| Offer Masses and Prayers for the Deceased |
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VATICAN CITY, NOV 1, 2005 (VIS) - At midday today, Solemnity of All Saints, the Pope appeared at the window of his private study in order to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered below in St. Peter's Square. Today's feast, the Pope said, "gives us a taste of the joy of belonging to the great family of the friends of God. ... Becoming saints means fully realizing that which we already are, having been elevated, in Christ Jesus, to the dignity of adoptive children of God." For those who live in Christ," the Holy Father continued, "death is the passage from the earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland where the Father welcomes all His children of 'every nation, race, people and language.' ... For this reason, it is most significant and appropriate that, in the liturgy, All Saints Day is followed tomorrow by the commemoration of all the deceased faithful. The 'communion of saints' ... is the reality of a family bound together by profound ties of spiritual solidarity, uniting the deceased faithful to those who are still pilgrims in the world. A mysterious but real bond, nourished by prayer and by participation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist." Benedict XVI then indicated how "in the mystical Body of Christ, the souls of the faithful come together; overcoming the barrier of death, they pray for one another and undertake, in charity, an intimate exchange of gifts. In this sense, the faith also includes the practice of offering prayers for the repose of the dead, especially in the Eucharistic sacrifice, Paschal memorial of Christ, which opened the way to eternal life for the faithful. "Uniting myself spiritually with people visiting cemeteries to pray for their loved ones, tomorrow afternoon I too will kneel in prayer in the Vatican Grottoes near the tombs of the Popes, which form a crown around the tomb of the Apostle Peter, and I will have a special thought for the much-loved John Paul II." The Holy Father concluded by requesting that "the traditional visit of these days to the tombs of our loved ones should be an occasion to think without fear of the mystery of death, and to prepare ourselves to face it serenely." |
