Homily on the Solemnity of All Saints; 1 November 2025, Cebu Memorial Park Chapel
Today we gather together on this holy ground to pray for our faithful departed – those who are dear to us and those who are still in purgatory, forgotten by their loved ones.
Like many other Asians, we Filipinos are accustomed to keep ever alive in our hearts the memory of the deceased members of our family. We do this every year because we believe they are never really dead. They continue to be alive in our hearts and in the other world.
Sometimes if we don’t visit their tombs, they come back to our world to visit us and make their presence felt among us. Some extend a helping hand to us whom they have left behind. Others ask for prayers. That is why we are here before their tombs to offer prayers for them, And every year we celebrate their death anniversaries.
But today is ALL SAINTS DAY. The Church gathers us together most importantly to celebrate the glory of all the saints in heaven. If I may ask how many saints do you really know? Here is a simple test you can take:
- He is a carpenter by trade, he married the Blessed Virgin and became the foster father of Jesus.
- This saint was just a teen-ager who loved playing football and online games, but through his blog he propagated the devotion to the Eucharist. He was recently canonized by Pope Leo XIV.
- This woman is a sister of Lazarus; she welcomed Jesus in her home but chose to be busy preparing something for Jesus at the kitchen.
- This woman is a mother who prayed hard for the conversion of her son named Augustine.
- This man was a deacon in the Church of Rome, martyred by being grilled alive. But before he died he asked his executioners to turn him over because he was already too burned on one side.
- This French priest is known for his gentleness; he converted many Calvinist Protestants, then became the bishop of Geneva, and Patron of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
- This cloistered young woman used to be a brat, the youngest among nine female siblings, but because she did little acts of kindness with great love, she became the patroness of the missions.
- As a young girl she was several times stabbed to death because she refused to have sex with a neighbor-suitor.
- He is a young Filipino catechist who was martyred in Guam & became the first saint from Cebu.
- He is a teenager who at his first Holy Communion resolved “to die rather than sin.”
So, how many questions did you answer correctly? (see the answer key at the end) Congratulations if you got all ten! At least you now know ten saints in heaven. Would you have any idea of how many the saints really are all in all? The first reading from the book of Revelation gives us a clue: one hundred and forty-four thousand. This, according to St John, is the number of the servants of God marked by the seal on their foreheads, all of them coming from the tribes of Israel – twelve thousand for each tribe.
However, that was not all. St John had another vision after that. He saw a great multitude which no one could count, and they were from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands and singing hymns of praise to our God. These are the ones whom we, Catholics, call the saints.
So who exactly are the saints? They were sinners just like us. However, when they were still on earth, they struggled to keep their faith. They persevered in following Jesus, our Lord, and did their best to live like him. Some of them suffered persecution and eventually died as martyrs. Others endured a long and painful illness. While some died young after learning how to offer their lives entirely to Jesus, others have reached a ripe old age serving the Lord faithfully for many years.
While some of them were lay people who chose to live the ordinariness of family life extraordinarily well, others chose to dedicate their lives entirely to God as monks, as religious, or as ordained ministers (deacons, priests, bishops and popes).
Despite their differences and diversities, the saints have at least two things in common as today’s liturgy tells us: (1) they tried to live the Beatitudes proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospel we heard today, and (2) they are the ones who, according the book of Revelation, have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. This means that even if we fall into the mud of sin after our Baptism, we can still have our souls washed clean by Christ’s precious Blood in the sacrament of Confession.
Brothers and sisters, we continue to celebrate the Jubilee of Christ’s birth. And for the past 2,025 years our Church have always given a special honor and recognition to these Christians who have followed Jesus in his holy and heroic life. And so today we honor them and celebrate their victory. And by honouring them, we honor, praise and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ himself, whose life they tried to imitate.
I conclude with an advice coming from St. John Bosco. One night Don Bosco gathered his boys for a “good night talk” before sending them to sleep. He told them three points about holiness: (1) It is God’s will for you to become saints; (2) It is easy for you to become saints; and (3) there is a great reward in heaven awaiting for those who strive to become saints.
One of the boys was so struck by what Don Bosco said that night. So, the following day he approached the saintly priest and asked him a favor, saying “Don Bosco can you help me become a saint?” Don Bosco felt so glad about the teenager’s request, and so he showed him the youthful path to holiness. That boy’s name was Dominic. With Don Bosco’s guidance and direction, he soon stood out in virtue and holiness at fifteen. Today he is venerated around the world as Saint Dominic Savio, a giant of sanctity.
And amazingly it was D. Savio’s holy life that inspired other teen-agers to holiness in their own unique and youthful way, among them Bl. Laura Vicuña (born in Chile; died in Argentina), Bl. Ceferino Namuncura (born in Argentina; died in Italy) and St. Carlo Acutis, the newest Italian teen-ager to be canonized by Pope Leo XIV.
As we continue to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Hope, let us pray in this Holy Mass that our hope may really be sustained, and that we may be inspired by both the Saints in Heaven and the souls in Purgatory. May this Eucharist empower us to be always in communion with them every moment of every day, so that one day we too may experience the ultimate bonding – the eternal joy of being one with God in the great company of all the Saints in our true home in heaven. GiGsss!
Answer Key: 1. St Joseph; 2. St. Carlo Acutis; 3. St. Martha; 4. St. Monica; 5. St. Lawrence (the Deacon); 6. St. Francis de Sales; 7. St Therese of the Child Jesus; 8. St. Maria Goretti; 9. St. Pedro Calungsod; 10. St. Dominic Savio
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