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
