For All the Holy Men and Women

Today is the feast of All Saints...a day dedicated for all the named and un-named saints who have attained heaven.  There is know way of knowing all the holy men and women who are praising God before His altar to this day.  However, the Church has tried to bring before the militant (those still on this earth who are trying to seek God in their day to day life) those who are the triumphant (those who are with Him in Paradise).  Furthermore, with all these named saints, we have those (maybe even some in our own lives) who have obtained this status.  We thank God for their inspiration that leads us to want to live holy lives and follow in the footsteps of Jesus...or at least right beside.

What I loved most of all about this feast day is that it represents those who have walked in our paths along our own journey to Christ...who lead us to the almighty Lord.  God placed them in our lives for a short time and now we feel that through the grace of God they are with Him.  They accepted Jesus as their Savior and have taught us in some way to do the same.

Pope Benedict XVI once wrote, "...to become saints means to fulfill completely what we already are, raised to the dignity of God's adopted children in Christ Jesus...The saints bring to light in creative fashion quite new human potentialities ... The saints are themselves the living spaces into which one can turn ... There is no isolation in heaven.  It is the open society of the saints and, consequently, also the fulfillment of all human togetherness ... One might say that the saints are, so to speak, new Christian constellations, in which the richness of God's goodness is reflected.  Their light, coming from God, enables us to know better the interior richness of God's great light ... Nothing can bring us into close contact with the beauty of Christ himself other than the world of beauty created by faith and light that shines out from the faces of the saints, through whom his own light becomes visible."

I pray that we will all find our own ways to shine Christ's love to others.  Our lives on this earth are only a short glimpse of reality...we can find our way but it sure is nice to have those little lights along the path.  I hope that can humble myself before the Lord one say to be one of those lights as well.

Praise God for all the saints...and I do ask all ye...holy...men and women...pray for us!