NOVEMBER 1, 2025 – ALL-SAINTS.

FIRST SATURDAY


  • All Saints’ Day. (Current, Traditional)

THE Church pays, day by day, a special veneration to some one of the holy men and women who have helped to establish it by their blood, develop it by their labors, or edify it by their virtues. But, in addition to those whom the Church honors by special designation, or has inscribed in her calendar, how many martyrs are there whose names are not recorded? How many humble virgins and holy penitents? How many just and holy anchorites or young children snatched away in their innocence? How many Christians who have died in grace, whose merits are known only to God, and who are themselves known only in heaven? Now should we forget those who remember us in their intercessions? Besides, are they not our brethren, our ancestors, friends, and fellow-Christians, with whom we have lived in daily companionship—in other words, our own family? Yea, it is one family; and our place is marked out in this home of eternal light and eternal love.

19th-century-style copperplate engraving depicting the narrow path to heaven. In the foreground, a haloed family—parents, children, and an elder—stands at the edge of a hill, beginning a winding road that vanishes over the crest. Along the path, martyrs and builders ascend toward a radiant distant throne where the Blessed Mother reigns, surrounded by myriads of haloed saints and angels in a vast heavenly court. Fine cross-hatching, ink bleed, and aged paper texture evoke a scanned historical hagiography illustration.

REFLECTION: Let us have a solicitude to render ourselves worthy of “that chaste generation, so beautiful amid the glory where it dwells.”


WORD OF THE DAY

REPROBATION. God’s eternal resolve to exclude certain rational creatures from eternal happiness. As taught by the Church, God has eternally predestined certain persons, on account of their sins, to rejection from heaven. Always understood is that God wants all human beings to be saved, but he does not wish to save those who, by their abuse of divine grace, freely separate themselves from his love. (Etym. Latin reprobare, to reject, condemn.)

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)


This article, NOVEMBER 1, 2025 – ALL-SAINTS. is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/november-1-2025-all-saints/
Do not repost the entire article without written permission. Reasonable excerpts may be reposted so long as it is linked to this page.

John B. Manos

John B. Manos, Esq. is an attorney and chemical engineer. He has a dog, Fyo, and likes photography, astronomy, and dusty old books published by Benziger Brothers. He is the President of the Bellarmine Forum.

Get VIP Notice

Have new blog posts delivered right to your inbox!
Enter your email: