All Saints

Mass Readings

• First Reading Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
• Responsorial Psalm Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
• Second Reading 1 John 3:1-3
• Gospel Matthew 5:1-12a

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All Saints falls on Monday, November 1, 2027. In the United States, when this solemnity falls on a Saturday or a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is abrogated. The solemnity is still celebrated, and attending Mass remains a beautiful way to honor the saints.

Step Into the Story

John wrote Revelation on Patmos, likely around 95 A.D., under Domitian, an emperor who liked to be addressed as “lord and god.” He sees a crowd no one could count, from every nation, robed in white, waving palms, the sign of victory carried in Roman triumphs. St. Ephrem the Syrian, who died in 373, knew a common feast for all the martyrs. By the late 300s pilgrims were being shown a hillside near Capernaum as the place of the Beatitudes, with a cave where the Lord had taught.

1. 63 B.C.Pompey takes Jerusalem
2. 4 B.C.Antipas rules Galilee
3. 14 A.D.Tiberius becomes emperor
4. 26 A.D.Pilate becomes prefect
5. This week’s scene: c. 28 A.D.The Beatitudes

Come north to Galilee with the crowds, in or near 28 A.D., from wherever you started: Jerusalem and Judea, the Greek cities of the Decapolis, or beyond the Jordan. Some have walked for days. Feel the road in your feet. Herod Antipas rules here, and the people around you pay his taxes, the Temple’s tithes and the landlord’s rent.

Matthew gives no season and names no hill, so see only what he tells us: a mountain, a crowd, a Teacher. Jesus climbs a little way and sits down. His disciples come to Him. Find a patch of ground among strangers who have come as far as you. Look at the poor, the grieving, the hungry around you. He opens His mouth. Listen.

Encounter the Lord

Lift your eyes with John and look at the multitude before the throne: so many that no one could count them, from every nation and language. These are the saints, most of them unknown to us: grandmothers, farmers, children, martyrs.

This solemnity reminds you that holiness is not for a few heroes. It is God’s plan for you. The Beatitudes are the portrait of Jesus Himself and the path to that crowd in white. The saints are not distant statues; they are family, members of the one Body of Christ who pray for us. As St. Dominic promised, they help us more after death than they could in life. And John tells you what awaits: we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Choose one saint this week, read about his or her life, and ask for that saint’s intercession. Then choose one Beatitude to practice deliberately.

Know Your Faith

The Communion of Saints

The Church is a communion of holy things and holy persons. All of us who belong to Christ form one Church, united on earth, in purification and in glory (CCC 946-959).

The Intercession of the Saints

Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness. They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us (CCC 956, 2683).

The Saints as Examples

By canonizing some of the faithful, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and proposes the saints as models and intercessors (CCC 828). The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives (CCC 2683-2684).

The Universal Call to Holiness

All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity (CCC 2013). The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and respond to the natural desire for happiness (CCC 1716-1718).