I was talking to a friend today and she told me she realized just today during Mass how cool All Saints Day is:

Her: "I realized that All Saints Day is basically a day of celebration for all the Saints."

Me (being a smart alec): "Thus the name."

Her: "I guess I never thought about the fact that it's not just for my favorite saints, but for all the saints."

My friend is so right! All Saints Day is not just for the canonized saints, but for the faithfully departed saints in our families and the unknown saints as well.

And as living members of the communion of saints, though not perfected as our brothers and sisters in heaven, this day is for us too!

Nonetheless, I can't resist pointing to a few of my favorite canonized saints:

• Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary
• St. Joseph
  
• St. Thomas Aquinas
• St. Raphael
• St. Rita
  
• St. Dominic
• St. Catherine of Siena
• St. Augustine
• St. Michael the Archangel
• St. Francis of Assisi

Furthermore, though they aren't canonized, I can't resist pointing to a few more people I like to think are in or on their way to heaven and are praying for us right now:

• my sister Julia
• my Grandpa Reagan
• my Grandma Reagan
• my Grandma Knoeber
• Stan Orr, family friend
• Brent, a good friend from my time in North Carolina
• C. S. Lewis
• G.K. Chesterton
• Pope John Paul II
• Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
  

All you angels and saints, all you holy men and women of God:

Pray for us!