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Theme: We Are All Called to Be Saints
Welcome
Welcome to Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community. We are happy that you are here to celebrate with us! Today is All Saints Day, a day when we remember those beautiful people who used the gifts given to them by the Holy One to make the world a better place. It is also a day to remember that “we are all called to be saints” and so we pray:
Opening Prayer
Source of All Being, Holy One, You call us in every age and every place to reveal your love in the world. On this feast of All Saints, we remember those whose lives have shone with your light—mystics and prophets, poets and healers, and the quiet saints who walk beside us each day.
May we hear your call to holiness as a call to deep engagement with the sacredness of all life. Like the saints who have gone before us, may we bring mercy to the brokenhearted, justice to the weary, and hope to the world you love.
Amen.
Opening Song: All Saints Day
https://youtu.be/GQefafxbS9E?si=m6q7_1_aT6sjKxDW
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading
From The Love of Thousands by Christine Valters Paintner
St. Paul writes that we are all “called to be holy” (1 Cor 1:2). We all know people in our lives who are loving, kind, generous and patient. They are the visible presence of the Holy One in our world. These are the everyday saints we honor. They may be our neighbors, our coworkers, our aunts, or our brothers or sisters, and their lives show us another way of being in the world. They may have passed on or may still be walking this earth. So we honor the saints, we remember saints such as Francis, Hildegard, Augustine and Teresa. But we also want to include those in our lives whose who have shown us what it means to love generously in a world that is often hard to love. These may also be people we have not met, but they inspire us through their poetry or music, through their commitment to social justice and the poor, or their love of creation. The saints have both love and humility. Saints are able to set aside their own plans and what they think is the best path forward and listen in their heart to the Holy One. They take risks and follow the Divine’s lead into new ways of serving others.
These are the thoughts of writer and mystic Christine Valters Paintner, and we affirm them with Amen.
Alleluia: by Christopher Walker https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU
GOSPEL:
A Reading from the Gospel According to Matthew (5:1-12) and The Beatitudes for the 21st Century by Jan Phillips
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside, and after he sat down and the disciples had gathered around, Jesus began to teach them:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed be the story-tellers, music-makers, and artists at life, for they are the true light of the world.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed be the tender-hearted who mourn and grieve the wars we've fought, the lives we've lost, may peace ride in on the river of their tears.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed be the Earth and those who tend her, for she is the source and sustenance of our lives.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed be the children who hunger for food, learning, and homes that are safe, for their future is shaped by our choices today.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed be the persecuted and wrongly judged, for theirs is a sorrow lessened only by mercy and human kindness.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed be the prophets who speak and write of a world beyond war, for theirs are the words becoming flesh.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed be those who are calling for freedom, resisting oppression and risking their lives in the struggle for justice, for they are the shapers of a brighter world.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed be the refugees fleeing the violence of war and poverty may they find shelter, peace, and work that sustains them.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great right now in the Kin-dom.”
We affirm these words with, Amen
(Pause for silent reflection)
Homily Starter: (Mary Theresa)
Today we celebrate All Saints Day — a feast not only of those canonized by the Church, but of all who have lived lives of love, courage, and compassion. Sainthood, then, is not a title bestowed after death. It is a way of living now — a call to awaken to the divine spark already within us.
In her beautiful book The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk With Us Toward Holiness (2023), Christine Valters Paintner invites us to expand our understanding of holiness. She writes that the saints are not distant, unreachable figures, but companions — “the great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who remind us of our own potential to embody divine love in our unique way.
Paintner encourages us to see the communion of saints as a “community of presence” — the living and the dead, the ancestors and the angels, all interwoven in love. She writes, “The call to holiness is not about escape from the world but deep engagement with it. Each of us is invited to become a saint in our own way, through our own passions, wounds, and gifts” (Paintner, 2023, p. 27).
This is profoundly hopeful. It means sainthood is not reserved for those who pray all day or perform miracles, but for those who love deeply — who live with awareness and compassion in whatever sphere of life they inhabit.
One such modern saint is Dr. Jane Goodall, who died one month ago. Her life exemplified the call to holiness through deep engagement with creation. In Krista Tippett’s On Being interview, Jane reflected on her lifelong relationship with the natural world. She speaks of the wonder she felt as a child, watching a hen lay an egg, and how that wonder led to a lifetime of scientific discovery and spiritual reverence.
Jane Goodall carried a “quiet moral authority,” rooted not in doctrine but in presence — the kind of presence that listens to the earth as sacred text. In this way, Jane Goodall lived the Beatitudes from today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:1–12): she was pure of heart, merciful, a peacemaker. Her holiness was expressed through care for the web of life.
The Gospel today invites us to see the world upside down — or perhaps, right side up. Blessed are the poor in spirit... the meek... those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Beatitudes show us what sainthood looks like: not triumphant, but tender; not powerful, but peace-making. To be a saint is to live with the humility of those who know they belong — to the earth, to one another, to the Holy One. It is to act with compassion in a fractured world.
On this All Saints Day, let us remember that the saints are not distant heroes — they are companions on this life’s journey. They are our ancestors, our mentors, our neighbors, and sometimes even our own quiet, faithful selves. We are all called to be saints — not by doing extraordinary things, but by doing ordinary things with extraordinary love. And as Christine Valters Paintner reminds us, “The love of thousands surrounds you.”
Let us live, then, as those surrounded and upheld by that love — called, like all the saints, to let divine light shine through us.
I welcome your thoughts on today’s liturgy.
References
Paintner, Christine Valters. The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk With Us Toward Holiness. Ave Maria Press, 2023.
On Being with Krista Tippett. Jane Goodall, In Memoriam: What It Means to Be Human
https://onbeing.org/programs/jane-goodall-what-it-means-to-be-human/
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One’s
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.
Intentions shared
We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Eucharistic Prayer
Please join in praying our Eucharistic prayer together:
Blessed are You, Source of All Being, whose love calls creation into life and fills it with the music of your Spirit.
From the beginning, you have surrounded us with the wisdom of the ancestors,
the courage of the prophets, and the compassion of the saints.
We thank You for those who have gone before us —
for the thousands who loved fiercely and faithfully,
whose prayers, actions, and dreams
still ripple through time and bless the earth.
We remember all the saints —
known and unknown, ancient and new,
the mystics, the healers, the justice-seekers,
and those who reveal holiness in daily acts of love.
With all the saints and angels,
with ancestors and with creation’s great choir,
we join in the song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
We give grateful thanks for those who came before us, for all those who gave from their hearts, who gave from their lives, that there might be a better world, a safer world, a kinder world, we pray for peace in their name.
Blessed is our brother, Jesus
who walked among us as mercy made flesh,
blessing the poor, healing the broken,
welcoming the stranger,
and teaching us that the way of love is the way of life.
Please extend your hands in blessing)
Your Spirit is here in us and in the gifts of this Eucharistic table. May we become gifts of wisdom, light and truth which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.
On the night before he faced his own death and for the sake of living fully, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift plate
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All lift cup:
He then raised high the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives,
As we share communion, we will become communion
Both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
Please receive Communion with the words: I am surrounded by the love of thousands.
Communion Song: Behold Now the Kingdom by John Michael Talbot
https://youtu.be/TWd0OE5jaoA?si=J861_Iph8VpLrw
Prayer After Communion
Loving Source of All, we have looked for others to save us and to save our world. Yet, we are called and consecrated and sent into the world to establish justice and show the blessed fulfillment that comes with simplicity and the giving of ourselves in love. We will make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation.
We will open wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, in all openness, we will be filled with your own Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
For it is through learning to live as he lived,
And why he lived,
And for whom he lived,
That we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to worship you truly,
O Holy One,
At this time and all time and in all ways.
And we say yes to You!
Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:
All: Holy One, who is within, around and among us,
We celebrate your many names.
Your Wisdom come.
Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us,
Each day you give us all we need;
You remind us of our limits, and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us, now and forever. Amen
(Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Let us now bless each other.
Go forth in peace, beloved of the Holy One,
surrounded by the love of thousands —
the saints who walk with you,
the ancestors who bless you,
and the Spirit who breathes through you.
May your life shine with compassion
and your heart stay rooted in wonder.
May you listen deeply to the earth,
live gently with all creation,
and awaken to the holiness already within you.
Go now as saints-in-the-making,
bearing light for the healing of the world. Amen
Closing Song: When the Saints Go Marching In (shortened)
https://youtu.be/YRyEsjfzi68?si=NDvnBMSjuTfVUtw8
