Homily for All Saints (2026) - Fr Matthew Boland, OP

Today we reflect on the great gift that God has bestowed upon his Church: all those people throughout history whom the Church has declared to be saints. We don’t only celebrate these people, but also all those anonymous people who attained great sanctity in their lives, even though their sanctity may not be known until the end of time, when all is revealed.

And yet, some people might object to this great proliferation of saints. Doesn’t it, one may ask, detract from the idea of sanctity? Why not simply cling to Christ? Surely he is an adequate model, considering that he was perfect in every way.

One way of answering this is to see that the saints are saints because they are what we can call “other Christs” (Alteri Christi). We imitate them, but only insofar as they teach us how to imitate Christ. St Paul says this to the Corinthians: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1) By becoming man, an individual human being, Jesus necessarily limited his human life to a particular time and place, that is, the first century in the Holy Land. But to be Christ-like transcends time and place. And so God, in his great mercy, gives us the saints to show us how to be Christ-like in different times, places, and circumstances.

And so we find an incredible variety of saints, all Christ-like. There are young saints, like St Maria Goretti who became a saint at the age of 12, and St Dominic Savio, who became a saint at the age of 14. There are old saints, like the Dominican St Raymond of Peñafort, who lived to the age of 100. There are saints who remained single, such as St Pier Giorgio Frassati and St Catherine of Siena. There are married saints, like St Thomas More and St Monica, the mother of St Augustine. Not to forget, of course, St Joseph and Mary. There are poor saints, like St Francis, and rich saints, like St Louis, who was a king and a Third Order Franciscan. There are saints who were lawyers, doctors, priests and religious, famous saints, known throughout the world, like Mother Theresa, saints that were practically unknown during their life, saints who were geniuses, like St Thomas Aquinas, and saints who struggled to pass their Latin exams, like the Curé of Ars. An incredible variety of saints from every walk of life. What unites them all? Each of them imitated their Lord and Saviour in the times, places, and circumstances in which they lived.

I encourage you, brothers and sisters, if you haven’t done so already, to find one or more saints who appeal to you, out of this great variety, and to ask for their special intercession. Part of God’s power, something which gives him great joy, is to give his gifts through his creatures. In this way, we help one another on our journey to heaven, and this gives great glory to God. One of the greatest helps we can receive is from the intercession of the saints. They already enjoy the presence of God, and would like nothing more than to help us to imitate Christ, just as they imitated him, so that one day we can share that beatific vision with them.

On this great solemnity, let us first of all give thanks to God for the gift of the example of all the saints, who help us on our way to him, and let us imitate them as they imitated Christ. Then, by God’s grace and their intercession, each one of us will become an Alter Christus, another Christ, in our time, place, and circumstances, and will lead many people to him. In this way, we will one day join the communion of saints in heaven, where we will see God face to face, for all eternity, and praise him in thanksgiving for ever.

Fr Matthew Boland, OP is the Master of Students, assigned to St Dominic's Priory, Melbourne.