VATICAN CITY, 12 OCT 2008 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. today, Benedict XVI celebrated the Eucharist in St. Peter's Square. During the ceremony he canonised the Blesseds: Gaetano Errico, Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1791-1860); Maria Bernarda Butler (nee Verena), Swiss foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (1848-1924); Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception (nee: Anna Muttathupandathu), Indian professed sister of the Congregation of Poor Clares of the Third Order of St. Francis (1910-1946), and Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, Ecuadorian lay woman (1833-1869).
In his homily the Pope commented on the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet, telling the more than 40,000 people present that "the banquet of the Eucharist anticipates the final feast of heaven, to which the Lord invites us every day and in which we should participate with the wedding garments of His grace. Should we sully or tear this clothing with sin, the goodness of God does not turn us away, nor does it abandon us to our fate, rather it offers us the possibility to restore the integrity to the wedding garments necessary for the feast through the Sacrament of Reconciliation".
After highlighting how "the ministry of Reconciliation never loses its relevance" the Holy Father recalled how Gaetano Errico "dedicated himself to this ministry with diligence, assiduity and patience, without ever refusing or holding himself back. Thus he inscribes himself among the extraordinary figures of the priesthood who, unceasingly, made the confessional the place to dispense the mercy of God, helping men to find themselves, to fight against sin and to progress in the path of spiritual life. The street and the confessional were the privileged places for pastoral action of this new saint. The street allowed him to encounter the persons to whom he would address his usual invitation: 'God loves you, when will we see you?', and in the confessional he made it possible for them to encounter the mercy of the heavenly Father".
Going on to consider the figure of Maria Bernarda Butler, Benedict XVI mentioned the "deep love for the Lord" she experienced while still very young. The Eucharist, he said, was "this new saint's source and rock as it also was of the missionary impetus that led her to leave her homeland, Switzerland, to open new evangelical horizons in Ecuador and Colombia. Throughout the terrible adversities she had to face, including exile, she carried impressed in her heart the exclamation of the psalm we heard today: 'Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side'".
St. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception, said the Pope, lived "a life of extreme physical and spiritual suffering. This exceptional woman, who today is offered to the people of India as their first canonised saint, was convinced that her cross was the means of reaching the heavenly banquet prepared for her by the Father. ... May we imitate her in shouldering our own crosses so as to join her one day in paradise".
St. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, "to serenely follow the action of the Holy Spirit in her soul, always looked for advice and guidance from good and expert priests, considering spiritual direction as one of the most effective instruments to achieve holiness". She "shows us a path of Christian perfection that is accessible to all the faithful. Despite the abundant and extraordinary graces received, she lived her life with great simplicity, dedicated to her work as a seamstress and to her apostolate as a catechist. In her passionate love for Jesus, which led her to follow a path of intense prayer and mortification and to identify herself for evermore with the Mystery of the Cross, she offers a fascinating witness and a complete example of a life totally dedicated to God and to others".
The Pope concluded his homily by expressing the hope that the intercession of the four new saints "may sustain us in the daily struggle, so that we too, one day, can attain and share with them and all the saints the joy of the eternal banquet in the heavenly Jerusalem".
HML/CANONISATION/... VIS 20081013 (720)
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