by Fr. Tommy Lane
Our celebration here today is just a dim reflection of the celebration in heaven. Imagine all the angels and saints gathered around God, united in praising and worshipping God, the saints who have been canonized by the Church as well as the millions of saints from every age who have been faithful to Jesus and now enjoy heaven. In the first reading today from Revelation, John recounts a vision he received of that celebration in heaven:
I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one
could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood
before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm
branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes
from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.” (Rev 7:9-10)
Then John is told why they are in heaven:
These are the ones who have survived the time of
great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the
Blood of the Lamb. (Rev 7:14)
The saints in heaven have been faithful to Jesus despite all the difficulties of living the Christian life and being a follower of Jesus. That is why they are now given white robes in this vision of John, showing that they have remained faithful to Jesus in all the trials that came upon them.
It is not just the saints themselves who achieved this victory over trials and temptations during life. It was the grace of God working in them. That is why Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:10, “what I am now I am through the grace of God.” The saints’ lives of faith and endurance were made possible by God working in them. We gather today to thank God for what he has done in the lives of all the saints of all ages who are now in heaven. It is God’s victory in their lives that we celebrate today; Jesus’ victory over evil on the cross has been reproduced in the lives of these saints and we give thanks to God.
The saints, whether famous and canonized, or unknown and not canonized, are an example to us. We could apply this excerpt from the letter to the Hebrews to the saints:
With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross disregarding the shame of it and has taken his seat at the right of God’s throne. (Heb 12:1-2)
The saints are all around us. The preface to the Eucharistic Prayer usually concludes by stating that we join with all the angels and saints in praising God saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.” In the apparition at Knock, the angels appeared hovering around the altar. During the Eucharistic Prayer, we ask to be made worthy to join with the angels and saints in heaven.
A question I am asked is “Why do we pray to the saints sometimes, why not just pray directly to God?” We pray to the saints because they can help us on journey to Jesus. They are now gathered around the throne of God, and they can intercede for us and help us. In an earlier vision in Revelation, John saw golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8). And we know that the saints intercede for us and help us because so many people claim to have received favors through praying to a particular saint; and for anyone to be beatified or canonized a major miracle inexplicable by natural means must have taken place. So, praying to the saints is powerful. They are our brothers and sisters from every country and from every generation and they can help us on our path to God. We have one goal in praying to the saints: that through their prayers we may join with them one day in heaven by sharing in God’s victory which they have. We ask them to help us allow Jesus’ victory over evil on the cross to be reproduced in our lives as it has been in theirs. We pray to them that what John saw in his vision in the first reading today may at some future time be true of us also:
These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev 7:14)
Therefore, as the conclusion to the second reading today from John stated,
Surely everyone who entertains
this hope
must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ. (1 John 3:3)
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 2003
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More homilies for November 1: Solemnity of All Saints
The Saints: our older brothers and sisters in the family of God 2024
The saints: our intercessors 2021
The saints: friends in heaven interceding for us 2020
The saints, transformed in heaven, see God 2018
United with the saints in heaven during this Mass 2006
The saints remind us who we are
The communion of saints and our glorious future
Gospel: Homilies on the Beatitudes
Second Reading related: Love of God for us 2009
stories about saints and Halloween