The Solemnity of All Saints (2026)
The Solemnity of All Saints
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 (6)
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12a
November 1, 2026
Today our readings for Mass take a departure from the normal Sunday readings cycle. Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. It is one of six Holy Days of Obligation in the United States. As a solemnity falling during Ordinary Time, when it falls on a Sunday, it takes precedence over the Sunday readings.
The saints “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.” They have submitted themselves to Christ who saves them.
Estimates say that there are over 10,000 formally canonized saints. We know them by name and there is a set feast day where we can venerate them for their example of faithful living and ask for their intercession.
While there are 10,000 or more people formally recognized as saints through the canonization process, there are many more saints than that. Every single person who enters the Kingdom of Heaven for eternity is a saint.
We are not yet in Heaven but we are part of the Communion of Saints. Our Catholic faith speaks of three states in the Communion of Saints (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 946-962).
The first is the Church triumphant, those already in Heaven. The second is the Church seeking purification. These are those in Purgatory undergoing purification to be in Heaven. The third state is sometimes called the Church Militant. It is the people who continue to live in this world while seeking the Kingdom of Heaven. We are in the third state. We are the people who long to see the face of our Lord. We ascend the mountain and stand in His holy place when we give our lives to our Lord who raises us up.
The people in each of the three states are in relationship with one another. The saints in Heaven pray for us as we pray for the souls in Purgatory.
The first people to be invited into Heaven were the Jews. We read in Revelation, “I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel.” Then our Lord extended the invitation to all, “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.”
God wants all of us to become His children. This begins in Baptism when we are marked with the sign of faith. It reaches its fulfillment when we enter Heaven where we will be like Jesus in His Glory. There we will prostrate ourselves before the Lord as we worship him.
To be in Heaven is to be blessed.
What is required of us to be blessed, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Jesus gives us the answer to this question in the Beatitudes. We need to be “poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” To be “poor in spirit” is not to lack faith. Rather, it is to give ourselves over to our Lord in complete surrender. This requires us to be meek.
To seek the Kingdom of Heaven is to “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” It is in Heaven that our hunger and thirst are satisfied. We are made for Heaven. It is the only place we can find true and complete satisfaction.
To enter Heaven requires us to be “clean of heart.” Yet, we are sinners. We submit ourselves to be washed in the Blood of the Lamb when we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Is this easy? No! Jesus tells us that we will be “persecuted for the sake of righteousness.” Are you ready to be persecuted? It is not easy but when we try, our Lord will help us survive “the time of great distress.”
Trust in the Lord. Surrender yourselves to the Lord. Then, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in Heaven.”
Peace,
Fr. Jeff