Homily on the Solemnity of All Saints in 2006 given by Pope Benedict XVI (now Emeritus)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our Eucharistic celebration began with the exhortation:
"Let us all rejoice in the Lord". The liturgy invites us to share in
the heavenly jubilation of the Saints, to taste their joy. The Saints are not a
small caste of chosen souls but an innumerable crowd to which the liturgy urges
us to raise our eyes. This multitude not only includes the officially
recognized Saints, but the baptized of every epoch and nation who sought to
carry out the divine will faithfully and lovingly. We are unacquainted with the
faces and even the names of many of them, but with the eyes of faith we see
them shine in God's firmament like glorious stars.
Today, the Church is celebrating her dignity as "Mother
of the Saints, an image of the Eternal
City
In the first reading, the author of the Book of Revelation
describes them as "a great multitude which no man could number, from every
nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rv 7: 9).
This people includes the Saints of the Old Testament,
starting with the righteous Abel and the faithful Patriarch, Abraham, those of
the New Testament, the numerous early Christian Martyrs and the Blesseds and
Saints of later centuries, to the witnesses of Christ in this epoch of ours.
They are all brought together by the common desire to
incarnate the Gospel in their lives under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, the
life-giving spirit of the People of God.
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This, then, is the meaning of today's Solemnity: looking at
the shining example of the Saints to reawaken within us the great longing to be
like them; happy to live near God, in his light, in the great family of God's
friends. Being a Saint means living close to God, to live in his family. And this
is the vocation of us all, vigorously reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council
and solemnly proposed today for our attention.
But how can we become holy, friends of God? We can first
give a negative answer to this question: to be a Saint requires neither extraordinary
actions or works nor the possession of exceptional charisms. Then comes the
positive reply: it is necessary first of all to listen to Jesus and then to
follow him without losing heart when faced by difficulties. "If anyone
serves me", he warns us, "he must follow me; and where I am, there
shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honour
him" (Jn 12: 26 ).
Like the grain of wheat buried in the earth, those who trust
him and love him sincerely accept dying to themselves. Indeed, he knows that
whoever seeks to keep his life for himself loses it, and whoever gives himself,
loses himself, and in this very way finds life (cf. Jn 12: 24-25).
The Church's experience shows that every form of holiness,
even if it follows different paths, always passes through the Way of the Cross,
the way of self-denial. The Saints' biographies describe men and women who,
docile to the divine plan, sometimes faced unspeakable trials and suffering,
persecution and martyrdom. They persevered in their commitment: "they...
have come out of the great tribulation", one reads in Revelation,
"they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb" (Rv 7: 14 ). Their names
are written in the book of life (cf. Rv 20: 12 )
and Heaven is their eternal dwelling-place.
The example of the Saints encourages us to follow in their
same footsteps and to experience the joy of those who trust in God, for the one
true cause of sorrow and unhappiness for men and women is to live far from him.
Holiness demands a constant effort, but it is possible for
everyone because, rather than a human effort, it is first and foremost a gift
of God, thrice Holy (cf. Is 6: 3). In the second reading, the Apostle John
remarks: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called
children of God; and so we are" (I Jn 3: 1).
It is God, therefore, who loved us first and made us his
adoptive sons in Jesus. Everything in our lives is a gift of his love: how can
we be indifferent before such a great mystery? How can we not respond to the
Heavenly Father's love by living as grateful children? In Christ, he gave us
the gift of his entire self and calls us to a personal and profound
relationship with him.
Consequently, the more we imitate Jesus and remain united to
him the more we enter into the mystery of his divine holiness. We discover that
he loves us infinitely, and this prompts us in turn to love our brethren.
Loving always entails an act of self-denial, "losing ourselves", and
it is precisely this that makes us happy.
Thus, we have come to the Gospel of this feast, the
proclamation of the Beatitudes which we have just heard resound in this
Basilica.
Jesus says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed those
who mourn, the meek; blessed those who hunger and thirst for justice, the
merciful; blessed the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted for the
sake of justice (cf. Mt 5: 3-10).
In truth, the blessed par excellence is only
Jesus. He is, in fact, the true poor in spirit, the one afflicted, the meek
one, the one hungering and thirsting for justice, the merciful, the pure of
heart, the peacemaker. He is the one persecuted for the sake of justice.
The Beatitudes show us the spiritual features of Jesus and
thus express his mystery, the mystery of his death and Resurrection, of his
passion and of the joy of his Resurrection. This mystery, which is the mystery
of true blessedness, invites us to follow Jesus and thus to walk toward it.
To the extent that we accept his proposal and set out to
follow him - each one 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 a needle (cf. Mk 10: 25 );
with his help, only with his help, can we become perfect as the Heavenly Father
is perfect (cf. Mt 5: 48 ).
Dear brothers and sisters, we are now entering the heart of
the Eucharistic celebration that encourages and nourishes holiness. In a little
while, Christ will make himself present in the most exalted way, Christ the
true Vine to whom the faithful on earth and the Saints in Heaven are united
like branches.
Thus, the communion of the pilgrim
Church
In the Preface we will proclaim that the Saints are friends
and models of life for us. Let us invoke them so that they may help us to
imitate them and strive to respond generously, as they did, to the divine call.
In particular, let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord and
mirror of all holiness. May she, the All Holy, make us faithful disciples of
her Son Jesus Christ! Amen.
Picture above on right of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
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