Angelus on the Solemnity of All Saints: “Saints are our brothers and sisters who have received the light of God in their hearts and have transmitted it to the world”
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Pope Francis, during his Angelus adress on the Solemnity of All Saints on Wednesday, expressed his deep sorrow following recent terrorist attacks in Somalia, Afghanistan and on Tuesday in New York.
Speaking from the window of his studio in the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father deplored such acts of violence, adding, “I pray for the deceased, for the wounded and their family members. We ask the Lord to convert the hearts of terrorists and free the world from hatred and homicidal folly that abuses the name of God spreading death.”
During his catechesis the Pontiff said: “Saints are not perfect models, but people marked by God. We can compare them to church stained-glass windows, which bring light into different shades of color. Saints are our brothers and sisters who have received the light of God in their hearts and have transmitted it to the world, each according to their own "tonality". This is the purpose of life, continued Pope Francis, to pass on the light of God; and also the purpose of our lives....”
Referring to Wednesday’s Gospel reading, the Holy Father said that “Jesus speaks to his own, to all of us, saying "Blessed". Whoever is with Jesus is blessed, he is happy, noted the Pope, adding that happiness is not in having something or becoming someone, “no, the real happiness is to be with the Lord and to live for love, he said”.
The Pope told those gathered in St Peter’s Square that, “the ingredients for a happy life are called the beatitudes”. They do not require tremendous gestures, he said, “they are not for supermen, but for those who live through daily trials and struggles. They are for us.”
Returning to the Saints, the Holy Father described how “they too have breathed in all the air polluted by the evil that is in the world, but on the journey they never lose sight of the path of Jesus, that is indicated in the beatitudes, which, he said, are like the map of Christian life.
The Pope went on to say that the feast of All Saints is a celebration of all those who have “reached the goal indicated by this map: not only the saints of the calendar, but so many brothers and sisters "next door" that we may have met and known.” This day, Pope Francis said, “is a family celebration of many simple and hidden people who actually help God to push the world forward.”
Following the recitation of the Marian Prayer, the Pope had a special greeting for participants of the Race of the Saints mini marathon which was run in celebration of this feast day.
Before concluding his address, the Pope reminded the faithful that he would be travelling to the American Cemetery of Nettuno, South of Rome and then to the Fosse Ardeatine National Monument on November 2nd to mark the feast on Feast of all Souls. Pope Francis, said,” I ask you to accompany me with prayer in these two stages of memory and suffrage for the victims of war and violence. Wars produce nothing but cemeteries and death: that is why I wanted to give this sign at a time when our humanity seems not to have learned the lesson or does not want to learn it."
