Becoming Saints
All Saints’ Sunday
John 11.32-44
St. Gregory’s, Long Beach
Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 22:00)
Today we celebrate All Saints’ Sunday. All Saints’ Day was actually November 1st—this past Friday. Although The Book of Common Prayer classifies All Saints’ Day as one of seven Principal Feast of the liturgical year, making it a pretty big deal. Making it an even bigger deal is the fact that All Saints’ is the only Feast that may be observed on the following Sunday, in addition to its observance on its fixed date. That should tell us that there is something particularly significant about this day, this celebration, if we are given two chances at its observance.
It is believed that the commemoration of all the saints on November 1st originated in Ireland, spread to England, and then on to Europe. In the early ninth century, the Pope urged the widespread observance of a festival commemorating all the saints. However, historical writings indicate that there had been localized commemorations of all the saints as early as the third century. Such celebrations were due to “the desire of Christian people to express the intercommunion of the living and the dead in the Body of Christ.”[1] Recognizing that there is some profound mystical connection between us and the saints who have gone before. Something that is important to our own lives of faith.
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