Click here to read the Sunday readings from the USCCB website.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. In that second reading we heard:

Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him.

Pope Benedict XVI said, “To become Saints means to fulfill completely what we already are, raised to the dignity of God’s adopted children in Christ Jesus.”

The Feast of All Saints has ancient origins in the Church dating back over 1,600 years ago. The Popes developed this feast day to celebrate the many martyrs who did not have their own memorial on which to be remembered. 

Eventually this came to include all the saints throughout the history of salvation who do not have their own feasts. We can even say that it includes all the saints that may not be recognized by canonization and name by the Church on earth but who lived holy lives and are in the eternal peace and joy of Heaven.

Today we praise God for what He has done through His loving grace in the lives of His saints. We also call out to the saints, as our brothers and sisters in Heaven who love us, to ask for them to be close to us and help us in our journey towards God.

At the same time, we look at the great truth of what a saint is and what it means for us. First and foremost, we need to realize that saints are normal. It is crazy to think of the saints as abnormal people. 

In fact, they are the most normal people there are and probably the only fully normal people that ever lived. To understand this, we need to understand what normal really means. 

We do not say they are normal in the sense that they look and act just like everyone else. We also do not mean that sanctity or holiness is necessarily common. Sin is a thing that is really common, but it is definitely not normal. Rather, it is extremely abnormal. 

When we say something or someone is abnormal, we mean that things are not as they should be – not as they are made to be – outside the norm. When we say a saint is the most normal of all people, we mean that he or she is exactly what he or she should be – exactly what God created him or her to be. 

If God who makes us and the whole world sets the norms, then the saints are the most normal of all people. In our devotion to the saints, we look at their lives and see how we ought to be. Even more than that, we see what we can be! 

We can look at their lives and realize that God creates and calls each of us to be normal in the sense that the saints are normal. We are called to be amazingly normal like the saints. 

The saints have nothing that we do not have. We are each made by God out of love in His image and likeness. He created each of us to receive His love and live a unique adventure with Him in our lives. 

Just to give an example of this, just three weeks ago, the Church declared the first millennial saint, his name is Carlo Acutis. Carlo died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15.  He lived in Italy and was a devout Catholic who went to Mass daily and he convinced his mother to be a regular attendee also.

Like many teenagers, he enjoyed video games and was interested in computers.  Well, he took that interest in the internet and his love for Jesus and he designed a webpage listing Eucharistic Miracles from around the world, miracles where the host and/or the wine appear as flesh and blood.  Google it if you have a chance! (http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/)

Carlo was a normal guy who lived out his adventure in a short time, and now the church recognizes him as a Blessed, a hopefully soon a full Saint. 

God also gives us the new life of grace in Baptism by which He personally comes into our souls to live and do amazing things. This is a “truth” of our Faith. We really believe that the God of the universe personally lives in you and me. 

There is only “One God” who lives in the Christian soul. The saints did not get the better or stronger God and we a lesser entry level model. No. There is only One God who dwells in the saints and in us. 

And because He is God, He does great things in us. In that second reading we heard John say that God makes us His children. This is not merely a nice expression but tells us the depths of God’s will for our holiness. He wants us to be holy enough to be His children, like Christ and in Christ. 

And when God says something, He always gives us the grace to make it happen. He makes us His children in Christ Jesus. So, this is also what we celebrate today. That God created us to be saints. He wants us to be saints and He gives us the power to become truly his children. 

November 1st this year is also the start of National Vocations Awareness Week.  But before we can think about our particular or secondary vocation as a priest, consecrated religious, married or dedicated single person, we first have to focus on our primary vocation - to be Saints.

This is everyone’s vocation – to be close to God and fully alive in Him, to be Saints. Oftentimes young people can focus a great deal on what particular thing God is calling them to do with their lives. 

They ask, “Am I called to be a priest or a religious, or does God want me to be single or married? What is my vocation?” 

This is a beautiful and necessary question that all young Catholics should ask, but it needs to be put in the proper perspective. Before a Christian knows his particular vocation, he or she already knows the most essential thing God wants for them. 

They know with absolute, rock-solid certainty that God is calling them to be saints. The particular way in which He will make the person a saint is important but pales in comparison to the foundational truth that each of us is called to be deeply intimate with God and live as his child. 

Keeping this always in one’s mind can take some of the pressure off. To properly discern, young people need a frame of mind that says, “I already know the biggest thing God wants. He wants me, my heart. He wants me to be holy. I just need to stay close to Him in my prayer and daily life, and the rest will fall into line.” 

In the end, the most important thing for our young people to know about God’s will in their lives is that He wants them to be saints.

In a few moments we will encounter Jesus in the Eucharist Who draws us to Himself to make us children of His Father and holy in His sight. 

We ask Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of All Saints to pray with us at this Mass, and we ask her to intercede for us today that we grow in faith in the simple and profound truth of our vocation to holiness.