In Gratitude for All the Saints

Since childhood, All Saints Day, celebrated November 1st, has been one of my favorite days in the Liturgical Year. It brings me happiness to honor all the saints in Heaven—canonized and uncanonized—along with the other members of the Church on this special day.

All Saints Day is a day to celebrate with Mass, with prayer (I like to pray the Litany of Saints alone or with a friend), and perhaps with a party. This is a day that gives us hope that we, too, will become saints. It does not matter if we are canonized as such; what matters is that we get to Heaven.

I learned to love the saints from my mother and grandmother. The Blessed Mother has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mother told me about some of her other favorite saints, including St. Joseph, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St. Jude, and my grandmother shared with me her devotion to Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Ann, St. Lucy, and St. Anthony of Padua. My mother gave me a book of biographies of saints when I was in first grade. I read these stories over and over, inspired by their lives and seeing them as role models. Throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I grew in my love for the saints, finding new saint friends—those canonized and beatified, as well as holy people whose causes are being considered for canonization.

Many of us are devoted to certain saints who are our friends in heaven, though we love and pray with all of them—those we know about and those who are unknown to us. Although we cannot know for certain, many of our relatives and friends are now saints because they are with our Lord in Heaven. They are praying and interceding for us, wanting our salvation and our temporal welfare on earth as well. I have been blessed to know some holy older priests who loved Jesus, were very dedicated to prayer, devoted to the Blessed Mother, kind to others, and who endured suffering patiently. It is my hope that they are with God in Heaven now as saints, or that they will be soon.

I think there are some misunderstandings about saints. They were not perfect. They were ordinary people like ourselves who had similar difficulties but trusted in God, remained faithful, and persevered until the moment they died. In the reading on All Saints Day, John the Apostle describes his vision of “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue” (Revelation 7:9). The saints have different states of life, different nationalities, and different gifts; what they have in common is their great love for God and for their neighbor. Martyrs were regular people, trying to live as good Catholics, who were then called to make heroic sacrifices of their lives for God. Their great faith and their trust in God enabled them to stay strong during times of persecution, such as in the early era of the Church in the Roman Empire; under King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I in England; under the Communist Regime in the Soviet Union; and today, under persecution, in martyrdom, and suffering through prejudice and hatred for their beliefs.

There are so many canonized and beatified holy people—we won’t ever get to know all of them in our lifetime—but we can look forward to meeting them someday. I believe God introduces us to the saints He wants us to know. It often happens that I hear about, read about, or perhaps even see a picture of a saint that makes me feel very drawn to that person, desiring to know him or her better. As I learn about the saint and ask for his or her intercession, I develop a devotion to and a friendship with the saint.

It is very difficult to choose favorite saints. I have noticed that at different times in my life, I am closer to some than at other times, although I still love them as much as before. Among the many saints I am devoted to are: the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph; St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order; St. Cecilia, the Roman virgin martyr; St. Kateri Tekakwitha, our first Native American saint; St. Robert Southwell, the English Jesuit priest, poet, and martyr; and Saint Giuseppe Moscati, the Italian doctor.

It is a wonderful experience when having prayed for a holy person to be canonized or beatified, a miracle is accepted and the person is recognized as a saint or a blessed by the Church. I prayed for the canonizations of Kateri Tekakwitha, Louis and Zelie Martin, John Henry Cardinal Newman, and Pope John Paul II—all of whom are now saints.

It is not enough to admire saints. We must strive to become saints ourselves. As Mother Angelica said: “We are all called to be great saints. Don’t miss the opportunity.” We can’t wait until we die to become saints. A life of sanctity begins now by staying close to Jesus, living as His faithful disciples, praying, practicing virtue, doing His will, and loving others.

It is how we live each moment and cooperate with God’s grace that will enable us to be saints. While some stories of the saints may exaggerate certain elements of their lives, what stands out in all their lives is their great love for God, their complete dedication to serving Him, and their love of neighbor. Whether active in the world as laypeople or living as cloistered nuns, they all were devoted to prayer and to doing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

In addition to the vocation of our state of life, God calls us to serve Him in other ways, using the gifts and talents He gives us. For one person, it may be as a teacher; for another as a nurse; for another as a writer. Our gifts might be used in our work, in our home, or in an apostolate. Some saints, such as St. Bernadette, spent much of their lives sick; offering up their suffering was their great work for the Church.

We all experience our own challenges and difficulties each day, which can be part of our way to become saints. We need to pray for God to help us become saints, and for our family members, friends, godchildren, and priests to become saints too. We should also pray for all people to know and love God, become members of the Church, and live their vocation of sanctity.

The saints are always joyful because they know God’s great love for them. They want us to know the joy of God’s love too.

Dürer, A. (1511). Adoration of the Trinity [painting]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.