Solemnity of All Saints. Mt 5,1-12

A great community of love
Today, we remember all the saints and saints of God. At the same time, today begins the Soul Octave, when we pray for all the faithful departed. How are the feast of All Saints and the memory of the faithful departed related? You must have heard that sometimes we divide the Church into three parts: the wandering, suffering, and triumphant. The wandering church – we are the ones who are still living in this world and traveling to the heavenly homeland. The suffering church is the souls in purgatory, affectionately called “souls,” who still have to serve the temporal punishments for their sins to enter into heavenly glory. And finally, the Church is victorious – those who are already in heaven looking at God face to face; these are all the saints.

One Christian song sings: “Let’s remember the little souls, help them from purgatory.” They will remember us when we die.” Seeing the interrelationship between the wandering, suffering, and victorious Church is beautiful. Let’s remember the souls – we, the wandering Church, think in our prayers about those who are in the suffering Church, all the “souls.” Let us help them from purgatory – thanks to our memories and prayers, the souls in purgatory leave purified to the Church victorious, among the saints in heaven. They will remember us when we are dying – the saints in heaven, in the Church triumphant, will intercede for us who are wandering on this earth when we are preparing for eternity. So we are interconnected and form one great community of love – one great community of Christ’s Church.

We especially want to consider the Church victorious at today’s celebration. Today is a holiday for all who are in heaven. That is, not only those saints who have a holiday during the year but also those whose names only God knows. And there are many, many more! And their wish is for us to be among them one day. They do everything for it. It is also up to us to do everything in our power and possibilities. When we do something, God will help us. There is a place in heaven for everyone. It is up to us not to leave our place empty.

Today, we should rejoice and thank our brothers and sisters who have already reached the goal. Their life is completed in God. They are experiencing what no eye has ever seen, what no ear has ever heard, what no human has ever thought of. They share what God has prepared for those who love him. At Holy Mass, we sing: “You alone are holy.” God alone is perfect; alone has all goodness in himself. The saints have everything they are and have from him. However, they show how God’s love can transform a person when he opens himself up to this love and lives in it. Therefore, God’s love shines in the saints and from the saints.

We know and believe that we are already somehow connected with them. After all, we confess that we believe in the communion of saints. If relationships of love, gratitude, and help can be formed between people here on earth, why can’t it be between us and the saints in heaven? The threshold of eternity that separates us cannot be an obstacle for God. Saints are our friends who intercede for us; they help us on the way to God and beg us that we, too, reach God, our goal, and that everyone will meet in Him.

Every age and every nation has these; they are of different statuses, inclinations, and natures. It is not only those whom we have during the year in the church calendar and who are worshiped in various places of the world, but also much larger groups of those who have their feast today as unknown saints – even those who were not perfect in this world, but they have achieved forgiveness After all, sooner or later there will also be among them those whom we will remember tomorrow, who are still purifying themselves. So we are not alone! Saints are very close to us, perhaps much more intimate than those around us. We already belong to their glory, and their brightness shines for us as hope so that we, too, will not be discouraged.

And today’s celebration reminds us of something else: Our life will be completed one day. We are not heading into the “empty nothingness” but into the marvelous light of God’s goodness and beauty. Even our life has its direction, goal, and meaning. And even if we don’t know what awaits us in earthly life, God knows our entire life path well. Therefore, under the protection of the saints, we can confide in God’s love with complete trust. All saints and saints of God pray for us from this time to age.