All Saints Day: A Feast Day For Us All

While many well-known saints get a specific feast day dedicated to them, the feast of All Saints is meant to encompass those countless saints whose names we do not know. We take time on this day to remember them, to ask for their intercession, to pray with them. It is a beautiful reminder to me of how attainable sainthood really is. Often it feels like something to large, so grand, I could never dream of reaching it. I could never be as brave or as holy as those men and woman who were so dedicated to God.

But here's the thing, while the lives of the great saints are inspiring, there are countless saints looking on the face of God who were small, simple, and who will go unknown. They served God in the small ways. They did not perform earth-shattering miracles or great feats. They lived small and holy lives. To be holy means to be set apart. We are all of us, baptized and set apart. We are holy. All that is left for us to do is to pray and to love.

To pray and to love. If done well, this is all we need to become saints ourselves. As we spend time in prayer, we come to know the mind of God, we come to know His will. And yes, I will be the first to admit, I do not make enough time to pray. I am busy but that is a poor excuse to not pray. There is always time in the day to set aside a few minutes for prayer. Time to stop making excuses and start praying.

Praying, coming to know the mind of God, will naturally lead to love and love always leads to sacrifice. To pray and to love, this will lead us to sainthood. While still difficult, perhaps sainthood is more achievable then any of us could have imagined. To quote St. John Vianney, "This is the glorious duty of man: to pray and to love. If you pray and love, that is where a man’s happiness lies."

I give all the credit of these few thoughts I've written to the priest at my local church. His homily was a good reminder of what our goal on this earth should be; of how we should spend our time, and I wanted to share his wisdom. 

So let us celebrate with joy All Saints Day! It is truly a feast day for us all.