On, Friday, November 1 the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints. Since the early centuries of the church the liturgical calendar has reserved one day to honor, collectively, all the Saints, both those officially recognized (Big S Saints) and those known only to God (small s saints). Thus, we are reminded that the true company of saints is far more numerous than the list of those who have been formally canonized.
This collective feast, All Saints, is also an occasion to acknowledge the varieties of holiness. Though they share a common thread of answering God’s call, the saints are not formed in any particular mold. Some are renowned for contemplation and others for action; some played a public role while others spent their lives in quiet obscurity. Some demonstrated the vitality of ancient traditions while others were pioneers, charting new possibilities in the spiritual life. Some, were given, recognition and honor within their lifetimes, while others, were scorned or persecuted.
The feast of All Saints does not honor a company of “immortals,” far removed from the realm of ordinary human existence. The saints were not “super” human beings but those who realized the vocation for which all human beings were created and to which we are ultimately called. No one is called to be another St. Francis or St. Teresa. There is a path to holiness that lies within our individual circumstances, that engages our own talents and temperaments, that contends with our own strengths and weaknesses, that responds to the needs of our own neighbors and our particular moment in history. The Feast of All Saints strengthens and encourages us to create that path by walking it. Every one of us is called to sainthood; it is up to us to walk the path of holiness in every day moments.
All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation in the life of the Church; Catholics are obligated to attend Mass. The following parishes have Mass at noon on Friday:
- Queen of the Holy Rosary, 6915 W 71st Street, Overland Park (12:10 pm)
- Ascension Parish, 9510 W 127th St, Overland Park, KS (noon)
- Holy Trinity, 13615 W. 92nd Street, Lenexa, KS (12:15 pm)
- Prince of Peace, 16000 W. 143rd St, Olathe, KS (noon)
- St. Joseph Parish, 11311 Johnson Dr, Shawnee, KS (noon)
- St. Mary and St. Anthony, 615 N 7th St, KCK (12:05 pm)
- Corpus Christi, 6001 Bob Billings Parkway, Lawrence, KS (noon)
- Mater Dei, 911 SW Clay, Topeka, KS (noon)
- Immaculate Conception, 711 N. 5th Street, Leavenworth (8:30 am)
- St. Joseph Church, 306 N. Broadway, Leavenworth (noon)
- St. Benedicts Abbey Church, Atchison, KS (12:10 pm)
