ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
SOLEMNITY
OF ALL SAINTS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 1st November 2015
Sunday, 1st November 2015
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning and Happy Feast Day!
In today’s celebration, the
Feast of All Saints, we experience in a special way the reality of the
communion of saints, our great family that consists of all members of the
Church, both those of us who are still pilgrims on earth, and the immense
multitude of those who have already left and gone to Heaven. We are all united,
and this is called the “communion of saints”, meaning the community of all
baptized people.
In today’s Liturgy, the Book
of Revelation refers to an essential characteristic of saints, saying: they are people
who belong totally to God. They are presented as an immense multitude of
“chosen ones”, dressed in white and marked with the “seal of God” (cf. 7:2-4,
9-14). Through this last detail, with allegorical language, it is emphasized
that the saints belong to God fully and exclusively, and that they are his
property. What does it means to bear the seal of God in one’s very life and
person? The Apostle John again tells us: it means that in Jesus Christ we have
truly become children of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:1-3).
Are we conscious of this great
gift? We are all children of God! Do we remember that in Baptism we received
the “seal” of our Heavenly Father, and that we became his children? To put it
simply: we bear God’s surname, our surname is God, because we are the children
of God. Here lies the root of the vocation to holiness! The saints whom we
remember today are those who lived in the grace of their Baptism, those who
kept the “seal” intact, behaving as children of God, seeking to emulate Jesus;
and now they have reached the goal, because they finally “see God as he is”.
A second characteristic of the
saints is that they are examples to emulate. Let us note: not only
those who are canonized, but the saints “next door”, so to speak, those who, by
the grace of God, strive to practice the Gospel in their everyday lives. Among
these saints we also find ourselves; perhaps someone in our family or among
friends and acquaintances. We must be grateful for them, and above all we must
be grateful to God who has given them to us, putting them close to us as living
and contagious examples of the way to live and die in fidelity to the Lord
Jesus and his Gospel. How many good people have we met and do we know, about
whom we say: “This person is a saint!”. We say it, it comes to spontaneously.
These are the saints next door, those who are not canonized but who live with
us.
Imitating their gestures of
love and mercy is a bit like perpetuating their presence in this world. These
evangelical gestures are indeed the only ones that can withstand the
destruction of death: an act of tenderness, generous aid, time spent listening,
a visit, a kind word, a smile.... In our eyes these gestures might seem
insignificant, but in the eyes of God they are eternal, because love and
compassion are stronger than death.
May the Virgin Mary, Queen of
All Saints, help us to trust more in the grace of God, and to walk with
enthusiasm along the path of holiness. Let us offer our daily efforts to Our
Mother, and let us also pray to her for our dear departed, in the intimate hope
of finding each other one day, all together, in the glorious communion of
heaven.
Appeal
for the Central African Republic
Dear brothers and sisters, the
painful events in recent days have intensified the delicate situation in the
Central African Republic, causing my soul great concern. I appeal to the
parties involved to put an end to this cycle of violence. I am spiritually close
to the Comboni Missionary Fathers at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Bangui, who
are welcoming large numbers of refugees. I express my solidarity with the
Church, with other religious denominations and with the entire Central African
nation, who are sorely tried while making every effort to overcome divisions
and return to a path of peace. To express the prayerful closeness of the entire
Church to this nation that is so afflicted and tormented, and to urge all
Central Africans to be ever greater witnesses of mercy and reconciliation, I
intend to open the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Bangui on on Sunday, 29
November, during the apostolic journey that I hope to be able to make to the
nation.
After
the Angelus:
Mother Teresa Casini,
Foundress of the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was beatified
yesterday in Frascati. A contemplative woman and missionary, she made her life
an offering of prayer and concrete charity in support of priests. Let us thank
the Lord for her witness!
I greet all of you, pilgrims
from Italy and many countries; in particular, those from Malaysia and Valencia,
Spain.
I greet the participants of
the Race of the Saints and the March of the Saints,
sponsored, respectively, by the “Don Bosco in the World Foundation” and by the
“Famiglia Piccola Chiesa” Association. I appreciate that these events offer a
dimension of popular celebration of All Saints Day. I also greet the Choir of
San Cataldo, the youth from Ruvo di Puglia and those from Papanice.
This afternoon I will visit
the Verano Cemetery, where I will celebrate Mass in suffrage for the souls of
the deceased. Visiting the main cemetery of Rome, I join spiritually with those
all around the world who go to pray at the graves of their loved ones during
these days.
I wish all of you peace and
serenity in the spiritual company of the Saints. Happy Sunday and please do not
forget to pray for me. Have
a good lunch. Arrivederci!
© Copyright - Libreria Editrice
Vaticana
Post a Comment