the island of Patmos. Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.

And he continues, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. In this throng beyond numbering, the Church honours men and women of every age and condition who died in the peace of God and now enjoy eternal happiness in heaven. Their feast is particularly meaningful to us who still journey on earth. Included in the multitude who praise God unceasingly there are many members of the Work, and friends and relatives of ours. And they are all ready to intercede for us. Today, beloved brethren, in a joyful solemnity, we celebrate the feast day of all the saints. In their society heaven exults. In their protection earth rejoices. In their triumph holy Church is crowned.

Today we have the opportunity to increase our hope, since most of the saints were unknown, and strove to fulfill God’s will perfectly without leaving their ordinary tasks or their condition and state of life in the world. … Some have been canonized by the Church. However, the great majority of these souls have remained unnoticed, in obscurity and silence. It is almost impossible to know to what extent their holy lives have been an example to others and have contributed to manifesting the sanctity of the Church.

St John’s vision spurs our hope and enkindles anew our desire to be faithful and holy. O how glorious the kingdom where all the saints rejoice with Christ. Clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb wherever he goes. We too hope to be with them one day and to remain forever united to our brothers and sisters in heavenly bliss, adoring God and saying, Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.

By this feast the Church reminds us that sanctity is within everyone’s reach.

You have redeemed us with your Blood, Lord, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us a kingdom for our God.

As Christians we are all called to live fully the demands of charity. We see this exemplified in the multitude of saints whose feast we celebrate today. They are men and women who lived holy lives on earth; many of them were unknown to the world but not to God. For all of the baptized can and ought to sanctify themselves and be a powerful leaven of Christian life (cfr 1 Cor5: 6) while they continue their normal life of work in the midst of the world.

Jesus taught this very clearly: You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, Ever since 1928 the Work has been reminding all Christians of this Gospel teaching, as part of God’s providence for the care of his holy Church and the preservation of the spirit of the Gospel.

Our Lord wants each of you to strive to be a saint in the particular circumstances of your own situation in the world. Haec est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra (1 Thess 4: 3). This is God’s will, your sanctification. Many times it will be a hidden, daily, heroic sanctity devoid of all external glory. You will be co-redeeming with Christ, saving souls along with him and helping impart the right direction to human affairs.

God wants to use your personal sanctity, sought in accord with the spirit of the Work, to teach all men and women, in a specific but simple way, what you already know so well: that all of the faithful incorporated into Christ by baptism are called to seek the fullness of Christian life.

The Gospel today stipulates some of the requirements for sanctity. Christ tells the crowd listening to him, as well as men of every epoch, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The beatitudes show the path that we must follow to reach holiness. Normally it leads us through earthly things, since the call to sanctity is truly universal and not merely for a few or for a particular state in life. It does not generally require abandonment of the world; any work, any profession, can be a path to sanctity and a means for apostolate.

What joy to think about all the saints in heaven! They were like us, with the same problems and difficulties, the same hopes, and the same weaknesses. If we struggle as they did and remain faithful, at the end of our life we will hear our Lord’s consoling words: Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. In the meantime, we pray with the Church: O God, source of holiness, you have made the rich wonders of your grace shine forth in your saints. Grant us the joy of praising your greatness along with them.

We live the communion of saints to help one another achieve sanctity.

We are surrounded by souls, and we have no right to be an obstacle to their spiritual welfare. We are obliged to become saints. We have no right to defraud God, who has specially chosen us, nor the souls who expect so much from our apostolate.

We are not the only travellers along the road to sanctity. We are united to all Christians, to those already triumphant in heaven, to those undergoing purification in purgatory and to those still journeying on earth. We are joined by the current of charity that enlivens all of the members of the Church: the Communion of Saints. A Christian cannot be an individualist. He cannot be uninterested in others. He cannot have his back selfishly turned to the world. He is essentially social, a responsible member of the Mystical Body of Christ.

The Communion of the Saints. How shall I explain it to you? You know what blood transfusions can do for the body? Well, that’s what the Communion of the Saints does for the soul. We are especially obliged to practise it toward the other members of the Work by a communion of prayer, sacrifice, intentions and affections, united and fused with the intentions of the Father. Live a special Communion of the Saints, and at the moment of interior struggle, as well as during the long hours of your work, each of you will feel the joy and the strength of not being alone.

We live the Communion of Saints by our prayer for one another. Throughout the day we ask many times that grace will strengthen or heal the one most in need. Thus we too will experience what our Father described. Son, how well you lived the Communion of the Saints when you wrote, “Yesterday I ‘felt’ that you were praying for me!”

The thought of the invisible communication of spiritual benefits will help us be more generous in our penance and mortification for the Father, for the others in the Work and for the apostolate. If you feel the Communion of the Saints-if you live it-you’ll gladly be a man of penance. And you will realize that penance is “joy in spite of hardship,” and you will feel yourself “allied” to all the penitent souls that have been, that are, and that ever will be.

Our daily work will also contribute toward spreading divine life in the souls of our friends and in others whom we do not even know. By working and teaching others to work fraternally and loyally, shoulder to shoulder with all men, we will show that the Church is a living reality, and that it lives especially because of its saints, who are never lacking in any part of the Mystical Body.

Our Lady, Regina Sanctorum Omnium, will help us to awaken in all hearts the universal call to holiness, the foundation for our apostolic zeal and our co-redemptive work in the midst of the world.