Celebrating his first Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., since Pope Francis named him as a cardinal one week earlier, Cardinal-designate Wilton Gregory said the Solemnity of All Saints offered a reminder and an invitation, that all people are called to be saints by living everyday lives of holiness.

“God’s mercy and God’s compassion continue to invite all of us to holiness and salvation,” Washington’s archbishop said in his homily at the Nov. 1, 2020 Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral.

As COVID-19 safety restrictions continue on the sizes of public gatherings, the All Saints Day Mass was live streamed, and members of the congregation wore face masks and sat at social distances from each other.

Cardinal-designate Gregory noted that day’s first reading from Revelation offered St. John’s mystical vision of heaven, filled with wonder that should offer hope to today’s faithful, as a number of people beyond human counting are united with God for eternity. He compared that to the joyful, impromptu “flash mob” gatherings at public parks and malls that were regular occurrences before the coronavirus shutdown.

“The Church suggests that all of us who are currently living are also invited to that banquet of life eternal as well,” he said, adding that All Saints Day “is a reminder as well as an invitation to believe that God’s saints are not just those the Church formally canonizes or publicly identifies.”

He said “the ‘flash mob’ of God’s saints” are those known only to God who accepted His call to holiness, “are united with him in perfect love and happiness, and they fervently wait for us to join them.”

Washington’s archbishop said those in heaven will include ordinary people, including family members, friends and neighbors who lived lives of faith and love.

“This is also a feast to remind us that true sanctity is not something extraordinary or unusual. Sanctity touches everyday lives of ordinary common folk,” he said.

The cardinal-designate said, “The saints that we honor today probably once shopped at Safeway or Giant, mowed the lawn, maybe even got a traffic ticket or two for speeding by a hidden traffic camera, enjoyed going to the beach, baked chocolate chip cookies and did all of the things that regularly fill all of our lives.”

What made them saints, he continued, is that they lived their everyday lives with humility, and “with great love, with joy, with honesty and with faith.”

“This feast is a reminder that holiness is not beyond the reach of ordinary folks, just like you and me,” he said. “The saints that we celebrate today got to heaven doing all the things we do each and every day, but they did them out of love of God and neighbor and perhaps accompanied with a few mistakes along the way.”

Concluding his homily, Cardinal-designate Gregory said, “Today we praise God for making holiness accessible to ordinary folks like us. We thank Him for those who have shown us the way.”

He encouraged those at the cathedral and those viewing the Mass online to remember that whatever they do later that day can become “a work of holiness,” and to do that generously and with love, “as the saints God invites you to become, and (like) those we honor today” have done.

As the Mass began, Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s rector, noted that one week earlier, Pope Francis had named Washington’s archbishop as a new cardinal. Cardinal-designate Gregory will be among 13 new cardinals from around the world who will be elevated to the College of Cardinals at a consistory in Rome on Nov. 28.   The congregation applauded, and Msgr. Jameson said, “We thank him for his service in the Church and remind him we are praying for him every day.”

In an opening prayer, Cardinal-designate Gregory prayed, “Let us ask the Father to help us become saints.”

The Gospel reading from Matthew 5:1-12 quoted Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, with the Beatitudes that offer a blueprint for living lives of holiness and attaining the kingdom of heaven. In that Gospel passage, Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.

At the All Saints Day Mass, prayers were offered for Pope Francis and Cardinal-designate Gregory and other Church leaders in their ministries to lead people to model their lives after Christ. Prayers were also offered for those in need, including the unborn and immigrants and refugees, and for those who have been risking their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, including farmers, grocery workers, truckers, delivery people, medical professionals, first responders, and research scientists seeking cures, treatments and vaccines. A prayer was also offered “for those who have died and gone before us, especially during the pandemic, that they may be given a place in heaven beside the saints.”

In a special video message for All Saints Day produced by the Archdiocese of Washington’s multimedia office, Cardinal-designate Gregory reflected on one of his favorite saints, St. Dominic de Guzmán, the founder of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. 

Cardinal-designate Gregory noted that he chose St. Dominic as his Confirmation patron saint.

“St. Dominic loved to learn, and he loved the truth. In the truth he came to know the goodness of God and God’s plan of love and mercy for every human person. St. Dominic’s love for God led him to become a priest, so he could bless the lives of others by sharing the love of God with them,” he said.

Washington’s archbishop noted that once when St. Dominic was praying, the Blessed Mother appeared to him and presented him with a rosary “and told him he would receive grace through this devotional prayer.”

“Through his preaching, St. Dominic taught us that understanding the truth of God helps us to love God,” Cardinal-designate Gregory said.  “Following the example of St. Dominic, each of us can become saints who give glory to God in our own way and in our own time.”