Feast of All Saints
Starts: Wednesday, November 1st 2023 at 10:00 am
Ends: Wednesday, November 1st 2023 at 10:30 am
Wednesday, 1st November, is the Feast of All Saints and is a Holy Day of Obligation. Masses are celebrated on Tuesday, 31st October at 7.30pm (Vigil) and on Wednesday, 1st November, at 10am.
What is a saint? Many people upon hearing this curious word “saint” cringe. To them, saints are one-dimensional, sometimes even vaguely creepy people who are uncomfortable to be around. They have one track minds and are other than human. They exist on a different plane where they have no real appreciation of how ordinary folk live. Saints are rigid creatures who don’t know the agonies and eccentricities of life. Those who feel this way about sainthood are likely to say, with a hint of disdain – and pride – “I’m NO saint!”
Then there are people who think the saints exist in a type of rosy glow. They exude sentiment from holy cards and would be quite at home with sweet Hallmark greetings. To this audience the saints are always kind and gentle and never have a rotten thought. They perceive them as Supermen, but elevated even higher, they are miraculous figures whose feet never really touched the ground.
Saints were real human beings, with faults and failings, just like ourselves, You had cantankerous Saint Jerome, firebrand Saint John the Baptist, anxious and tormented Padre Pio, wry Saint Teresa, joke-cracking bishop Saint Laurence O’Toole, achingly grateful Saint Mary Magdalen, brainy and poetic Saint Thomas Aquinas, indomitable Saint Catherine of Siena, moody Saint Augustine, playful Saint Therese and mad Saint John of God.
Perhaps you did not know that among the saints there are people who, rather than being meek and mild, are rather ferocious. Among the saints there are also great wits, addle-brained dreamers, foolish oafs, mischievous curmudgeons, radical crusaders, shy artists, and passionate poets. There are housewives and kings, tax agents and lawyers (yes, lawyers!), bakers and brigands.
But in this diverse bunch of souls for Christ, there are common characteristics. All the saints share certain virtues – a yearning for holiness, an intimacy with God, perseverance in prayer, humility of heart, and love of their fellow men and women, that is, charity of soul.
