Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of November 1, 2006

ALL SAINTS DAY
1st reading: Apoc 7:2-4, 9-14; Psalm 23; 2nd reading: 1Jn 3:1-3; Gospel: Mt 5:1-12

Today is the Feast of all Saints and we could even say it is the Feast of holiness. I, perhaps for the first time, have made a particular reflection on this. We celebrate all saints, and it is right to do so, remembering them as our friends and protectors and taking them as an example to follow, but we cannot detach the Saints from the holiness of God. So I believe we can say that we must distinguish between a generating holiness and a participatory holiness and these are new terms in theology, mysticism and in asceticism. Generative holiness belongs to God: He is holy and we proclaim this at the beginning of the Canon: "Holy, Holy, Holy!" Holy is the appellation par excellence of God, it is His holiness that places him in a situation of extreme detachment from us, because the holiness of God is infinite and unreachable. But just because it is infinite and unreachable, God generates his holiness and wants men to participate in it. Our Lady can say of herself that she is the first saint by the will of God because the holiness accumulated in her as a gift, and grown in her for her commitment as an answer to this gift, is so high, so great, immense, that the holiness of the Mother of the Eucharist alone is superior to the added holiness of all people. It is enough to think about this, placing us before this holiness and not to just for the sake of praising it, to say that if in Mary there is a holiness so great, so immense that it cannot be quantified, how infinite and astounding is holiness in God? This is why today, giving our praise to the saints, we must first of all attribute it to God: He is the operative cause of holiness, the saints are the effects of the holiness of God. We can still discover other great truths that lately have been told, with some insistence, by God the Father, Jesus and the Mother of the Eucharist: Heaven is a reality open to all. In fact, if we had the opportunity to have a dialogue with some saints in Heaven, entities who therefore enjoy the beatific vision of God, we would be surprised because when asked: "What religion did you used to belong to?", We would hear different answers: "I was a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, Hindu, Protestant, Orthodox or member of other religions"; and how come, if you are not a Christian, if you are not a Catholic, if you hadn’t had Baptism, you are here in Heaven? The answer has been revealed to us many times lately: "Because I loved, because God saw love in me, gave me love and I responded to his love", as Jesus said today. “I could not follow the canons of the religion revealed by Jesus because they were unknown to me", or at worst "Even if I knew them, I knew them very little", or even "I was convinced, in good conscience, that following my religion was the right choice, but I still respected the great commandment of love", where all of us should be. Regardless of our religion, in fact, the discourse of loving one's neighbor is not an exclusive topic of Christianity, but must be put into practice by everyone. Then, for this reason, the doors of Heaven are opened to the Hindu who loved, to the Jew who loved, to the Muslim who loved, but I can tell you more: people belonging to Catholicism but, according to certain commonplaces, were considered outside the Church, are found in Heaven because they loved. God will judge us in particular on love; it is the love of Christ that has redeemed humanity, just as personal love redeems the conscience, even if sinful, of every man. I loved, I made a commitment to love, I did not make people suffer, I joyfully gave part of what I had to those who needed it, and here comes a beautiful passage from the Gospel: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me" (Mt 25:35-36). Jesus will judge on all of this. Well, they have done it and for this they have heard the invitation of God: "Enter into the joy of Heaven prepared for you". This is holiness, holiness means love, love means Heaven. Those who do not give love and do not live in love, even if we consider them holy because they can speak well, preach well and, apparently, even act well, if they do not have love, they will not have the call to enjoy God. Jesus said: "They have already received their reward, the reward of men", but we are interested in the reward of God. In these days I have been begging for some needs, and you have responded generously, not for our needs, not for my needs, but for the needs of many children who are literally starving to death. I deepened this speech and I remembered how many times the Mother of the Eucharist said that there are millions of people without food, medicine and assistance. Well, this is one of the FAO reports: there are 854 million people in the world who are poorly fed and many of them are starving to death. The lack of food and the lack of drinking water produce many diseases and one of the most awful is blindness affecting children. Every hour 600 children go blind. Every hour! And do you know what the absurdity is? It would be enough a tube of cream, the cost of which is equal to 2.50 euros, to heal these children if they are at the first stage of the disease. The disease is given by a microorganism present in unhealthy and non-drinking waters that these children drink and the aggravating factor is that this disease is also contagious, therefore by getting sick they infect the rest of the family too. This microorganism affects the cornea, progressively paralyzing the entire ocular system and, passing on to the following stages, makes these children blind. To heal them, if they are at the first stage, a tube of cream costing just 2.50 euros would be enough. Fifteen euros would be enough to perform surgery if they are in the second stage. Just think about it! And we think about armaments! Then I came to the conclusion that when any type of armament or a fighter-bomber, a bomb or a machine gun is built, they kill even before being put into operation. If the cost required to build death bombs were donated for the assistance of those who are hungry, of those who do not have food, of those who do not have drinking water, of those who have no medicines, how much better would the world be! There wouldn’t be 854 million hungry people, there would no longer be 600 children who lose their sight and become blind every hour. But I cannot just blame politicians, I must also blame the men of the Church, and I do it because I am stimulated by the Mother of the Eucharist. How much money administered by them, if they were donated to works of charity, could make the smile on the faces of children return, serenity in the hearts of parents, hope in the soul of those who suffer from all deprivation? "Woe to you!” This is the "woe!" of God, and it's dreadful. It is not wealth as such that is unhealthy, but it is the negative use of wealth that becomes unhealthy. I was amazed when, reading some newspapers, I learned that on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the priestly ordination of John Paul II, just the cardinals had donated the sum of one billion old liras to the Pope. How is it possible? There is money somewhere! How is it possible that one hundred and thirty people raised one billion? Last Sunday, with all our goodwill, we collected 2550 euros for the hungry, but there we are talking about 500 thousand euros! The Church cannot go on like this, the Church must give her riches to the poor and not only in simple material assistance, but also in building social realities that can give jobs and ensure economic serenity. Perhaps it is the second time in many years that you have heard me talking like this but, knowing many things directly from above, I have come to say: "Enough my God, it is no longer possible to go on like that". And you have heard the prayer that Marisa recited to Jesus, it was exactly for this purpose: to help and assist these poor people. God is doing his utmost by sending his servants in bilocation, and you know it, including the Mother of the Eucharist and other saints in Heaven, to materially help these people. Men, politicians and ecclesiastics talk, they just talk, but we want deeds, deeds and deeds. I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was sick, I was in prison. It is on this that we must keep in mind the quality of Christian commitment. So we glorify these saints today, including those canonized by the Church and those unknown and non-canonized by the Church, and raise them to God, author and factor of holiness. These saints, and primarily God himself, tell us not only to look upward, but also to look lower towards the Earth, to see how much love and how much charity is needed, but the first to have to do it and to really give to those in need, is us. It will come to this, God willing, but we hope soon because, in this way, society and the world can truly be changed. It won’t be high-level meetings, it won’t be all things written on memorandums and documents that change the world and the Church. The world and the Church change through love. This is why, for some time, and I will continue it in the future, I will try and we will try to give out of our own pocket, because we cannot just say do it, we begin to do it ourselves. We started and, although we are small, even if we are just a few, we have generously given what we had and I hope we will continue to give. Then we will receive praise from the Lord, like the poor widow when she gave a few pennies, which represented her essentials, and was praised. The priests, the doctors, the Pharisees who threw punches of change into the temple chest so it would jingle and everyone would realize that they had given a lot of money, did not receive praise or approval from the Lord because there was pride in them, ostentation, the desire to appear and look good. We must not look good before God, but we must be good and goodness is manifested and comes true with love. At this moment I raise, also on your behalf, this invocation to God calling him Father and saying: "Oh God, Father of us all, turn Your gaze, Your care on those who have nothing, who live in poverty, in need. I ask you to be forgiven, oh Lord, for all the times that we priests and bishops have not loved, and we have behaved like that priest who, although he had the duty, did not help, passing by him, the one who lay on the ground after being plundered and beaten by thieves. The Samaritan instead, although not obliged to do so because there was rivalry between Samaritans and Jews, stopped, gave out of his own and would have given more, if needed. Oh Lord, make each one of us the good Samaritan of those who suffer, of those who cry, of those who must hope in your love."