The Garden of the Saints

Visiting a botanical nursery garden,

one is amazed

by the variety of plants and flowers,

and often one is drawn to think

of the imagination of the Creator

who has given the earth a wonderful garden.

A similar feeling of wonder strikes us

when we consider the spectacle of sainthood:

the world appears to us as a "garden",

where the Spirit of God has given life

with admirable imagination

to a multitude of men and women saints,

of every age and social condition,

of every language, people, and culture.

Everyone is different from the other,

each unique in his own personality

and spiritual charism.

All of them, however,

were impressed with the "seal" of Jesus (cf. Rev 7:3)

or the imprint of his love

witnessed through the Cross.

They are all in joy,

in a festival without end,

but, like Jesus, they achieved this goal

passing through difficulties and trials (cf. Rev 7:14),

each of them shouldering his own share of sacrifice

in order to participate in the glory of the Resurrection.

...This spiritual destination,

towards which all the baptized strive,

is reached by following the way of the Gospel "beatitudes"...

It is the same path Jesus indicated

that men and women saints

have strived to follow,

while at the same time being aware of their human limitations.

In their earthly lives, in fact,

they were poor in spirit,

suffering for sins, meek,

hungering and thirsting for justice,

merciful, pure of heart,

peacemakers, persecuted for the sake of justice.

And God let them partake in his very own happiness:

they tasted it already in this world, and in the next,

they enjoy it in its fullness.

They are now consoled, inheritors of the earth,

satisfied, forgive, seeing God whose children they are...

We feel revived[d] within us

our attraction to Heaven,

which impels us to quicken the steps

of our earthly pilgrimage.

We feel enkindled in our hearts

the desire to unite ourselves forever

to the family of saints,

in which already now we have the grace to partake.

As a famous spiritual song says:

"Oh, when the saints go marching in,

Lord, I want to be

in that number!"

May this beautiful aspiration burn within all Christians

and help them to overcome every difficulty, every fear, every tribulation!

Let us place, dear friends, our hand

in Mary's maternal hand,

may the Queen of All Saints,

lead us toward our heavenly homeland,

in the company of the blessed spirits

"from every nation, people and language" (cf. Rev 7:9)

Pope Benedict XVI, 1 November 2008

...

Cover Photo -
The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs
Fra Angelico
© National Gallery, London, Great Britain