Pope Benedict XVI Prays All Saints' Angelus

(01 Nov 08 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI prayed the Angelus with thousands of faithful gathered in St. peter’s Square below his window in the Apostolic Palace on Saturday, November 1^st, the Feast of all Saints.

In remarks to the faithful before the Angelus prayer, the Pope said the "great joy" with which the Catholic Church 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."

Pope Benedict said "the spectacle of sanctity in the Church" is like 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.

The Holy Father went on to say that each is different from the other, with the individuality of his own human personality and spiritual charism, though 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 Holy Father also cited the words of the old spiritual, “When the Saints Go Marching In” "When the Saints Go Marching In": "Lord, how I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in."

After the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, the Pope had special words of greeting for those who participated in the first edition of the "Race of the Saints," a roadrace sponsored by the Salesian Fathers of Don Bosco, whose course began at St. Peter’s Basilica and took the participants past the other Major Basilicae of St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major.

The Pope said he is pleased with the new initiative, which expresses the joy and also the effort of running together along the path of holiness, and prayed that all our lives might be a race in faith and love, enlivened by the example of the great witnesses of the Gospel.

The Pope also greeted those present in various languages, including English…

Today’s celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints invites us to rejoice in our communion with the Saints in heaven, to implore their intercession for the Church on earth, and to follow their footsteps in the way of holiness. May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints strengthen us in faith and fervent hope in the fulfilment of Christ’s promises. Upon you and your families I invoke the Lord’s richest blessings!