Today, November 1, is All Saints Day.

One of the wonderful things about the Catholic faith is that it has attracted to it so many from so many different nations, races, ethnicities, tongues, economic strata, and careers, and encouraged them in the life of holiness. There is a saint for everyone!

There is the brilliance of Robert Bellarmine, and the simplicity of Bernadette Soubirous.

There is the courageous heart of Felicity of Carthage, and the self-sacrficing heart of Maximilian Kolbe.

There is the resiliance of Genevieve, and the humility of Benedict Joseph Labre.

Men like Augustine of Hippo and Benedict of Nursia changed the world during their lifetimes, while Therese of Lisieux changed the world only after her death.

Louis of France was a leader of men during his life, while Charles de Foucauld lived a lonely life in the desert.

Guiseppi Moscati was instrumental in the development of insulin. Leo the Great saved Rome from the ravages of Attila the Hun. Antony of Egypt started a monastic movement that swept northern Africa. Camillus de Lellis revolutionized nursing care two centuries before Florence Nightingale.

Catherine of Siena and Catherine of Genoa.

Elizabeth of Portugal and Elizabeth of Hungary.

Teresa of Avila and Teresa of Calcutta.

Margaret of Scotland, Ignatius of Loyola, Clare of Assisi, and John … of GOD!

Lawrence O’Toole, Margaret Mary Alacoque, Francesco Bernadoni, Edith Stein, Karol Wojtyla, Boris Vladimirovich, Devasahayam Pillai, Andrew Thong Kim Nguyen, Lucy Yi Zhenmei, Takashi Nagai, Margaret d’Youville, Kateri Tekakwitha, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Stanley Rother, Jose Sanchez del Rio, Isabel Flores de Oliva, Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, Vivien Ogu, and Joseph Mkasa Balikudembe.

These are our saints. These are they who kneel before the Lord interceding for the sake of our salvation. Our hope is to join their ranks in glory, even as we struggle to live the Gospel here in this temporal order.

For all the saints who from their labors rest/who Thee, by faith, before the world professed/Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blest!/Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might/Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight/Thou, in the darkest drear, their one true light/Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.