FR
EN
On this Sunday, 14 October 2018, Pope Francis canonised seven Blesseds during a solemn Mass in Saint Peter's Square, during the Synod on young people. Among them were Pope Paul VI and the Salvadoran bishop Oscar Romero. In his homily, the Holy Father urged the faithful to follow in their footsteps by giving themselves totally to Jesus. The Church counts seven new Saints: Pope Paul VI, Archbishop Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador who was assassinated while celebrating Mass in 1980, Nunzio Sulprizio who died at only 19 years of age, the Italian priests Francesco Spinelli and Vincenzo Romano, and two religious sisters, the German Maria Katharina Kasper and the Spaniard Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus.
In his homily, Pope Francis urged the faithful «to imitate their examples» as he commented on the Gospel according to Saint Mark (Mk 10:17-30), which «invites us to the encounter with the Lord». Many synod fathers and young people, who are currently taking part at the Vatican in the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme of young people, faith and vocational discernment, were at the Pope's side.
The Holy Father offered a broad reflection on the place we grant to Jesus in our hearts, highlighting «the path travelled by the Saints». Jesus, the Pope recalled, offers us a «love story» and it is demanding because Jesus «is radical». So it is not enough to walk behind Him only when it suits us, but we must «seek Him every day».
Giving our heart totally to Jesus
Jesus «gives everything and asks everything», the Holy Father recalled, «He gives a total love and asks for an undivided heart». Jesus, the Pope insisted, «is not content with a ''percentage of love'': we cannot love Him at twenty, at fifty or at sixty per cent. Either everything or nothing!»
It is therefore not «a bit of time» or «crumbs» that we must give to Christ, but «an undivided heart». This implies a fundamental choice between God and the riches of the world. «Our heart is like a magnet: it lets itself be drawn by love, but it can attach itself to one side only and must choose: either it will love God or it will love the riches of the world (cf. Mt 6:24)».
Renouncing the riches of the world and power
The Pope stressed the need, in order to have this experience of love, to strip oneself, to dispose one's heart to the encounter with Christ. And he warned against riches, which are «dangerous» and «even make salvation difficult». «Where money is placed at the centre, there is no room for God, nor is there any room for man,» insisted the Holy Father. Hence this appeal to free our heart from the goods that stifle it and make us «incapable of loving».
The Pope invited us to follow «Jesus as lovers, truly ready to leave something for Him», to be a Church «that abandons itself in love for its Lord». To love the Lord freely requires, the Holy Father affirmed, «renouncing the securities of the world», to «leave behind riches, the nostalgia for roles and powers, the structures that are no longer suited to the proclamation of the Gospel, the weights that slow down the mission, the ties that bind us to the world».
With his gaze turned towards the seven new Saints, who came from very different backgrounds and who embody this choice of love for the Lord, this «desire to risk and to leave», the Pope urged us to make «this leap forward in love». The Church cannot suffer from a «self-centred self-satisfaction» (Evangelii gaudium, no. 95), from a monotonous Christian life «without impetus».
Making the choice of a «cutting» life
Christians are called to spread joy, for the remedy for sadness, for a «lukewarm heart» is the encounter with Christ. «Sadness is the proof of an unfinished love». Today, following the example of the new Saints, Pope Francis indicated, we must «return to the sources of joy, which are the encounter with Jesus» and make «the courageous choice to take risks in order to follow Him» with «a taste for leaving something behind to embrace His life».
The Holy Father invited us, following the example of Paul VI, to cross «new frontiers», to look at «those who are far off», to care for the poor and to bear witness «in a passionate way to the beauty and the joy of following Jesus totally» even in difficulty and amid misunderstandings.
Also evoking the figure of Archbishop Romero «who gave his life according to the Gospel, alongside the poor and his people» and the five other Saints, the Pope called every baptised person, «without lukewarmness, without calculations» to live the universal vocation to holiness. «Not to half-measures, but to holiness».
Before the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father thanked the official delegations from many countries, «who came to pay homage to the new saints, who contributed to the spiritual and social progress of their respective nations». «I greet in particular Her Majesty Queen Sofia, the President of the Italian Republic, the presidents of Chile, El Salvador and Panama». And the Pope addressed «a special thought to His Grace Rowan Williams and to the delegation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with deep gratitude for their presence».
