By Sarah Mac Donald - 02 November, 2013
Pope Francis urged the faithful to think about hope on the feast of All Saints.
Speaking at an outdoor Mass at Rome’s Verano cemetery on Friday, the Pontiff called on Christians to hold firm to their hope in eternal life in Heaven.
Addressing the assembled congregation, he told them that ahead of All Souls, it was important to think about hope.
“We are children of God,” he stated and added, “We live in the hope of one day seeing God as he is.”
Elsewhere in his homily, Pope Francis spoke about the symbol of the anchor for the early Christians, explaining that for them it was a symbol of hope.
“To have our hearts anchored up there where our loved ones are, where the saints are, where Jesus is, where God is – that is hope. That is the hope that doesn’t disappoint,” the Pope said.
He also described the feasts of All Saints and All Souls as “days of hope” and added that the virtue of hope is like “a bit of leaven that enlarges your soul. There are difficult moments in life, but with hope you go forward and keep your eyes on what awaits us.”
“Before sunset today, each one of us should think about the sunset of our own lives,” the Pope said. “Do we look forward to it with hope and with the joy of being welcomed by the Lord?” he asked.
He also underlined that even the saints were not saved by their good works, but by the blood of Christ.
“God is the one who saves, he is the one who carries us like a father, at the end of our lives, to that heaven where our forebears are,” he said.
“The Lord God, beauty, goodness, truth, tenderness, the fullness of love – all that awaits us,” the Pope said.
“And all those who preceded us and died in the Lord are there,” in heaven with God.
