Feast of All Saints

Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints, those in heaven who have been canonized and the majority of persons who  have not been canonized.  They are, for many of us, our parents, grandparents, siblings and other relatives  who may or may not have preceded us into eternal life. They  are our mothers who live or lived lives of quiet, dedicated, loving service to their families, making birthdays and feast days or holidays special, prepared our school lunches and our morning and evening meals, kept our clothes clean, our beds impeccable and, yes,  even made us shirts and skirts, dresses and vests,  slacks and coats. They canned vegetables, fruit, and, in the olden days, meat. They planted large gardens and harvested everything in them.  They are our fathers who work or worked 40+ hours a week on the farm, in the woods, in  factories, in offices or classrooms or involved in civil service jobs to keep our streets and roads in repair or removing snow in winter, fixing plumbing or heating appliances and so on. They are or may have been doctors or lawyers, teachers and nurses, doctors and medical technicians, firemen or police officers or hard workers in any kind of profession, bringing home pay checks that covered all of our expenses and met all of our needs. They are our fathers and mothers and grandparents caring lovingly for each other, for the children God entrusted to their care, being involved in their  children’s  and grandchildren’s academic and social  lives, and participating  in their parish, faithful to their baptismal call to sharer the Good News of Christ in whatever way possible—preaching the Gospel with the way they live their lives and using words only if necessary.