The Integrity of the Doctrine of the Faith-All Saints Day (2025-11-01)

1. Today, Holy Mother, the Church solemnizes the feast of all Saints. We honor all those Saints who appear in the calendar of the Church and who are venerated universally, meaning in all Christendom. We also honor all those Saints who are honored and venerated only in particular places and specific peoples. 

2. With this feast of All Saints, Holy Mother Church also wants us to honor all those who have already reached the eternal rewards, the unending happiness of heaven: some of them may have been good and pious friends we’ve had in the past; some may have been our grandparents or ancestors whose lives were worthy of admiration and emulation; some may have been babies whom we have barely known as they died shortly after their baptism. 

3. On this day dedicated to All Saints, we honor those who have already attained life everlasting, whose names, probably, we will only know when we ourselves reach heaven. 

4. Aside from honoring the Saints in heaven, Holy Mother Church also teaches us very important truths that are necessary for us to keep. 

5. Firstly, the fact that, even though not all men would want to be saved, however, all men can be saved if they so want to. It is evidenced by the great multitude of Saints who did not belong to any one country, nor one social class, nor one sole condition of people. 

6. The Blessed Virgin Mary, descendant of kings and priests but coming from a poor family. The Apostles were all ignorant fishermen except one who used to be a corrupt government official, a tax collector. The first martyrs of Rome came from all classes: legionaries who were elite soldiers, comedians, magicians, farmers, gladiators, teachers and servants from the emperor’s household. Some had been slaves, such as the case of Pope St. Clement, the 3rd Pope after St. Peter. 

7. There are innumerable martyrs, from all four corners of the globe and from all periods of history, martyrs who gave their lives testifying for the veracity and the authenticity of the one true religion of the one true God: martyrs from China, Africa, India, Ireland, England, Japan and Korea. 

8. Some Saints were very learned and have seemed to be gifted with a great portion of God’s own wisdom like St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Isidore of Seville was the most learned man of his age. St. Isidore of Madrid was a farm laborer, who could neither read nor write. St. Gerard Majella was a poor tailor. St. Henry and St. Cunnegundess were husband and wife, emperor and empress of the Holy Roman Empire, but lived a chaste and poor life like St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

9. St. Ferdinand, pious king of Castille, following God’s will had to battle his own father, the king of León, so that the country that would one day be called Spain may be saved from Islam. His cousin, St. Louis king of France, was sent by God to fight in the Crusades, only to lose all battles against the Muslims, but in so doing won countless souls for the kingdom of God. 

10. St. Alexis lived as a pilgrim and died as a beggar. St. Joseph Labre had no roof over his head to call his own. St. Therese of Lisieux and St Benedict lived unknown to the world. St. Joan of Arc, a peasant girl, and St. Bernard, a nobleman, saved Christendom through politics. St. Hermann was a complete cripple from birth, lived as such, and became a saint. St. Frances of Rome was a battered wife. St. Afra was a prostitute. The truth is clear: all are called to be Saints. Anyone, by the grace of God, can be a Saint. 

11. Secondly, we are taught today where we can reach salvation and even sainthood: in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.It Church is characterized by its “Romanity”, as Sts. Peter and Paul established its capital in Rome, converting an empire from being a teacher of lies and errors into a disciple and defender of the truth. 

12. We are also reminded that to enter this Roman Catholic Church, there is only one door: the sacrament of Baptism: “Go, preach to all nations; he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, he who does not shall be condemned.” 

13. To receive baptism, one has to profess the faith, the doctrine and teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, integrally. To live one’s baptism and reach eternal life, one has to keep the faith, the doctrine and teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, faithfully. 

14. And that is the drama of our times, time of crisis in the Catholic Church. One cannot be a faithful Catholic by conserving the traditional Mass alone. It is a fight for the conservation of the doctrine of faith. The fact is without the doctrine of the faith, Catholic morality will lose its bearings, not able to know good from evil anymore. Without the doctrine of faith, the Mass and the Sacraments will lose their divine institution, their efficacy, and their reason of being. 

15. Let that truth sink in: even if we are strengthened by the grace of God coming thru the Sacraments, if we lose the integrity of the doctrine of the faith, we will lose even the Mass and the Sacraments. 

16. Thirdly, we are reminded that to enter God’s Church is only the beginning. We must live in union with God’s Will. God’s Will is manifested primarily in His Commandments. Primarily but not exclusively, for we also discern God’s Will thru the different events, agreeable or disagreeable, that God’s good pleasure permits in our d

aily lives. 

17. However, God’s Commandments are only the letter, so to speak, that should elevate us to the spirit which should animate our lives as Catholics: the 8 Beatitudes. God forbids us from stealing and from coveting things that do not belong to us because He wants us to be poor in spirit so that His kingdom may belong to us. God forbids us to kill because He wants us to be meek and so to possess the land. 

18. God forbids us to kill because He blesses those who weep with true consolation. He forbids impurity, adultery, coveting our neighbor’s wife because those who are pure of heart are truly blessed with the vision of God, even in this life. 

19. A Catholic’s purpose in life is not just to avoid sin but to imitate as perfectly as possible Christ Our Lord: like Him, those who hunger and thirst for sanctity of life will be satisfied. Like Him, those who are merciful will obtain mercy. Like Him, those who are persecuted for the sake of Our Lord Himself can expect a great reward in Heaven. 

20. Fourthly, the necessity of grace. To follow Our Lord and take up our Cross is not always an easy task. That’s why Our Lord purchased grace with such a great price: that of His blood, that of His life. To show us that by grace we do not simply becomes sons of God but also strengthened by grace so we can act and live according to such an elevated dignity of being His sons and daughters. 

21. Lastly, Holy Mother Church places these saints before our eyes so that in our everyday life in this valley of tears we will always be reminded that Saints are not born, saints are made: in our hearts there must be cooperation between God’s grace and our own free will, our good works must be practiced being ourselves faithful to God’s grace. 

22. Let us ask the Saints whom we honor today to ask God for us that gift of being able to conserve faithfully the deposit of faith, the gift of being faithful to the examples of Our Lord and those that Saints themselves gave us, and faithfulness to God’s grace

fr. Ferrer