VATICAN - On November 1st before the Angelus prayer the Pope says: “let us revive our happiness in the communion of saints and let ourselves be drawn by them towards the goal of our existence: the meeting with God face to face”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The solemnity of All Saints and the commemoration of All Souls offered the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI an opportunity before reciting the Angelus with the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday 1 November, to present points for meditation on the theme of eternal life. “In our day, more than in the past, one is so absorbed in earthly things that at times it is difficult to think of God as the protagonist of history and of our own life - the Pope said -. However by nature human existence tends to something greater which transcends it; the human being has an insupressible longing for justice, truth, total happiness. Faced with the enigma of death, many feel a desire and hope to see their loved ones in the next life. Just as there is a strong conviction with regard to a last judgement to re-establish justice, expectancy for a definitive moment when each receives what he or she deserves”.
For Christians "eternal life" means “a new quality of existence, totally immersed in the love of God who frees us from evil and death and places us in unending communion with all our brothers and sisters who share in the same Love. Eternity, therefore, can already be present at the centre of our earthly, temporal life, when the soul, through grace, is united with God, the ultimate origin”. All Christians, called to holiness, live firmly anchored to "Rock" which is God, “they have their feet on the earth but the heart already in Heaven, final dwelling place of the friends of God”.
The Holy Father invited to meditate on these realities: “let us revive our happiness in the communion of saints and to let ourselves be drawn by them towards the goal of our existence: the meeting with God face to face. Let us pray that this may be the heritage of all the faithful departed, not only of our loved ones, but for all souls, particularly those most forgotten and in need of divine mercy”.
After the Angelus the Pope greeted various language groups including a pilgrimage from north Africa bearing the “Torch of Truth” in the footsteps of St Augustine. The torch had travelled from the ancient city of Tagaste, in Algeria, to Hippo, where Augustine was Bishop, and then to Tunis and Malta and then to Ostia, near Rome, where Saint Monica the Saint’s mother died. After Rome the torch will be carried to Pavia in northern Italy where the saintly 4th century Bishop is buried. The Pope concluded “I am happy to bless this initiative of the Augustinian Order and this Torch symbol of faith and peace”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 3/11/2006 - righe 30; parole 438)