Remembering those who have gone before us

November 1

All Saints Day

All Saints’ Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, and is celebrated the communion of saints.

Remember we are all called to be saints, and those saints who have gone before us remind us how to live.

November 2

All Souls’ Day

All Souls’ Day is an opportunity for Catholics to pray for those souls in purgatory, that will benefit from our prayers that they may be hurried along the path to heaven.

We remember our own mortality and ask for God’s mercy on all souls undergoing purification.

Yearning for Sanctity

The saints are not a small caste of chosen souls but an innumerable crowd to which the liturgy urges us to raise our eyes. This multitude not only includes the officially recognized saints, but the baptized of every epoch and nation who sought to carry out the divine will faithfully and lovingly. We are unacquainted with the faces and even the names of many of them, but with the eyes of faith we see them shine in God’s firmament like glorious stars.

But “why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this solemnity, mean anything to the saints?” A famous homily of Saint Bernard begins with this question, and the response he offers us is timely:

“The saints, have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.”

This, then, is the meaning of today’s solemnity: looking at the shining example of the saints to reawaken within us the great longing to be like them; happy to live near God, in his light, in the great family of God’s friends. Being a saint means living close to God, to live in his family. And this is the vocation of us all. But how can we become holy, friends of God? We can first give a negative answer to this question: to be a saint requires neither extraordinary actions or works nor the possession of exceptional charisms. Then comes the positive reply: it is necessary first of all to listen to Jesus and then to follow him without losing heart when faced by difficulties.

Like the grain of wheat buried in the earth, those who trust him and love him sincerely accept dying to themselves. Indeed, he knows that whoever seeks to keep his life for himself loses it, and whoever gives himself, loses himself, and in this very way finds life. The saints’ biographies describe men and women who, docile to the divine plan, sometimes faced unspeakable trials and suffering, persecution and martyrdom. They persevered in their commitment. Their names are written in the book of life and heaven is their eternal dwelling place. The example of the saints encourages us to follow in their same footsteps and to experience the joy of those who trust in God. In the Preface of the Mass we will proclaim that the saints are friends and models of life for us. Let us invoke them so that they may help us to imitate them and strive to respond generously, as they did, to the divine call. In particular let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord and mirror of all holiness. May she, the All Holy, make us faithful disciples of her Son Jesus Christ! Amen.

- Pope Benedict XVI

reflection source: https://us.magnificat.net/home/discover