St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday, 1 November 2006
The Holy Father introduces the celebration, and the penitential rite with the following words:
beloved brothers and sisters, today we contemplate the mystery of the communion of saints in heaven and earth. We are not alone, but we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, with whom we form the Body of Christ with them are children of God, to them we are made saints of the Holy Spirit. Joy in heaven, let the earth! The glorious army of saints, intercedes for us with the Lord, accompany us on our journey towards the Kingdom, urges us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Lord will come in glory in the midst of his saints. Dispose ourselves to celebrate the great mystery of faith and love, confessing in need of God's mercy
Dear brothers and sisters,
our Eucharistic celebration began with the exhortation "Let us all rejoice in the Lord." The liturgy invites us to share the joy of the heavenly saints, to taste the joy. The Saints are not a small caste of elected officials, but a crowd without number, to which the liturgy urges us to raise our eyes. In this crowd there are only the officially recognized saints, but the baptized of every age and nation who have tried to do with love and loyalty to the divine will. Of most of them do not even know the faces and names, but with the eyes of faith we see them shine like stars full of glory in the firmament of God
Today the Church celebrates the dignity of the "mother of Saints, an image of the Eternal City "(A. Manzoni), and show its beauty as the immaculate Bride of Christ, source and model of all holiness. Certainly does not lack children or even rebellious, but the saints that she recognizes her traits, and just in their savors her deepest joy. In the first reading, the author of the book of Revelation describes them as "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, tribe and tongue" (Rev 7, 9). These people include the Old Testament saints, from righteous Abel and the faithful Patriarch Abraham, those of the New Testament, the many early Christian martyrs and saints and blessed of the following centuries, to the witnesses of Christ in this our era. They share all the will to incarnate the Gospel in their lives, under the impulse of the eternal leader of the People of God who is Holy Spirit.
But "you need our praise to the saints, what is our tribute of glory, that that our solemnity?". This question begins with a famous homily of St. Bernard for the day of All Saints. You claim that you could put even today. And today is also the answer that gives us the Holy: "The Saints - he says - have no need of our honors and nothing gets them from our worship. For my part, I must confess that when I think of them, I feel burn by great desires "( Disc. 2, Opera Omnia Cisterc. 5, 364ss ). Here is the meaning of today's solemnity, looking at the shining example of the saints awaken in us a great desire to be like Saints: happy to live near to God, in His light, in the great family of friends of God Being a Saint means living close to God, to live in his family. And this is the vocation of all of us, vigorously reaffirmed by Vatican II, and now solemnly proposed to our attention.
But how can we become saints, friends of God? To the question can be answered in the negative first: to be holy is not necessary to take actions and extraordinary works, nor possess exceptional gifts. Then the answer is positive: it must first listen to Jesus and then follow him without losing heart when faced with difficulties. "If anyone serves me - he warns us - follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant. If any one serves me, the Father will honor him "(Jn 12, 26). Those who trust in him and loves him with sincerity, like the grain of wheat buried in the ground, you agree to die to himself. He knows that who tries to keep his life will lose it for himself, and he who gives, gets lost, is just like life (cf. Jn 12, 24-25). The Church's experience shows that every form of holiness, while following different paths, always passes through the Way of the Cross, the path of self-denial. The biographies of the saints describe men and women who, obedient to the divine plan, sometimes faced unspeakable trials and suffering, persecution and martyrdom. They persevered in their efforts, "have passed through the great tribulation - we read in - and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (v. 14). Their names are written in the book of life (cf. Rev 20, 12), their eternal home is heaven. The example of the saints is an encouragement for us to follow the same footsteps and to experience the joy of those who trust in God, because the only real cause of sadness and misery to man is to live far from him
Holiness demands a constant effort, but it is possible for everyone because, rather than a human, is above all a gift of God, thrice holy (cf. Is 6, 3). In the second reading, the Apostle John says: "See what love the Father has given us should be called children of God, and so we are!" (1 Jn 3, 1). It is God, then, who first loved us in Jesus and made us his sons. Everything in our lives is a gift of his love: how to remain indifferent to such a great mystery? How not to respond to the Heavenly Father by living as grateful children? In Christ has given us all himself, and calls us to a personal relationship with Him Consequently, the more we imitate Jesus and remain united, especially as we enter the mystery of divine holiness. We discover that he loves so infinite, and this encourages us in our turn, to love their brothers. Love always involves an act of self-denial, "losing oneself", and in this way makes us happy.
So we come to the Gospel of this feast, the proclamation of the Beatitudes that we have just heard echoing in this basilica. Jesus says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted for righteousness' sake (cf. Mt 5, 3-10). In truth, the blessed par excellence is only Jesus is He, in fact, the truly poor in spirit, the afflicted, the meek, the hungry and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemaker, he is the persecuted for righteousness' sake. The Beatitudes show us the spiritual features of Jesus and thus express his mystery, the mystery of death and resurrection, of his passion and joy of the Resurrection. This mystery, the mystery of true happiness, invites us to follow Jesus and thus to walk towards it. To the extent that we accept his proposal and we ask them to follow him - each in his own circumstances - we too can participate in his blessedness. With him, the impossible becomes possible and even a camel can pass through the eye of the needle (cf. Mk 10, 25), with his help, only with his help, can we become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (cf. Mt 5, 48).
Dear brothers and sisters, we are now in the heart of the Eucharistic celebration, encouragement and nourishment of holiness. Soon we will present in the highest way Christ, the true Vine, which, as branches, have joined the faithful on earth and saints in heaven. Closer Thus, the communion of the pilgrim Church in the world with the Church triumphant in glory. In the preface proclaims that the saints are our friends and life patterns. Let us invoke to help us to imitate them and strive to respond with generosity, as they did, to the divine call. Let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord and mirror of all holiness. She, the Holy One, make us faithful disciples of her son Jesus Christ! Amen.
St. Peter's Square Sunday, November 1, 2009
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Dear brothers and sisters!
This Sunday coincides with the feast of All Saints, which invites the pilgrim Church on earth a foretaste of the endless celebration of the heavenly community, and to revive hope in eternal life. This year marks the 14 centuries since Pantheon - one of the oldest and most famous Roman monuments - was intended for Christian worship and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and all martyrs, "Sancta Maria ad Martyres . The temple of all the pagan gods were thus converted to the memory of those who, as the Book of Revelation , "are the great tribulation and have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev 7, 14).
Subsequently, the celebration of all the martyrs has been extended to all the saints, "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and tongue" (Rev 7, 9) - is expressed as still St. John. In this Year of the Priest , I like to remember with special veneration the holy priests, both those that the Church has canonized, proposing them as an example of pastoral and spiritual virtues, and those - far more numerous - that are known to the Lord. Each of us retains the blessed memory of any of them, which helped us grow in faith and made us feel the goodness and nearness of God
Tomorrow, then, awaits the annual commemoration of all the faithful departed . I would like to invite to this event live in authentic Christian spirit, that in the light from the Paschal Mystery. Christ died and rose again and has opened the passage to the house of the Father, the kingdom of life and peace. Those who follow Jesus in this life is welcomed where He has preceded us. Therefore, while we visit the cemeteries, let us remember that there, in the tombs, only rest the mortal remains of our loved ones awaiting the final resurrection. Their souls - as Scripture says - already "in the hands of God" (Wis 3, 1). Therefore, the most proper and effective way to honor them is to pray for them, offering acts of faith, hope and charity. In union with the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we can intercede for their eternal salvation, and experience the deeper communion, until we sit together, to enjoy forever Love that created us and redeemed us.
Dear friends, what has beautiful and comforting the communion of saints! It is a reality that gives a different dimension to our whole life. We are never alone! We are part of a "company" in which there is deep spiritual solidarity: the good of each is to the benefit of all and, conversely, common happiness shines on the individual. It's a mystery to some extent, we already experience in this world, in the family, in friendship, especially in the spiritual community of the Church. Mary helps us to progress rapidly on the path of holiness, and monsters Mother of mercy for the souls of the dead.
St. Peter's Square Saturday, 1 November 2008
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today we celebrate with great joy the feast of All Saints. Visiting a botanical garden, one is amazed by the variety of plants and flowers, and it is natural to think of the imagination of the Creator who made the earth a beautiful garden. A similar sentiment when he takes us consider the spectacle of holiness: the world seems to be a "garden", where the Spirit of God has given wonderful fantasy with a multitude of saints of every age and social status of every language, people and culture. Everybody is different, with the uniqueness of their personality and human the spiritual charism. All, however, bear the "seal" of Jesus (cf. Rev 7.3), that is the mark of his love, demonstrated through the cross. They are all in joy, in an endless celebration, but, like Jesus, have conquered this goal go through the hassle and the test (see Rev 7:14), each facing their share of sacrifices to participate in the glory the resurrection.
The solemnity of All Saints is growing support in the first Christian millennium as a collective celebration of the martyrs. As early as 609, in Rome, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs. This martyrdom, however, can be understood in a broad sense, that is as unconditional love of Christ, a love that is expressed in the total gift of self to God and to others. This spiritual goal to which all the baptized are called, is reached by following the path of the beatitudes of the Gospel, the liturgy tells us that today's solemnity (cf. Mt 5.1-12a). It 's the same path that Jesus and the saints have tried to follow, while aware of their human limitations. In their earthly existence, in fact, they were poor in spirit, sorrow for sins, meek, hungering and thirsting for justice, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for justice. And God was in them his own happiness: they have a foretaste in this world and the hereafter, they enjoy it fully. Are now comforted, inheritors of the earth, filled, forgiven, they see God whose children they are. In a word: "theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (cf. Mt 5:3,10).
On this day come alive in us we feel the pull toward the sky, that impels us to hasten the pace of our earthly pilgrimage. Come on in our hearts we feel the desire to be united forever to the family of saints, of which already have the grace to belong. In the words of a famous singing spirituals : "When the hosts of thy saints, O How I wish, Lord, to be among them. "May this great aspiration burn all the Christians and help them to overcome every difficulty, every fear, every tribulation! We have, dear friends, our hand in the mother tongue of Mary, Queen of All Saints, and let us be led by you to the heavenly homeland, in the company of the blessed spirits "of all nations and peoples and tongues" (Rev 7.9). And we join in prayer have the memory of our departed loved ones tomorrow commemorate.
Piazza San Pietro
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Dear brothers and Sisters!
today's solemnity of All Saints, our heart, beyond the boundaries of time and space, expands the size of Heaven. In early Christianity, church members were also called "saints." In First Corinthians, for example, St. Paul addresses "those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1.2). The Christian, in fact, is already holy because Baptism unites them to Jesus and his paschal mystery, but it must at the same time become , acting on Him ever more intimately. Sometimes he thinks that this is a condition of privilege reserved for a select few. In fact, a saint is the task of every Christian, indeed, we might say, of every man! The Apostle writes that God has always blessed us and chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless before him in love "( Eph 1:3-4). All human beings are called to holiness so that, ultimately, is to live as children of God, in that "similarity" with him under which they were created. All human beings are children of God, and everyone must become what they are, through the demanding path of freedom. God invites everyone to join his holy people. The "Way" is Christ, the Son and the Holy One of God "no one comes to the Father except through him (cf. Jn 14.6).
The Church has wisely placed in close succession the feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls. Our prayer of praise to God and veneration of the blessed spirits, which today's liturgy presents to us as "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, tribe and tongue" (Rev 7.9), joins the prayer for the souls of those who preceded us in passing from this world to eternal life. They dedicate tomorrow in a special way our prayer and they will celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In truth, every day the Church invites us to pray for them, while offering the suffering and the daily struggles that, completely purified, they are entitled to in the eternal light and peace of the Lord.
the center of the assembly of saints, saints, the Virgin Mary, "humble and exalted more than any creature" (Dante, Paradiso , XXXIII, 2). By putting our hand in his, we feel inspired to walk more momentum on the path of holiness. To her we entrust our daily commitment, and we pray today for our dearly departed, the intimate hope of one day find ourselves all together in the glorious communion of saints.
St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, 1 November 2006
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints and tomorrow we will commemorate the faithful departed. These two liturgical celebrations, deeply felt, are offering a special opportunity to meditate on eternal life. The modern man is still waiting for this eternal life, or believes that it belongs to an outdated mythology? In our time, rather than in the past, it was so absorbed by earthly things, which sometimes is hard to think of God as the protagonist of history and of our own lives. The existence human, however, by its very nature, reaches out to something bigger, that transcends the human being is an irrepressible yearning for justice, truth, happiness full. Faced with the enigma of death, are alive in many the desire and the hope of finding their loved ones. How well is the strong belief that a final re-establish justice, waiting for a final confrontation in which each is given what is due.
"Eternal life" for Christians does not mean, however, only a life that lasts forever, but a new quality of life, fully immersed in the love of God that frees us from evil and death and places us in communion without end with all the brothers and sisters who share the same love. Eternity, therefore, may be present at the center of earthly life and time, when the soul, through grace, is joined to God, its ultimate foundation. Everything passes, only God does not change. A Psalm says: "Though my flesh and my heart, / but the rock of my heart is God / God is my portion for ever" (Ps 72/73, 26). All Christians are called to holiness, they are men and women who live securely anchored to this "Rock" have their feet on the ground, but the heart is already in heaven, the final abode of God's friends
Dear brothers and sisters, let us meditate on these realities with a heart turned toward our ultimate and final destiny, which gives meaning to everyday situations. Rekindle the joyful feeling of the communion of saints, and let us be drawn by them towards the goal of our existence: meeting face to face with God Let us pray that this is the inheritance of all the faithful departed, not only of our loved ones but also of all souls, especially those most forgotten and in need of divine mercy. The Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints, guide us to choose eternal life in every moment, "the life of the world to come" - as we say in I believe, a world already inaugurated by the resurrection of Christ, and we can to hasten the coming of our conversion sincere and works of charity.
Piazza San Pietro
Tuesday, 1 November 2005
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints, allowing us to experience the joy of being part of the great family of friends of God, or, as St. Paul writes, "to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col 1.12). The liturgy repeats the expression, full of wonder the Apostle John: "See what love the Father has given us should be called children of God, and so we are!" ( 1 Jn 3:1). Yes, be a saint means to fully realize what we already are as high in Christ Jesus to the dignity of adopted children of God (cf. Eph 1.5; Rm 8:14-17). With the Incarnation of the Son, his death and resurrection, God willed to reconcile humanity to himself and allow it to share in his own life. Those who believe in Christ Son of God born from above, is regenerated through the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3.1 to 8). This mystery is accomplished in the Sacrament of Baptism, by which the Mother Church gives birth to "saints."
The new life received in Baptism, is not subject to corruption and the power of death. For those who live in Christ, death is the transition from the earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland, where the Father welcomes all his children "from every nation, race, people and language" as we read today in the Book of Revelation (7, 9). Therefore it is very significant and appropriate that after the feast of All Saints, the liturgy has us celebrate tomorrow the commemoration of All Souls. The "communion of saints" which we profess in the Creed, is a reality that is built here, but will be fully revealed when we see God "as he is" (1 Jn 3.2). It 's the reality of a family bound together by deep bonds of spiritual solidarity, that unites the faithful departed to those who are pilgrims in the world. A mysterious bond, but real, nourished by prayer and participation in the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Mystical Body of Christ, the souls of the faithful meet, overcoming the barrier of death, pray for one another, carrying out charity in a profound exchange of gifts. In this dimension of faith also includes the practice of offering prayers in suffrage for the dead, especially the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of Christ's Passover, which opened to believers the passage to eternal life.
Joining spiritually with those who go to cemeteries to pray for their dead, I too tomorrow afternoon I gather in prayer in the Cave Vatican at the tombs of the Popes, which crown the tomb of the apostle Peter, and I will have a special memory for our beloved John Paul II. Dear friends, these days the traditional visit to the tombs of our dead is an opportunity to think without fear of the mystery of death and to cultivate that supervision will prepare us to face it with serenity. This will help us in the Virgin Mary, Queen of Saints, to which we turn now with filial confidence.
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