TEXT: Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2026
November 1, 2026 Father De Celles Homily
Solemnity of All Saints
November 1, 2026
Homily by Fr. John De Celles
St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church
Springfield, VA
The Solemnity of All Saints is one of the most important feasts of the year.
First because this is the feast of not only the canonized saints,
the ones officially proclaimed as saints by the Church,
but it’s also the feast of the countless numbers of ordinary folks
who’ve died and gone to heaven.
Perhaps, for example, hopefully, our deceased grandparents, or parents,
or even our children.
They are saints too, and this is their feast day—the feast of All Saints.
But as wonderful as that is,
this feast also reminds us that we are also called to be saints
—in heaven one day, but also right here and right now on earth.
We are meant to be part of the Communion of Saints
—the great family in Christ of those in heaven, purgatory and earth.
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When I was about four years old,
I remember my ten-year-old sister coming to me and saying,
“Johnny, let’s be saints.”
At first, I was a little scared, since my sister was a little adventuresome,
and some of her schemes had almost gotten me killed
on several occasions;
I was afraid she had something in mind
that might send me to heaven a lot sooner than I hoped.
Of course, she didn’t.
She just thought it made sense for us to be saints
—to be what Jesus called us to be, to be what He created us to be.
She was just thinking with the clarity of mind and simplicity of heart
that only children can have: “Let’s be saints.”
But it’s not a unique idea at all.
That’s what all this is about—that’s what the Bible is about,
and that’s what the Church is about.
To be a Catholic, a Christian, even to be a human being, really,
is to be someone created and called to be a saint.
Think about it.
God didn’t create us to be rich, or to be selfish,
or to use each other for gain or pleasure.
And He didn’t even create us just to be nice or to take care of each other.
The first words of Scripture tell us God created us in His image,
to live and love as He does.
And then God explained how to do this, first through His prophets
and then by coming to earth as a man, Jesus Christ,
to teach us how to live and love through His words and example,
and especially through His death and resurrection.
To live this way–to live and love perfectly as He lives and loves–
is to be what we call a “saint.”
That’s how they live and love in heaven,
and that’s how we are called to live and love on earth.
Jesus told us, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Now, no one on earth is perfect; as St. Paul says, “We are all sinners.”
But who among us doesn’t want to be perfect?
Parents, do you want to be a mediocre mom or dad, much less a bad one?
In your heart of hearts, wouldn’t you really love to be a perfect parent?
And, who wants to be married to a mediocre husband or wife?
Don’t you want to be a perfect husband or wife,
married to a perfect spouse?
In school, do you want an F or an A, a 50% grade, or a 100%?
At work, do you want to get fired or get a promotion?
We do want to be perfect, but we aren’t.
We want to be saints, but we aren’t.
But we can and should strive for that:
it’s what we’re made for, and it’s what we long for.
The saddest thing is,
not that people aren’t perfect or even trying to be perfect,
but that so many people have embraced not trying to be perfect.
Some have even embraced imperfection itself
as if imperfection is a good thing.
Here’s what I mean.
You hear people saying, “Who are you to judge?”
and they use that to justify doing something immoral or unjust.
They say, “No one’s perfect,” but what they really mean is,
“I’m perfectly happy with my imperfections;
I like being angry, or impatient, or gossipy, or grouchy, or unforgiving,
or greedy, or envious, or lustful.”
That’s bad enough.
But what’s worse is when Christians settle for this and don’t try
to either change themselves or help others to change.
Archbishop Charles Chaput once wrote,
“[This is an attitude of] subtle hopelessness.
This leads to a spirit of compromise with certain sinful patterns of life
and the reduction of Christian truths…to a set of beautiful ideals
— which then leads to surrendering
the redemptive mission of the Church.”
As Christians it is not our mission to compromise the truth,
especially about redemption from imperfection to perfection.
Mercy does not give up on sinners
to leave them wallowing in their imperfection.
No, rather it loves the sinner enough to recognize
that they are capable of becoming saints.
Mercy does not celebrate imperfection or evil,
but celebrates the fact that God calls us all
to share in His perfect love and life.
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Every day we face “two conflicting views…despair or a decision to hope.”
One view is that the perfection Jesus created us for and calls us to
is completely unattainable and leads to despair and hopelessness.
But Christians are not about despair.
We are about hope!
As Christians we have hope in the promises that Jesus makes to us,
that if we live as He teaches us,
cooperating with the grace He gives us,
we can begin to be saints on earth,
and eventually share in the total perfection of the saints in heaven.
And what does Jesus teach us about striving for that perfection?
Begin as Jesus tells the rich young man to begin when he asked,
“What must I do to gain eternal life?”
In other words, “How do I become a saint?”
Jesus responds, first of all, “Keep the [Ten] Commandments.”
That’s the first step, and no journey can begin without the first step.
But then Jesus goes on to say there’s more to it than that:
“If you want to be perfect…sell what you have… and follow me.”
That’s a hard saying to understand until He puts it in context.
And he puts it in context in a beautiful way in today’s Gospel: The Beatitudes.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, …they who mourn…the meek
…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…the merciful
…the clean/pure of heart…the peacemakers
…they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness
… because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Now, by “blessed” Jesus doesn’t mean “fortunate” or “happy.”
In Scripture “blessed” means somehow
sharing in the perfection of the glory of God.
So Jesus is saying, in short, if you want to be blessed, or perfect or saints,
don’t let anyone or anything,
any riches, desires, insults or persecution,
come between you and God.
Of course, all this is easier said than done.
If we go back again to the story of the rich young man,
we find that the apostles protest, saying,
“Then who can be saved?”
In other words, “Nobody’s perfect” or “Who can be a saint?”
Then Jesus responds so beautifully,
“For man it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Yes, the road to heaven, striving for saintly perfection, is long and hard.
But we need not surrender to despair
if we would just place our hope in Christ.
For Christ, all things are possible.
Imagine if we would embrace all this,
the pursuit of perfection or sainthood
informed by the teaching of Christ and empowered by His grace.
Imagine how that would transform, for example, marriage.
If husbands and wives strove every day, with the grace of Christ,
to become loving servants to each other,
as Christ loves and serves His people and even died for them.
Marriage would no longer be about self-gratifying selfishness,
but about mutual love and self-gift.
Sex would no longer be about lust and self-satisfaction,
but about love and generosity.
And families would then be on the road to perfection
as husbands and wives and children would be striving to be saints.
Even in those very imperfect marriages
where one spouse fails the other,
if the injured spouse loved as Jesus did
when He died on the cross for His own unfaithful people,
that spouse would not be carrying the cross alone,
but carrying it wrapped in the arms of Jesus Himself.
Imagine how this would transform the more mundane things
of everyday life.
If we strove to live in perfect charity with co-workers or fellow students;
in perfect integrity with customers, clients, or patients;
in perfect generosity with the poor and suffering.
And imagine how this would transform our basic attitude to society at large.
For example, this week many of us have the opportunity to vote.
Again, we don’t live in a perfect world,
but we don’t have to promote that imperfection.
Why settle for compromise, surrender and despair,
when we can strive, with the grace of Christ,
for integrity, justice and hope?
Why be sinners when we could be saints—even in the voting booth?
Why would we vote to support a culture that follows
the teachings and example of Hollywood and Planned Parenthood,
or Mao Tse Dung and Karl Marx,
more than Christ and His Church?
A culture of despair, over a culture of hope?
We are not perfect, but we must strive always to become perfect.
Of course, we’ll probably fail over and over again.
But the thing is, Jesus is perfect, including when it comes to
patience and generosity, mercy and love, forgiveness and power.
And if we keep striving, committing ourselves to do our very best
and to cooperate with Christ’s grace,
especially as it flows from the Eucharist and Confession
and the other sacraments,
we can, little by little, move forward.
This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy life, or the good things of life.
No, striving for perfection, or holiness, simply means
trying, more and more, day by day, step by step,
to enjoy life as it should be enjoyed, in the fullness of its goodness,
by being the very best person you can be in the eyes of God,
who created and redeemed you and the world we live in.
_____
My friends, in a few moments
our Lord Jesus will descend from heaven to this altar,
truly present in the Eucharist.
But He will not come alone: All the Saints of heaven will be with Him.
Right after that happens, just a few moments later,
I will pray a very beautiful prayer I want you to focus on:
“[That we] who, though sinners, hope in your abundant mercies,
[may be] grant[ed] some share and fellowship
with your holy Apostles and Martyrs….and all your Saints;
admit us, we beseech you, into their company…”
My friends, let us pray that the grace of this sacrament
may renew our hope in Christ and His teachings,
and strengthen us to strive, at every moment, to be perfect,
as He created and calls us to be.
That we sinners may be transformed to join the company of all the Saints,
in praising, loving and serving Him and one other
with heavenly perfection, in this life and in the life to come.
Or as a little child once told me so simply: “Let’s be saints!”