All Saints' Day, the first of November, gathers into a single observance the entire company of heaven: those whose names are written in the great martyrologies and those known to God alone. It is the feast of the Church triumphant — the day on which the Church militant on earth lifts its eyes to the cloud of witnesses who have passed through the grave and gate of death and entered into the joy of their Lord. The octave extends the celebration into the following week, bidding the faithful to remain in the communion of saints.

The appointed Epistle from the Revelation of Saint John admits the worshipper into a vision of the great multitude which no man could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, crying with a loud voice: Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. These are they who came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. The vision is at once a comfort to the suffering Church and a summons to perseverance in holiness.

The appointed Gospel from Saint Matthew sets before the faithful the Beatitudes — the charter of the kingdom and the portrait of those who inherit it. The saints are not held up for admiration of their own achievement; they are celebrated as trophies of divine grace. The Beatitudes remind the Church that sainthood is not reserved for the extraordinary but is the vocation of every baptised soul: the poor in spirit, the merciful, the pure in heart, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are all heirs of the kingdom of heaven.