Vatican City (Fides Service) - "Eternal is the mercy of the Lord and it shines in each of the newly beatified. Through them God accomplished great things. Truly eternal O Lord is your mercy. You never abandon those who turn to you. With these newly beatified with filial confidence we say: Jesus in you I place my trust". This was the invocation pronounced by John Paul II on Sunday 27 April during Mass concelebrated in St Peter's Square during which he beatified six Italians: Giacomo Alberione (1884-1971), priest, founder of the Pauline Family; Marco d'Aviano (1631-1699), priest of the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor; Maria Cristina Brando (1856-1906), foundress of the Congregations of the Expiating Sisters of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; Eugenia Ravasco (1845-1900), foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary; Maria Domenica Mantovani (1862-1934), co-foundress of the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; Giulia Salzano (1846-1929), foundress of the Congregation of the Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
"Celebrate the Lord because he is good, eternal is his mercy" the Pope said in his homily. "Thus sings the Church on the second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy. The Easter mystery reveals fully the consoling salvific plan of God's loving mercy, of which the Saints and Blessed of heaven are privileged witnesses. By a providential coincidence, I have the joy of elevating to the honour of the altars six newly Blessed on this Sunday on which we celebrate Divine Mercy. In each of them, in a different way, the Lord's tender and amazing mercy was manifested".
Before giving a brief life history of the 6 new Blessed, the Pope recalled that "the Good News is a universal message addressed to the men and women of all times. It is addressed personally to each one and its asks to be lived. When Christians become the "living Gospel" they become eloquent signs of the loving mercy of the Lord and their testimony reaches more easily the hearts of people. As docile instruments in the hands of divine Providence, they have a profound impact on history. This was true of these six newly Beatified persons all from our beloved Italy, a land rich in saints".
At the end of the Mass, before the singing of the Regina Caeli hymn, Pope John Paul II greeted the numerous pilgrims who had come to Rome for the Beatification recalling that "authentic peace comes from a reconciled heart". Here is what the Pope said "The Risen Jesus meets the disciples in the Upper Room and he offers them the paschal gift of peace and mercy. We can easily understand, when we mediate today's Gospel, that true peace comes from a heart which is reconciled, a heart which has experienced the joy of forgiveness and is therefore ready to forgive. The Church, gathered again today in spirit in the Upper Room, offers to her Lord the joys and hopes, the suffering and the anguish of the whole world. The Lord continues to offer as the effective remedy Divine Mercy of which he asks his ministers to be generous and faithful instruments." See homily in Italian at www.fides.org SL (Fides Service 28/4/2003 EM lines 37 Words: 514)