"Holiness Demands a Constant Effort"
Homily
for All Saints' Day
H.H. Benedict XVI
Nov. 1, 2006
Zenit.org
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
Our Eucharistic celebration opened today with the exhortation
"Let us rejoice in the Lord." The liturgy invites us to share
the heavenly jubilation of the saints, to taste the joy. The
saints are not a restricted caste of elect but a crowd without
number toward which, today, the liturgy exhorts us to lift our
eyes.
Among this multitude are not only the officially recognized
saints but the baptized of every age and nation who have sought
to accomplish the divine will with love and fidelity. Many there
are whose faces and names we do not know but with the eyes of
faith we see them shine like stars full of glory in the divine
firmament.
Today the Church celebrates her dignity as "mother of the
saints, image of the eternal city" (Alessandro Manzoni), and
manifests her beauty as immaculate bride of Christ, the source
and exemplar of all holiness. She does not lack for riotous and
indeed rebellious children, but it is in the saints that she
recognizes her characteristic traits and precisely in them she
savors her deepest joy.
In the first reading the author of the Apocalypse describes "a
great multitude,
which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and
tongue" (Revelation 7:9). This people comprises the saints of
the Old Testament, beginning with Abel the just and the
patriarch Abraham, and then those of the New Testament, the many
martyrs at the beginning of Christianity, the blessed and the
saints of the ages that followed, and finally the witnesses of
Christ in our own time. What was common to them was the will to
incarnate the Gospel in their existence through the impulse of
the Holy Spirit, who is the eternal giver of life of the people
of God.
But "of what use is our praise of the saints, our tribute of
glory, our solemnity that we celebrate?" A famous homily of St.
Bernard for the feast of All Saints begins with this question.
It is a question that we could ask ourselves even today. The
reply that St. Bernard gives is also pertinent to us: "Our
saints," he says, "have no need of our honors and they gain
nothing from our commemoration. For myself, I must confess, that
when I think of the saints, I feel enflamed by great desires"
(Homily 2, "Opera Omnia," ed. Cisterc, 5, 364 ff.).
Behold the meaning of today's solemnity: Gazing upon the
luminous example of the saints the great desire to be like the
saints is awakened in us; happy to live near to God, in his
light, in the great family of the friends of God. Being a saint
means living close to God, living in his family. And this is the
vocation of all of us, vigorously reaffirmed by the Second
Vatican Council, and on this day brought to our attention in a
solemn way.
But how can we become saints, friends of God? An initial
response to this question is this: To be saints it is not
necessary to perform extraordinary deeds and works, nor is it
necessary to possess exceptional charisms. But this only tells
us what sainthood is not. The positive answer is that to become
a saint it is above all necessary to listen to Jesus and then to
follow him and not lose heart in the face of difficulties.
"If anyone wants to serve me," he says, "he must follow me, and
where I am there also is my servant. If anyone serves me, the
Father will honor him" (John 12:26). Whoever entrusts himself to
him and loves him with sincerity, will die to himself as the
grain of wheat buried in the earth.
He knows in fact that whoever tries to keep his life for himself
will lose it and whoever gives his life, in this way, finds life
(cf. John 12:24-25). The experience of the Church demonstrates
that, although they take different paths, all forms of holiness
must always pass through the way of the cross, the way of
self-denial.
The biographies of the saints depict men and women who, always
docile to divine designs, sometimes endured indescribable
sufferings, persecutions and martyrdom. They persevered in their
task. "These are the ones who have survived the time of great
distress," we read in the Book of Revelation, "they have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb"
(7:14).
Their names are written in the book of life (cf. Revelation
20:12); paradise is their eternal abode. The example of the
saints encourages us to follow in their footsteps, to experience
the joy of those who entrust themselves to God, because the only
cause of sadness is to live far from him.
Holiness demands a constant effort but it is possible for all
since it is not just the work of man but is above all a gift of
God, who is thrice holy (cf. Isaiah 6:3). In the second reading
the Apostle John observes: "See what love the Father has
bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so
we are" (1 John 3:1).
It is God therefore who loved us first and in Jesus he has made
us adoptive sons. In our life all is a gift of his love. How is
it possible to remain indifferent before so great a mystery? How
is it possible to not respond to the love of the heavenly Father
by leading a life of grateful children?
In Christ he has given himself entirely to us and has called us
to a personal and profound relationship with him. Thus, the more
we imitate Christ and remain united to him, the more we enter
into the mystery of divine holiness. We discover that we are
infinitely loved by him and this moves us to love our brothers.
Loving always means an act of self-denial, "losing oneself," and
it is in this way that we become happy.
We therefore arrive at the Gospel of this feast, the
proclamation of the beatitudes that a short while ago we heard
echo through this basilica.
Jesus says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the
afflicted, the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
justice, the merciful, blessed are the pure of heart, the
peacemakers, the persecuted for the sake of justice (cf. Matthew
5:3-10).
In truth, the blessed par excellence is only him, Jesus. Indeed,
he is the truly poor in spirit, the 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 physiognomy of Jesus and
thus express his mystery, the mystery of death and resurrection,
of the passion and the joy of the resurrection. This mystery,
which is the mystery of true blessedness, invites us to follow
Jesus and thus the way to happiness.
In the measure that we accept his proposal and follow him --
everyone according to his own circumstances -- we too can
participate in his beatitude. With him the impossible becomes
possible and in the end the camel passes through the eye of
needle (cf. Mark 10:25); with his help, only with his help, we
are able to become perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect
(cf. Matthew 5:48).
Dear brothers and sisters, we now enter into the heart of the
Eucharistic celebration, the stimulus and nourishment of
holiness. In a short while Christ will become present in a
higher way, he who is the true vine to which are united, as
branches, the faithful on earth and the saints in heaven.
The communion of the pilgrim Church in the world with the Church
triumphant in glory will be strengthened. In the Preface we will
proclaim that the saints are for us friends and models of life.
We will ask them that they help us to imitate them and to
undertake to respond with generosity to the divine call as they
did. We will especially call upon Mary, the mother of the Lord
and mirror of sanctity. May she, the all-holy one, make us
faithful disciples of her son Jesus Christ! Amen.
[Original text: Italian. Translation by ZENIT]
