The ‘Saints’ referred to in the title of today’s feast are all those women and men who have reached that ultimate goal of eternal life for which God has created us. They are those who have lived in a way that was in keeping with that final destiny.

These ‘Saints’ are also those who are still with us in this earthly life and who are now living in the way that leads to life eternal. In that sense, the group we call ‘all Saints’ embraces both those who are with God in heaven, and people who are all around us now.  All three of the readings for this feast speak of our ultimate destiny in different ways. Saint John in the second reading declares, ‘what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed’. In other words, there is a necessary ‘not knowing’ when it comes to life beyond this earthly life. Saint Paul is of this same view. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he writes, ‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Cor 2:9). Yet, this healthy agnosticism about life beyond this earthly life does not stop the writers of the New Testament from speaking about it.                                       catholicireland.net