Holy Angels Anglican Church
The Feast of All Saints
(November 1, 2026)
Sermon for All Saints Day
Who is a Saint?
Given by: The Rev. Fr. Vincent J. Varnas
Back in my Roman Catholic days, I went to confession with a priest one time and said that I could not remember any sins to confess, but wanted to go to confession anyway in order to obtain the graces that would be forthcoming that would help me avoid sin in the future. The priest quizzically asked me: “No sins to confess? Are you a saint?” I replied: “No, I just have a poor memory”! The priest just laughed.
I know I’m not a saint, but are any of us saints? The Latin word for saint is sanctus and that means “holy”. And to be holy is to be a saint.
From the First Letter of St. Peter (1:15-16), we are instructed: “… as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy ... [in your behavior]; because it is written, ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy’”. Therefore, if you are holy, you are a saint! But, how can one tell whether or not one is holy?
Well, St. Peter’s call for holiness among us is not absolute because only God is perfectly holy. We can never attain absolute perfection in this world or the next! However, after death and before we may enter into God’s heavenly kingdom, we will be cleansed of concupiscence, i.e., the propensity for sin. Thus, we will attain a much higher degree of holiness than is possible now and become worthy to stand in God’s presence. We will see the beatific vision (i.e., the highest degree of blessing) and become saints!
What God expects of us on this earth is to strive toward holiness or sainthood, knowing and understanding that we cannot reach the perfection of sainthood in this lifetime to the degree necessary for beatitude. The important thing is to keep on striving toward holiness, to keep your eyes on the prize and that is God’s heavenly kingdom. And that is what St. Paul alludes to in his various letters, as he addresses the saints in Ephesus, Philippi and Colosse. It is striving toward holiness. If we do not strive for holiness, then we will backslide into a pattern of sin, because we will become soft and lazy and become easy targets for the devil and for the seven deadly sins (Job 1:7).
In his First Letter to Timothy, St. Paul addresses the discipline of striving toward holiness by saying: “… exercise thyself … into godliness. ... having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (4:7-8). In this, St. Paul is saying: “Keep the faith, brothers and sisters” and remember that it is our striving toward holiness that will win the battle against the evil one and earn us our heavenly reward.
Are we saints yet? For most of us, the answer is “no, not yet”, but each time we increase in holiness through virtuous living, we come a bit closer. And that’s how you become a saint!
Do we need help in our striving toward sainthood? Yes! The Holy Spirit is always there to strengthen us against sin.
Indeed, we are not left alone in this world of temptations and vices. With the armor of faith, the hope of eternal life and the love of God and our neighbors, we will become saints one day.
In the meantime, pray. Pray to God for those graces we need in striving toward holiness. And pray to the saints in Heaven as intercessors for our’ spiritual needs.
When praying to our saintly intercessors in heaven, a particularly good choice is those loved ones of ours such as husbands or wives, fathers or mothers, brothers and sisters, that have gone before us to their heavenly reward. They know us personally and with sympathy and even empathy, bear our prayerful burdens and needs to the Lord. Also, pray to Our Blessed Virgin Mary as she is the most powerful of all heavenly intercessors.
So, here we are on this great feast day of All Saints, girding ourselves with the knowledge and belief that they are in Heaven both bathing in the glory of God and also waiting to help us here on earth as intercessors.
Does it work? Do the saints in Heaven intercede for us? How do we know that they convey our prayers to the Lord? Here’s just one example: When I was discerning the diaconate in the Roman Catholic Church, I was not sure of my vocation. Was God calling me or was it only a selfish desire from within?
So, I prayed to St. Thérèse of Lisieux for a sign from God that He was truly calling me to the ordained life in his service and in the service of the People of God. Why St. Thérèse? Because, just before she died, she promised us that from heaven, she would shower us with roses from an unexpected source as a sign and acknowledgement of God’s providential help in our time of need.
The next morning just before daily Mass, there was a nun in a garden outside the chapel I was attending. The nun was cutting roses. She handed me a bouquet of roses to take to the altar. This never happened before or since. Was it a sign? Of course, it was! And it gave me the strength I needed to go forward in the face of much adversity and become ordained a priest in the Anglican Church, as I knew my vocational calling came from God.
Tomorrow is All Souls Day. It is also a time for prayer.
While we believe that all those who have passed-on and were truly repentant of their sins before passing have received their heavenly reward, we still pray for them, because God and his heavenly kingdom are outside time. If we pray for them now and in the future, those prayers are not wasted. They are efficaciously brought back in time to when they were most needed by prevent grace. God does not let a good thing go to waste!
So, as St. Paul tells us: pray always. Pray for both the living and the dead. And they will pray for us!