All Saints Solemnity
Also Read: Mass Readings for 01 November 2024
Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12a
On this solemnity, we are around the altar with all the saints in heaven and on earth.
According to Jesus saints, ‘those who are worthy of resurrection from the dead’, “are like the angels.” (Lk 20:36,38). Hence, we can rightly conclude that the saints live like angels in the presence of God. They together worship and glorify God.
If they are like angels, they can do what angels can do. The Bible sheds light on what angels do for us.
1. Angels deliver messages from God.
On the annunciation day, the Archangel Gabriel delivered the annunciation message to Mary, the virgin from Nazareth. Six months earlier he had delivered another message to the priest Zechariah regarding the birth of John the Baptist.
The holy men and women who walk among us as well as who are in heaven with the Heavenly Father continue to reveal the plan of God. Canonizing a saint attests that one had lived a holy life and that the message he or she conveyed by deeds, words, and letters is significant in Christian life. The Church, the bride of Christ, was given the authority to attest it when Jesus entrusted the keys of heaven to Peter, the appointed leader of the apostles (Mt 16: 15-19).
2. Angels accompany the people of God.
Tobiah, the son of Tobit was sent on a difficult mission by his father. Arcangel Raphael accompanied him from day one, under disguise. He guided him to his destination, helped him find his wife, drove the evil spirit out of his spouse, and healed his father.
Like the angels, saints can, and they do accompany us in our struggles. Our God is the God of the living (Lk 20: 38). If a kind person on earth can help us in our struggles, the holy souls in heaven can do it a hundred-fold powerfully. Hence, it is good to build strong relationships with saints in heaven. Take the examples of the multitude of saints, they all had strong relationships with many saints through intercessory prayers and devotions. Reading their lives and works, and imitating their holy lives are means to build relationships with saints.
They are our heavenly celebrities. Unlike earthly celebrities, they know us, love us, and help us in our struggles. They are given that power by the Almighty God.
3. Angels set us free. Peter was set free twice by the angels. (Acts 5: 19, Acts 12: 6-11).
Like the angels, saints too can intervene powerfully for us and set us free from the bondage of sin and evil. When they intervene, the chains of hell shall fall apart, and the gates shall open. If anyone is seeking freedom from the bondages of vengeance, lust, avarice, addiction, and so on, let him seek and avail the help of the saints to break the chain and open the gates.
4. Angels rescue people from danger. (Gen 19: 12-22) (Gen 19: 16)
Lot and his family were rescued by the angels as their city, Sodom, was about to be destroyed. We read, “When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.” (Gen 19:16). The intercessions and active involvement of saints have indeed dragged many out of mortal dangers.
5. Make known of the mysteries through Revelations.
Book of Apocalypses begins thus: “God made it known by sending his angel to his servant John” (Rev 1: 1-2). Saints and doctors of the Church reveal heavenly mysteries through spiritual classics. Refer to the works of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, St. Thersa of Avila, and the like.
We have seen just five things that the saints do for us as the Bible testifies. A deeper study may reveal more ways saints help us.
Before we conclude we need to address this question, ‘why does God need the saints to help us?’
Well, we can explore the answers once we get a convincing answer to an even more pressing question, “Why does God bother our parents in creating us; couldn’t He create us as He created the first man?”
The answer to both questions is one: God loves to share both His creative and salvific authority with us.
Amen.
Thank you for the appreciation and stay blessed.
thank you father for the beautiful homily.