Nov 1 – Solemnity of All Saints
All Saints’ Day is celebrated in honour of all the saints, known and unknown. In terms of Roman Catholic theology, the feast commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven. The beatific vision is the eternal and direct perception of God enjoyed by those who are in Heaven, imparting supreme happiness and blessedness. St. Thomas Aquinas defined the beatific vision as the ultimate end of human existence after physical death.
The origin of this feast as celebrated in the West dates to 13 May 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs; the feast of the dedication Sanctae mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since. The chosen day, May 13, was a pagan observation of great antiquity, the culmination of three days of the Feast of the Lemures, in which the malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated.
The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III (731-741) of an oratory in St. Peter’s for the relics “of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world”, with the day moved to Nov 1.
- Wikipedia
Apo 7:2-4,9-14
Mt 5:1-12
‘How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
Brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Today, we honour the holy men, women, and children given to us as models to inspire us on our journey of faith. Today, we commemorate all those who attain glory with God in heaven.
The central theme of today’s Gospel known as ‘the Sermon on the Mount’, where we read and reflect on the Beatitudes, is the kingdom of heaven. According to today’s Gospel, the kingdom of heaven – the realm where God’s rule and presence are fully realised – belongs to the poor in spirit.
Who are the ‘poor in spirit’? These are the people who embrace spiritual poverty, which is closely linked to what Saint Ignatius of Loyola calls holy indifference: “We need to train ourselves to be indifferent in our attitude to all created things, in all that is permitted to our free will and not forbidden; so that on our part, we do not set out heart on good health rather than bad, riches rather than poverty, honour rather than dishonour, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all the rest”.
In other words, we need to train ourselves to be strong enough to accept spiritual poverty. In the words of Pope Francis, we need to be those “who are and feel poor, beggars, in the depths of their being”. We must empty ourselves to the extent of being beggars, for God to fill us up. We must live such that all we need is God, and accept that when we have God, we truly have all we need. That is when we begin to see the kingdom of heaven.
How then can we train ourselves to accept spiritual poverty? The simplest way is to be humble. Indeed, we can use the word ‘humble’ in place of the word ‘poor’ in the opening proclamation “the poor in spirit”; by being humble in spirit, one immediately appreciates that one must not be proud in one’s heart, and self-satisfied, because that leaves no room for God. Only by becoming poor in spirit, can we become rich in the Holy Spirit.
Today, let us pray that God helps us strip ourselves of the desires that fuel our ego and pride. And let us, like the Saints, live as beggars before God, and always put God before self.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Stacey Fernandez)
Prayer: Lord, I pray that my patron saint and every saint I hold dear, intercede for me. Please help me follow their footsteps and yours on the narrow path that leads to Heaven.
Thanksgiving: Jesus, I thank you for the gift of your friendship, and the friendship and example of the holy lives of the Saints.
OXYGEN 
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