On the Solemnity of All Saints, before the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Francis reflected on holy life and the Beatitudes. He recalled that living in holiness is a “gift from God,” but it also requires our “response” to his designs and good inspirations. He invited us to put ourselves at the service of others, just as Jesus taught us.
The Saints: Models of Life According to the Beatitudes
Francis encouraged us to look to the saints, those brothers and sisters “shaped by the beatitudes.” They are people “full of God,” incapable of being indifferent to the needs of others, and they show us luminous paths that we too can follow. He asked us if in our prayers we ask God for “the gift of a holy life” and if we let ourselves be guided “by the good impulses that his Spirit” inspires in us, practicing “the beatitudes of the Gospel” in our daily lives. This was the Pope’s invitation before the Angelus, reflecting on the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes, described by Francis as “the identity card of the Christian and the path to holiness,” according to the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate.
The Path of Love and Holiness: A Gift and a Response
The Pope stressed that this path of love is both a gift from God and our response. In his new encyclical Dilexit nos, Francis stresses that “it is the Lord whom we ask to make us holy, to make our hearts like his.” It is God who, with his grace, “heals us and frees us from everything that prevents us from loving as He loves us,” allowing us to have “less self in order to make room for God,” as Blessed Carlo Acutis said.
The Importance of Our Response
However, Francis clarified that our response is crucial. God “offers us his holiness, but does not impose it on us.” He plants this holiness in us and then awaits our response, allowing us to follow his good inspirations and participate in his projects. He calls us to make his feelings our own, putting ourselves at the service of others with a charity that is increasingly universal and open to the entire world.
Examples of Holiness
The Pope offered inspiring examples of holiness, mentioning St. Maximilian Kolbe, who in Auschwitz offered to take the place of a father of a family condemned to death; St. Teresa of Calcutta, who dedicated her life to the service of the poorest; and St. Oscar Romero, murdered at the altar for defending the rights of the oppressed. These saints, and many others, both at the altars and in our daily lives, are models of people “full of God,” incapable of remaining indifferent to the needs of others and witnesses of luminous paths that we too can follow.
An Invitation to Holiness
Finally, Pope Francis asked us a crucial question: Do we ask God, in our prayers, for the gift of a holy life? Do we allow ourselves to be guided by the good impulses that his Spirit inspires in us? Do we commit ourselves to practicing the Beatitudes in our daily lives? He concluded by asking Mary, “Queen of all Saints,” to help us make our lives a path of holiness.
This reflection by Pope Francis invites us to look to the saints not only as examples to follow, but as living witnesses that the path to holiness is possible for all of us.
