VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI celebrates All Saints Day: “being a Saint means: living close to God, living in his family. This is the vocation of all of us, heavily underlined by the Second Vatican Council and today re-proposed for our attention in a solemn manner ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The liturgy invites us to share the heavenly happiness of the saints, to taste this joy. The saints are not a small group of elected persons, but rather a countless host towards which the liturgy urges us to lift up our eyes. In that multitude there are not only officially recognised saints but also baptised persons of all epochs and nations, who strove with love and fidelity to do God’s will. Of most of them we know neither their faces nor their names but with the eyes of faith we see them resplendent, like stars filled with glory, in God’s heavens.” With this exhortation to “heavenly happiness” the Holy Father Benedict XVI started his homily during Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on November 1st, All Saints Day.
The first reading from the Book of Revelation spoke of the saints "as an immense multitude, which no one could count, of every nation, race, people and language". “This people includes the saints of the Old Testament, starting with Abel the just and the faithful Patriarch Abraham, those of the New Testament, the numerous martyrs of the beginning of Christianity, the blessed and saints of later centuries down to Christ’s witnesses of our epoch- the Pope explained -. All have in common the desire to incarnate the Gospel in their existence, under the impulse of the eternal animator of the People of God, the Holy Spirit”.
To celebrate the saints, to look at their shining example “awakens in us a deep desire to be like the saints: happy to live close to God in His light, in the great family of God’s friends. Being a saint means: living close to God, living in His family. This is the vocation of all of us, heavily underlined by the Second Vatican Council and today re-proposed for our attention in a solemn manner ”.
To be a saint therefore it is not necessary to perform extraordinary actions or works, or possess exceptional charisma “first and foremost it is necessary to listen to Jesus and to follow Him without losing courage in the face of difficulties”. The Pope said “every form of holiness, while following diverse paths, always passes along the way of the cross, the path of self-renunciation. The biographies of the saints describe men and women docile to God’s plans who at times faced indescribable trials and sufferings, persecution and martyrdom … the example of the saints is for us an encouragement to follow the same path and to experience the joy of those who trust in God, because the only true cause of sadness and unhappiness for the human person is to live far from Him”.
While holiness demands constant effort on our part “it is possible for all because, more than the work of man it is first and foremost a gift of God”. In the second reading of the Mass, St John says: "You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children-which is what we are!!". “It was therefore God who loved us first and made us his adopted children in Jesus,- Pope Benedict XVI explained -. Everything in our life is a gift of His love: how can we remain indifferent to such a great mystery? How can we fail to respond to the love of our Heavenly Father with a life of grateful children?… The more we imitate Jesus and are united with Him, the more we enter the mystery of God’s holiness”. The Gospel of this feast gives the announcement of the Beatitudes. “In truth, only Jesus is the Blessed one par excellence... The Beatitudes show us the spiritual physiognomy of Jesus and so express His mystery, the Mystery of Death and Resurrection, Passion and the joy of the Resurrection. This mystery, which is the mystery of true beatitude, invites us to follow Christ, and doing so, to walk towards it. To the extent that we take up this proposal and start to follow Him - each under our different circumstances - we too may share in His beatitude”.
The Pope ended his homily urging those present to invoke the saints “may they help us to imitate them and respond to the divine calling generously as they did. Let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord and mirror of all holiness”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 3/11/2006 - righe 46; parole 703)