"Let us all rejoice in the Lord, as we celebrate this feast day in honor of all the saints: the angels rejoice in this solemnity and praise the Son of God (1).
Today's feast recalls and proposes for common meditation some fundamental components of our Christian faith, Pope John Paul II pointed out. At the center of the liturgy are above all the great themes of the Communion of Saints, of the universal destination of salvation, of the source of all holiness which is God Himself, of the sure hope in the future and indestructible union with the Lord, of the relationship existing between salvation and suffering, and of a beatitude that already from now characterizes those who find themselves in the conditions described by Jesus. But the key to the feast we celebrate today "is joy, as we prayed in the entrance antiphon: Let us all rejoice in the Lord as we celebrate this feast day in honor of all the Saints; and it is a genuine, limpid, invigorating joy, like that of one who finds himself in a great family where he knows his own roots lie..." (2). This great family is that of the saints: those of Heaven and those of earth.
The Church, our Mother, invites us today to think of those who, like us, passed through this world with difficulties and temptations similar to ours, and overcame. It is that immense crowd that no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue, as the First Reading of the Mass reminds us (3). All are marked on the forehead and dressed in white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb (4). The mark and the garments are symbols of Baptism, which imprints upon man, forever, the character of belonging to Christ, and grace renewed and increased by the sacraments and good works.
Many Saints of every age and condition have been recognized as such by the Church, and each year we remember them on a specific day and take them as intercessors for the many helps we need. But today we celebrate, and ask for the help of, that countless multitude who reached Heaven after passing through this world sowing love and joy, scarcely realizing it; we remember those who, while they were among us, perhaps did work similar to ours: office workers, farmers, professors, merchants, secretaries...; they also had difficulties similar to ours and had to start over many times, as we try to do, and the Church does not make a nominal mention of them in the Sanctoral. In the light of faith, they form "a grandiose panorama: that of so many, many lay faithful often unnoticed or even misunderstood; unknown by the great ones of the earth, but looked upon with love by the Father, men and women who, precisely in the life and activity of each day, are the tireless workers who labor in the vineyard of the Lord; they are the humble and great artisans, by the power of grace, of the growth of the Kingdom of God in history" (5). They are, in short, those who knew how "with God's help to preserve and perfect in their lives the sanctification they received" (6) in Baptism.
We have all been called to the fullness of Love, to fight against our own passions and disordered tendencies, to start over whenever necessary, because "holiness does not depend on being single, married, widowed, or a priest, but on personal correspondence to the grace that is granted to all of us" (7). The Church reminds us that the worker who takes up his tool or his pen every morning, or the mother of a family dedicated to household chores, in the place God has designated for them, must sanctify themselves by faithfully fulfilling their duties (8).
It is comforting to think that in Heaven, contemplating the face of God, there are people with whom we interacted some time ago down here, and with whom we remain united by a deep friendship and affection. Much help they lend us from Heaven, and we remember them with joy and turn to their intercession.
Today we make our own that petition of Saint Teresa, which she herself will also hear, on this Solemnity: "O blessed souls, who knew so well how to take advantage, and buy so delightful an inheritance...! Help us, since you are so near the fountain; draw water for those of us here who perish of thirst" (9).
HCD"