All Saints' Sunday

Blessed All Saints' Day!
All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year, but since the first doesn't always land on a Sunday, many churches celebrate All Saints' Sunday on the first Sunday of November. This year, we celebrate All Saints on November 3rd.
The word saint comes from the Latin word sanctus and refers to the holy — that is, “set apart for the service of God.” In some of St. Paul’s letters to the churches he founded, he called all the members “saints.” Later, Christians who distinguished themselves by their zeal for Christ, especially the martyrs, were honored after their death by being canonized as saints.

The word “saint” was placed before their Christian name. The pages of Christian history books are filled with the stories of these very special servants of God.

Several became the patron saints of countries. Ireland’s saint is St. Patrick, England’s is St. George and Scotland’s is St. Andrew.

While the United States has no particular saint, Christians here should appreciate all the faithful people who served Christ courageously and delivered the faith to us to follow. We should also remember that in baptism, God names us "set apart for the service of God" - we, too, are saints.

This Sunday, those present in worship will have the opportunity to light a candle in honor or remembrance of saints in their lives. There's something about the concrete action of lighting a candle and letting the light of its flame shine that touches people deep in their souls. Candle lighting is a wonderful ritual action for families to do together, especially in concert with conversation about those who have gone before us, and those who strengthen our faith now.