4/5/2014
And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him'. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. To see God is to be similar to God: this is our hope. And today, precisely on the day of All Saints and before the day of All Souls, it is necessary to think a little about hope: this hope that accompanies us in life. The first Christians depicted hope as an anchor, as if life was the anchor thrown to the shores of Heaven and all of us set forth towards that shore, grasping the rope of the anchor. It is a beautiful image of hope: to anchor our hearts where our dearly departed await us, where the saints, Jesus and God are. It is the hope that does not disappoint us. Today and tomorrow are days of hope. Hope, he continued, is like leaven, that enlarges the soul; there are difficult moments in life, but with hope the soul forges ahead and looks to what awaits us. Hope also purifies us, and lightens us: this purification in hope in Jesus Christ allows us to go on swiftly. As the sun starts to set today, each one of us can think of the sunset of our own lives. And if we look forward with joy to being welcomed by the Lord, this is a Christian thought, that brings peace to us. Today is a day of joy, but it is a serene and tranquil joy, the joy of peace. Let us think of the sunsets of the many brothers and sisters who have preceded us, and let us think of our own sunset, when it arrives. And let us think of our hearts, and ask ourselves, 'Where is my heart anchored?' If it is not anchored well, let us anchor it there, on that shore, in the knowledge that hope never disappoints, because the Lord Jesus never disappoints. At the end of the Mass, the Pope blessed the tombs and concluded, I would like to pray especially for our brothers and sisters who have died seeking freedom, a more worthwhile life. We have seen the photographs depicting the cruelty of the desert; we have seen the sea where many have drowned. Let us pray for them. And let us also pray for the survivors, who now languish in shelters, in the hope that the necessary legal procedures will be completed swiftly so that they might move on to other more comfortable places, in other centres.
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4/5/2014
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