On the solemnity of the Feast of All Saints, Benedict XVI offers a brief catechesis on holiness, a "martyrdom" understood as "unconditional love for Christ," which is expressed "in the total gift of self to God and one's brethren." A greeting for the young people who participated in the first edition of the 'Race of the Saints'.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The "great joy" with which the Catholic Church today celebrates the Feast of All Saints "urges us to hasten the steps of our earthly pilgrimage," and helps us to "conquer any difficulty, any fear, any tribulation": these were the pope's remarks to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for the prayer of the Angelus. And in confirmation of this joy in the communion of saints, he cited the spiritual "When the Saints Go Marching In": "Lord, how I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in."

Taking an image commonly used by the fathers of the Church, Benedict XVI compared "the spectacle of sanctity" with a "wonderful garden," "in which the Spirit of God has raised up, with extraordinary imagination, a multitude of holy men and women of every age and social condition, of every language, people, and culture. Each is different from the other, with the individuality of his own human personality and spiritual charism. But all bear the 'seal' of Jesus (cf. Rev. 7:3), meaning the mark of his love, borne witness to through the Cross. They all live in joy, in an endless celebration, but, like Jesus, they have reached this goal by passing through trial and tribulation (cf. Rev. 7:14), each one confronting his own share of the sacrifice in order to participate in the glory of the resurrection."

The pontiff recalled that this feast originally commemorated all of the martyrs. "This martyrdom," he added, "can be understood in the broad sense, as unconditional love for Christ, a love expressed in the total gift of self to God and one's brethren. This spiritual goal, toward which all of the baptized strive, is reached by following the path of the evangelical 'beatitudes', which the liturgy presents to us in today's celebration (cf. Mt. 5:1-12a). This is the same path walked by Jesus, and which the holy men and women strove to follow, while conscious of their human limitations. In their earthly existence, in fact, they were poor in spirit, afflicted over their sins, meek, hungry and thirsty for justice, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for the sake of justice. And God made them share in his own happiness: they tasted it in this world, and, in the next world, they enjoy it fully. They are now consoled, inheritors of the earth, satisfied, forgiven, they see God, whose children they are. In a word: 'theirs is is the kingdom of heaven' (cf. Mt. 5:3,10)."

After the Marian prayer, Benedict XVI greeted those present in various languages. Speaking to the Italian pilgrims, he addressed a special greeting to the young people of Rome who today participated in the first edition of the "Race of the Saints," a kind of "marathon" that went past St. John Lateran, St. Paul's Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major, concluding in St. Peter's Square. "I am happy," the pope said, "with this new initiative, which expresses the joy and also the effort of 'running' together along the path of holiness. May all of our life be a 'race' in faith and love, enlivened by the example of the great witnesses of the Gospel!"

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