All Saints – 02nd November 2025
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today’s celebration lifts our eyes in two directions: toward heaven and toward the earth. Toward heaven, because there we find all the saints – people just like us, who answered God’s call with all their hearts. And toward the earth, because here we are, still walking the path of faith, carrying in our hearts all those we have loved who have gone before us, but who continue to live in the love of the Lord.
In the Book of Revelation, Saint John tells us of a great multitude – “so vast that no one could count them” – people from every nation and time, dressed in white robes, standing before the Lamb. Those are not only the great saints we know from icons or calendars, but also simple men and women who lived their faith quietly, with love and perseverance. Perhaps among them is the grandmother who lit her candle every night and prayed for her children. Perhaps the father who worked honestly every day without complaint. Perhaps the mother who forgave even when she was hurt. Or a child who sincerely said, “I love you.”
Holiness is not about doing extraordinary things; it is about doing ordinary things with extraordinary love. There’s a story told about a monk whose daily task in the monastery was washing the dishes. One day someone asked him, “Don’t you get tired of doing the same thing every day?” The monk smiled and said, “No, because each dish I wash, I wash as if it belonged to the Lord Jesus.” How beautiful that is – holiness hidden in simple gestures done with a loving heart.