SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 1ST: Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this special feast of All Saints, we humbly pray for God’s Divine Grace and Mercy upon us all as we continue to strive to do God’s will and become a true Saint in this world. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. We pray for all widows and widowers. We pray for the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable in our communities and around the world. We pray for peace, love, justice and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally and physically ill, sick with strokes, respiratory and stomach diseases and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world…. Amen🙏
SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS: Today, we honor all the Saints, those who are canonized and those who are not. The feast of All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation. The Solemnity of All Saints celebrated annually on the first of November was instituted to honor all of the Saints, both known and unknown, and, according to Pope Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of Saints’ feasts during the year. During the year the Church celebrates one by one the feasts of the Saints. Today she joins them all in one festival. In addition to those whose names she knows, she recalls in a magnificent vision all the others “of all nations and tribes standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, proclaiming Him who redeemed them in His Blood.”
The solemnity originally began in the 4th century to commemorate all the Christian martyrs killed during those centuries of brutal persecution before Christianity was legalized. There were so many martyrs that a separate feast day could not be given to each one individually, yet, the Church did not want to leave any martyr without proper veneration. A common feast day developed and was usually celebrated in the Easter season. The Commemoration of All Saints was first celebrated in the East. The feast is found in the West on different dates in the eighth century. The Roman Martyrology mentions that this date is a claim of fame for Gregory IV (827-844) and that he extended this observance to the whole of Christendom; it seems certain, however, that Gregory III (731-741) preceded him in this. In the 8th century, about the year 731, Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in St. Peter’s Church in honor of all the Saints, and transferred the feast day to November 1st, since then the feast of All Saints has been celebrated in Rome. Gregory IV, while in France in 837, greatly encouraged the celebration of this feast in that country. The Greeks celebrate the feast of All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost. At Rome, on the other hand, on May 13th, there was the annual commemoration of the consecration of the basilica of St. Maria ad Martyres (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). This was the former Pantheon, the temple of Agrippa, dedicated to all the gods of paganism, to which Boniface IV had translated many relics from the catacombs. During the early centuries the Saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later on the Popes set November 1st as the day for commemorating all the Saints. We all have this “universal call to holiness.” What must we to do in order to join the company of the saints in heaven? We “must follow in His footsteps and conform ourselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. We must devote ourselves with all our being to the glory of God and the service of our neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many Saints in Church history”
Saints are ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives. The feast of All Saints should inspire us with tremendous hope. Among the Saints in heaven are some whom we have known. All lived on earth lives like our own. They were baptized, marked with the sign of faith, they were faithful to Christ’s teaching and they have gone before us to the heavenly home whence they call on us to follow them. The Gospel of the Beatitudes, read today, while it shows their happiness, shows, too, the road that they followed; there is no other that will lead us whither they have gone. Saints are men and women who know how to pray. They are people who, in times of difficulty as well as in good times, raise their minds and hearts to the Lord. They seek God’s will in their lives. They share with Him their hopes and frustrations (and sometimes even their anger). Through their prayer, they strive to be in constant contact with God. Saints do not always succeed in their intense desire to experience God’s closeness. Sometimes they endure periods when God appears to be absent from their lives, when he seems not to respond to their petitions for humility, patience, purity and the power to do God’s will. In spite of these dry, discouraging periods, the saints do not give up. They persist in praising God and trusting in His mercy. Today as we honor those holy men and women who have gone before us in faith and have done so in a glorious way, these great champions of faith, let’s reflect upon who they are and what role they continue to play in our lives and the life of the Church. We are all called to be Saints.
“Saints are like us, they are like each of us, they are people who before reaching the glory of heaven lived a normal life, with joys and griefs, struggles and hopes.” ~ Pope Francis
On this Solemnity of All Saints, let’s thank God for the gift of all Saints, known and unknown. Let’s pray for the grace to be like them and to be flickers of the light of Christ in our world’s darkness… Amen🙏
PRAYER: God, You allow to honor all Your Saints in one common festival. Through the prayers of so many intercessors grant us an abundance of Your merciful favors, which we so greatly desire. Amen 🙏
SAINT OF THE DAY: SAINT DEBORAH, PROPHETESS: On this special Solemnity of All Saints, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Deborah, Prophetess.
SAINT DEBORAH, PROPHETESS: St. Deborah (11th c. B.C.) was a godly widow and saint of the Old Testament. St. Deborah was the Fourth Judge of the Israelites. She was a courageous prophetess and champion of the Israelites. All Israel came to her to judge their disputes, and God prophesied to Israel through her. She was Israel’s only female judge. Her role as the military leader who defended the Israelites is commemorated in the Bible’s “Song of Deborah.” It was her military counter-attack against Sisera at Mount Tabor that successfully delivered Israel’s enemies into their hands. As prophetess, she foretold that Israel would have peace for 40 years following this victory. St. Ambrose and St. Jerome observed that St. Deborah is a good role model for the encouragement of courageous, godly women. She is known as the Patron Saint of bees and beekeepers due to the fact that her name means bee in Hebrew. She is depicted on most medals as looking solemnly down at the cross. Her visions of God led her to live a pious life and to protect Israel itself against harm. St. Deborah’s feast day is November 1st.
Saint Deborah, Prophetess ~ Pray for us 🙏