What do our praises, glorification, and this very solemnity we celebrate serve the saints? What good are earthly honors to them, if they receive from the Celestial Father the honors that were truly promised to them by the Son? What good are our praises for them? The saints do not need our honors, nor does our devotion add anything to them. Rather, our veneration in their memory ends up benefiting us, not them. With regards to myself I confess that, when thinking of them, within me is kindled a strong desire.

The first desire that is promoted or augmented in us when we remember the saints is found in the joy of their company, which is so desirable, and to get to be fellow citizens and companions of the blessed spirits, of living with the assembly of the patriarchs, the group of prophets, the senate of apostles, the inumerable army of martyrs; with the association of confessors, with the choir or virgins; in summary, the act of associating and merrying ourselves in the communion of all the saints. And yet, the Church of the first born awaits us, and we remain indifferent; the saints desire our company, and we do not heed them; the just wait for us, and we do not lend them any attention.

Let us finally awaken, brethren; let us resurrect ourselves with Christ. Let us seek the goods from above, putting our hearts in the goods of Heaven. Let us desire those who desire us; let us hurry towards those who wait for us; let us enter into their presence with the desire of our soul.

We are to desire not only their company, but also the happiness that the saints enjoy, anxiously wanting the glory possessed by those whose presence we long. And this want, this ambition is not bad, nor does it offer any danger, by aspiring to share in their glory.

The second desire that is kindled within us when commemorating the saints is the one that makes us want, as it is with them, to also have Christ manifest Himself before us: He, who is our life.

In addition, we desire that we also manifest ourselves with Him, dressed in glory. Meanwhile, He who is our head represents Himself not as He is, but instead as how He made Himself to be for our sake: not crowned with glory, but instead surrounded by the thorns of our sins. Having Him who is our head crowned with thorns, we, His members, must feel shame in our refined cruelty and in our seeking anything of purplish honor and not derision.

The day will arrive when Christ will come, and then no longer will His death be announced, so as to remind us that we also are dead and our life is found hidden with Him. The glorious head will manifest and, together with Him, will His members shine glorified, when He transfigures our poor body into a glorious body similar to the head, which is Him.

Let us therefore desire this glory as a sure and total desire. Moreover, so that we merit to wait for this glory and to aspire to such great happiness, we must also desire, in a great manner, the intercession of the saints, so that it obtain for us what is beyond our own strength.



PRAYER
All powerful and eternal God, who has granted us celebrating in one feast the merits of all the saints, grant us, through this multitude of intercessors, the desired abundance of your mercy and your pardon. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen