Pope: Remember the forgotten dead, victims of war, hunger and persecution
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - On the day when the Church and the whole Christian world commemorates the faithful departed, Catholics are called in a special way to remember the dead "that no one remembers. We remember the victims of war and violence; the many "little ones" of the world crushed by hunger and poverty" and "the anonymous who rest in common graves. We remember our brothers and sisters killed because they are Christians, and those who sacrificed their lives to serve others", said Pope Francis during his Angelus address for the Feast of All Souls.
After celebrating All Saints, we commemorated the
faithful departed said Francis: "These two occurrences are intimately linked
to each other, just as joy and tears find a synthesis in Jesus Christ, that
is the foundation of our faith and our hope. On
the one hand, in fact, the Church, a pilgrim in history,
rejoices through the intercession of
the saints and blessed who support
her in the mission of proclaiming the
Gospel; on the other, she,
like Jesus, shares the tears of those who suffer the separation from
loved ones, and like
Him and through Him echoes
thanks to the Father who has delivered us from the dominion of sin and death".
The cemetery - which people traditionally visit during these Feast days - is a "place of rest" a symbol of
waiting for the final awakening. "Jesus himself Jesus himself revealed that the death of the body is like a sleep from which he awakens
us. With this faith we stop
- even spiritually - at the graves of our
loved ones, those who have loved us and have
done good deeds for us. But today
we are called to remember everyone,
to remember everyone, even those
who no one remembers. We remember the
victims of war and violence; the many "little ones" of the world crushed by hunger
and poverty. We remember the
anonymous who rest in common graves. We remember our brothers
and sisters killed because they are Christians; and those who sacrificed their lives to serve others. We especially entrust to the Lord, those
who have left over the last
year".
Church tradition, the Pope reminds us, "has always urged prayer for the dead,
in particular by offering the celebration of the Eucharist for them: it
is the best spiritual help that we can give to their souls, particularly to the most abandoned ones. The foundation of prayers is in the communion
of the Mystical Body". This is why "Remembering the dead, caring for their graves
and prayers of suffrage, are witness of confident hope, rooted in the certainty that death is not the last word on
human fate, death is not the last word, because man is
destined to a life without limits,
which has its roots and its
fulfillment in God".
The Pope then raised a spontaneous prayer to God, that in His infinite Mercy "none of Your children be lost to the eternal fires of hell, where repentance
is no more" and that He remember the dead, " those who died without the comfort of the
Sacraments or who did not have the opportunity to repent, not even at the end
of their life". With this faith in the ultimate destiny of man, the
Pope concluded, "we now turn to the Virgin Mary, who suffered the drama of Christ's death under the Cross and participated in the joy
of His resurrection. May she, Gate of Heaven, help us to understand more and more the value of prayers for the dead. They are close to us.
May she support us in our daily
pilgrimage on earth and help us
not to lose sight of the ultimate
goal of life which is Heaven.
And we with this hope that never disappoints we move forward!"