All the Faithful Departed Matthew 25:31-46 You who are blessed by my Father
Yesterday, we celebrated the joy of All Saints—the Church triumphant, our brothers and sisters who now share in the glory of heaven. Today, our hearts turn with tenderness to the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. These two days are closely linked, like joy and sorrow held together in Christ. The saints remind us of our destiny, and the departed invite us to remember with love, to pray with hope, and to walk with faith.
The liturgy today places before us two truths: God’s mercy and our responsibility. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear of the Last Judgement: the Son of Man separating sheep from goats, blessing those who served the hungry, the stranger, the sick, and the imprisoned. This is the heart of Christian life—faith in Christ expressed in love for our neighbour.
Remember that the mystery of the Church is that salvation is always a gift from God. We are justified not by our own efforts but through grace—a grace freely offered by God, who always initiates. Faith is a gift to be received. However, like any gift, it requires a response. God’s grace produces fruit only when we open our hearts to Him.
Today, as we pray for the souls of the departed, we are reminded of the great mystery of the communion of saints. The Church teaches us that there are three dimensions of this communion: the Church triumphant in heaven, the Church suffering in purgatory, and the Church pilgrim on earth. Visiting cemeteries, offering Masses, and remembering the dead are not acts of sorrow alone but of hope—hope rooted in the conviction that death does not have the last word.
This communion also reminds us of responsibility. What we do on earth echoes in eternity. Our choices, our actions, our capacity to love or to withhold love—these matter. As Jesus teaches, it is not enough to avoid doing harm; we are called to do good, to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, to comfort the afflicted.
But here we face the temptation of selfishness and pride, which close our eyes and harden our hearts. They make us blind to the needs of those around us. To live well is to see—not only ourselves, but also those who suffer nearby. Faith opens our eyes, softens our hearts, and gives us the courage to act with generosity.
Today, as we pray for the faithful departed, we also reflect on our own path. The Last Judgement should not frighten us; rather, it should encourage us to live the present with faith, mercy, and love. God’s grace always comes first—salvation is His gift. But He asks us to respond, to make our lives a witness of love.
May the Lord, at the end of our days, recognise us as good and faithful servants. May Our Lady, the Gate of Heaven, accompany us on our journey, so that one day we may rejoice with the saints, united with all the faithful departed in God’s eternal embrace. Amen.
Solemnity of All Saints Matthew 5:1-12a This hope does not disappoint.” (Rom 5:5)
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints, and the Gospel takes us to the very heart of Christian life: the Beatitudes. Standing on the mountain, Jesus “opened his mouth and taught them.” After the long stretch of teachings, both Matthew and Luke would present Jesus choosing his Apostles. Therefore, some biblical scholars refer to the Sermon on the Mount as a kind of “ordination address” to his disciples and, through them, to us. What we hear in the Beatitudes is the essence of discipleship, the path to sanctity.
Today, we are invited to lift our gaze beyond ourselves and to contemplate the great multitude of men and women who, clothed in white, now stand before the throne of God. The Book of Revelation tells us: “a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Rev 7:9). These are the saints—many canonised, but many more unknown, hidden, and forgotten. They are ordinary people, like us, who lived through tribulation, carried their crosses, and persevered in hope.
Three images from today’s readings are worth reflecting: The first is devastation. The angel’s warning not to harm the earth (Rev 7:3) reminds us painfully how capable humanity is, of destroying God’s creation. Wars, violence, greed, and the “culture of waste” devour not only the environment but also human lives, values, and hope. We discard the unborn, the elderly, the poor, and the unemployed. This is the madness of destruction—a world where man pretends to be God.
The second image is the victims. The poor who are forced to flee their homes, families torn apart by conflict, the hungry, the persecuted. These are the saints of daily survival, often unnoticed by the world. As Revelation says, “These are they who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14). They remind us that holiness is not about perfection, but about endurance, faith, and hope in the midst of suffering.
The third image is God Himself. Saint John tells us: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed” (1 Jn 3:2). This is our hope: that one day we shall see Him as He is, face to face. Hope is the heartbeat of the saints. It is what sustained them in tribulation and what can sustain us too.
And Jesus shows us the path: the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers. This is not a path of comfort, but of courage. It may bring persecution, but it is the only way that leads us to God.
Today, let us give thanks for the saints—the famous and the forgotten, the martyrs and the mothers, the prophets and the simple souls who lived the Beatitudes with quiet fidelity. Let us ask for the courage to follow their path of hope, so that one day we too may be counted among that great multitude standing before the Lamb, where hope will be fulfilled in eternal joy.
全属于祢 
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