Benedict XVI: Jesus calls us to the total gift of our lives

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
15 Oct 2009

The perfection of the saints is "in choosing to go against the trend, in living according to the Gospel." This was the reflection offered this morning by Benedict XVI, presiding in the Vatican Basilica at the canonization of five saints.

The Pope recalled how Jesus, even today, invites us all to the total gift of our lives "without calculation or human self-interest." A demanding call, therefore, which the saints generously welcome, humbly dedicating themselves to "obediently follow the crucified and risen Christ." Historically and geographically distant examples that are still relevant today, the example of the five new saints rises like a symphony for the faithful today.

Zygmunt Szsczesny Felinski, archbishop of Warsaw; Spaniards Francisco Coll Y Guitart and Rafael Arnaiz Baron, who died aged 27 after leaving a comfortable life to follow Christ; and the French religious Mary of the Cross, engaged in assisting the elderly who today, Benedict XVI recalled, "still suffer multiple poverty and loneliness, being sometimes abandoned even by their families"; as well as the Belgian Damiaan Jozef de Veuster, who died in Hawaii taking care of lepers. A man, the Pope concluded, that invites us to open our eyes to the many forms of leprosy which disfigure humanity today, mainly due to a lack of love.