Rev 7:2-4, 9-14 / 1 Jn 3:1-3 / Mt 5:1-12
Today's feast of All Saints proclaims a very profound teaching on the spiritual authority of the Church.
With the authority bestowed on her by Jesus Christ and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes the bold declaration of the names of those who have attained the reward of heaven.
There are over 10,000 canonized saints and just recently, we also witnessed the canonization of St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II.
When the Church officially canonizes a person to be a saint, the Church also declared that the person is in heaven and in the presence of God.
This feast is also for us a feast of awareness and closeness - an awareness of the spiritual world, and the closeness, the communion, of those saints with us.
As people of God and people of faith, we believe that the saints are canonized not for their own honour but for the glory of God.
And to some of these saints are given a particular mission. For example, on Tuesday, we celebrated the feast of St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of desperate and helpless cases.
And then for lost articles, we turn to that famous saint, St. Anthony of Padua.
And as for St. Therese of the Child Jesus, who is our patron saint, she is also the patron saint of the missions and also of florists.
The awareness of the saints and their particular missions will also lead us to be in communion with them.
Because their main heavenly mission is to help us on our earth journey to live the life of holiness and to do the will of God and to grow into a deep love for God and neighbour.
The Beatitudes that we heard in the gospel is the expression of the lives that the saints lived while on earth, and it is also the life that we are called to live.
And as much as the saints want to pray for us, we must ask them for their intercession.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus said in her autobiography that she will let fall from heaven a shower of roses, and that she will spend her heaven doing good on earth.
Yet, she can't do that without our asking her. And neither can any of the saints or even all the saints in heaven do anything for us without our asking.
It is only when we ask them for their intercession, then they can bring our prayers before God.
Yes, we have the power to call upon their intercession, for they cannot do anything for us without our asking.
So let us have a deep devotion to the saints and to ask for their intercession as we journey on in faith to join them in heaven.
The mission of the saints in heaven is best expressed by what St. Therese said: I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.
Indeed, they are in the best "position" to do so. That is the spiritual reality as we celebrate All Saints Day.
And so, for the saints and with the saints, let us give thanks to God, and may the saints help us live holy lives.