VATICAN CITY, NOV 1, 2007 (VIS). Just before noon today, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square to pray the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims.
"Today, on the solemnity of All Saints," said the Pope, "our heart reaches out beyond the boundaries of space and time, reaches to heaven. At the beginnings of Christianity, the members of the Church were also called 'saints'."
"Effectively, Christians are already saints," the Holy Father stressed, "because baptism unites us to Jesus and his paschal mystery, but at the same time we must let ourselves be made holy, make ourselves ever more like him. At times it is thought that holiness is a condition of privilege reserved for the elect few. In reality, to let oneself become saint is the task of each Christian and, even more, of every human being."
Benedict XVI referenced St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians where it is written that God "has blessed us in Christ, as he chose us in him, so that we might be holy and without blemish before him in love" and explained that "all human beings are thus called to the holiness that, ultimately, consists in living in his 'likeness', as children of God, as all beings were created to do".
"Today, human beings are the children of God and should conform to their call through the path demanded by freedom. God invites us all to be part of his holy people. That path is Christ, the Son, God's holy one."
Afterward, the Pope recalled that "the Church has wisely conformed itself closely to the celebration of All Saints and the commemoration of the dead" so that "our prayers of praise to God and veneration of the blessed souls that the liturgy today presents as 'a great multitude' might join with the prayer for the release of those souls who have gone before us in passing from this world to eternal life".
"Truthfully," the Holy Father concluded, "the Church invites us to pray for the dead every day, offering also our sufferings and difficulties that they, once completely purified, might be admitted to enjoy the light and peace of the Lord for all eternity."
ANG/ALL SAINTS: ALL SOULS/... VIS 20071105 (370)
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