|
Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus
Message
On the Call to Martyrdom
"Not an Exception Reserved Only to Some Individuals"
H.H. Benedict XVI
October 28, 2007
www.zenit.org
My dear brothers and sisters:
This morning, here, in St. Peter's Square, 498 martyrs, assassinated
in Spain during the decade of the '30s in the last century, were
beatified. I thank Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the
Congregation for Saints' Causes, who presided over the celebration,
and I cordially greet the pilgrims gathered for this joyful
occasion.
Adding such a great number of martyrs to the list of beatified
persons shows that the supreme witness of giving blood is not an
exception reserved only to some individuals, but a realistic
possibility for all Christian people. It includes men and women of
different ages, vocations and social conditions, who pay with their
lives in fidelity to Christ and his Church.
The expression of St. Paul in today's liturgy adequately applies to
them: "Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, and
the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have
finished the race; I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:6-7). Paul,
detained in Rome, saw death approaching and balances this awareness
and hope. At peace with God and himself, he serenely confronted
death, with the knowledge that he had surrendered his life totally
to the service of the Gospel, without sparing anything.
October, the month dedicated in a special way to missionary
commitment, ends with the luminous testimony of the Spanish martyrs,
who join the martyrs Albertina Berkenbrock, Emmanuel Gómez Gonzáles
and Adilio Daronch, and Franz Jägerstätter, who were beatified
recently in Brazil and Austria.
Their example gives witness to the fact that baptism commits
Christians to participate boldly in the spread of the Kingdom of
God, cooperating if necessary with the sacrifice of one's own life.
Certainly not everyone is called to a bloody martyrdom. There is
also an unbloody "martyrdom," which is no less significant, such as
that of Celina Chludzinska Borzecka, wife, mother, widow and
religious, beatified yesterday in Rome: It is the silent and heroic
testimony of many Christians who live the Gospel without
compromises, fulfilling their duty and dedicating themselves
generously in service to the poor.
This martyrdom of ordinary life is a particularly important witness
in the secularized societies of our time. It is the peaceful battle
of love that all Christians, like Paul, have to fight tirelessly;
the race to spread the Gospel that commits us until death. May Mary,
Queen of Martyrs and Star of Evangelization, help us and assist us
in our daily witness.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After the Angelus, the Pope greeted the people in several
languages. In English, he said:]
I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
present for this Angelus, including the group from the Oratory Prep
School in Oxfordshire, England. The Gospel invites us to leave aside
all arrogance and pride, and to walk in humility before God and with
our neighbour. The Beatifications today remind us of the importance
of humbly following our Lord even to the point of offering our lives
for the faith. May your stay in Rome renew your love of Christ, and
may God bless you all!
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
