Pope
celebrates all saints day in Verano
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated mass at the Cemetery of
Verano today to commemorate the feast of All Saints.
In his homily, Pope Francis spoke off the cuff, drawing from the
Mass’s first reading taken from the book of Apocalypse, he focused on three
images. The first was
the warning against the devastation of the Earth to the four angels. Pope
Francis said that there is a phrase that lies in the hearts of all of us: “we
can destroy the world better than you” that is, Man has the capacity to
devastate the world worse than the angels. “Devastate life, culture, values,
hope” .
He remarked “how much do we need this strength of the Lord, so
that he would sign us with his love to destroy this insane career of destroying
creation.”
Pope Francis then
moved on to speak about an innumerable crowd mentioned in the reading. He
compared them to the forgotten and thrown away in this life. “It seems that the
people, the hungry and sick children do not count. They seem to be of a
different species, not even human.This multitude stands before of God”.
He exhorted in his
homily that we think about the saints unknown to us. “Those who come from great
tribulation in the many parts of the world. The Lord sanctifies these people
through tribulation”, he said.
Finally, Pope Francis
offered a third image from the homily, that is God. “We are sons of God,
but what we will be has not yet been revealed. But we have the hope that we
will be like Him. The blessing of the Lord is hope. The hope that He will have
mercy on His People”.
He reminded the
faithful that “in order to journey back to God the Father, in this world of
devastation, of wars, of tribulation, we must act according to the beatitudes.
It is this path that will save us. This path will lead us through problems and
persecution, but only this path will lead us forward.
“The people who go
forward on the path of the beatitudes will reach God and become saints in that
final meeting with Him”.
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