Honoring the saints and remembering the dead

Sainthood is not a prize for good behavior. Saintliness, or rather, holiness, is something deeper – something even more profound than proper and moral conduct. 

In scripture, the saints are referred to as “the holy ones,” which often is also a reference to the members of a local church. 

Theologically, a saint is one chosen by God for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. A saint is someone transformed and consumed by the love for God and the power of the Holy Spirit. When God dwells within us, unopposed by our pride or self-centeredness, we become saintly.

Among the great treasures of the Church, one of the most inspiring, is its list, or canon, of holy men and women who we profess to be in heaven, surrounding the throne of God. These are the intercessors to whom we turn for aid: Mary, the mother of God; Saint Joseph; Saint Anthony; Saint Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Stanley Rother and thousands of others. As members of the Church on earth, we are especially close to the hearts of these saints and blesseds. They intercede for us and help us persevere in the way of discipleship that leads to heaven.

In addition to the known list of those who have been declared saints, there is a greater number, an uncountable number, whose love of God has carried them into the heavenly realm. 

No doubt many of these souls appeared quite ordinary during their earthly lives, the sort of believers you and I meet at Mass or during other daily activities. Remembering this is an important spiritual exercise because it reminds us that it is possible, by the grace of God, to overcome sin and hope for heaven. By the virtue of our baptism, we all are called to be saints.

Such is the joyous hope of All Saints Day. The feast is a celebration of the power of God’s mercy. Those souls who seek will find and those who knock will enter. 

Before his death, Jesus assured his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for us, so we can be assured that our true home in awaiting us among the saints in heaven. 

The day after the Church celebrates the victory of all saints on Nov. 1, we turn to the souls still struggling in purgatory during the Commemoration of All Souls on Nov. 2. 

It is our firm belief that, after physical death, wounded souls stained by the effects of venial sin may still hope for purification by God. This purgation of sin is the seminal idea behind the Catholic teaching on purgatory. 

As Pope Gregory the Great explained, “As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.”

The souls in purgatory need the prayers of the Church. On All Souls Day, the Church gathers to celebrate Mass and offer prayers for its sons and daughters who have died but have not yet reached heaven. Though they died in friendship with God, that is, in a “state of grace,” the souls in purgatory struggle, as we often do, to let go of the things of earth. Perhaps they struggle to forgive. 

Whatever binds them, we know that we must not allow the year to close without offering prayers for them. In fact, many parishes gather the names of the deceased and intensify prayers for the dead even beyond All Souls Day. The entire month of November is an appropriate time for our prayerful remembrance of the faithful departed.

There is an ancient devotion I encourage for All Souls Day, or anytime in November. Visit a cemetery and pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary for your deceased family members and friends. When you have finished, ask the Lord to hear your prayer on behalf of a forgotten soul. Go on to pray another decade of your rosary for those souls. Perhaps you will one day meet the soul in heaven and be thanked for your prayers. It is, after all, one of the spiritual works of mercy to pray for the dead.

Both All Saints Day and All Souls Day are an affirmation of the bonds of faith, hope and charity that unite us. Both are an affirmation of the ultimate victory of Jesus Christ over the power of the grave. 

How often does Our Lord greet his disciples with the admonition, “Be not afraid?” The Church contemplates the reality of physical death but does so without fear. As Saint Paul once wrote, “We must not be like those without hope.” The dead in Christ will rise. Persevere in your faith and the day shall dawn when you will take your place among the saints.



“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!’” -Revelation 7:9