Today is the Solemnity of All Saints (not a holy day of obligation) on which we honor all the saints, known and unknown. All Saints Day Masses will be celebrated at 8:00 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. on Saturday, November 1. Cardinal Wuerl will be the celebrant and homilist at the 12:10pm Mass.

"Visiting a nursery garden, one remains taken aback at the variety of plants and flowers, and spontaneously begins to think of the Creator's fantasy that made the earth a marvelous garden. These same sentiments come to us when we consider the spectacle of holiness: the world appears to us as a "garden," where the Spirit of God has sustained with remarkable wonder a multitude of saints, male and female, from every age and social condition, of every tongue, people and culture.

Each is different from the others, with the uniqueness of their own personality and their own spiritual charism. All, however, were marked by the "seal" of Jesus, the imprint of his love, witnessed upon the Cross. All now are at joy, in a feast without end as, like Jesus, they reached this goal across toil and trial, each one encountering their share of sacrifice to participate in the glory of the resurrection." (from the All Saints Day homily of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, 2008)