VATICAN CITY — Like the Catholic Church's newest saints,
Christians are called to live their faith as a love story with God who wants a
relationship that is "more than that of devoted subjects with their
king," Pope Francis said.
Without a loving relationship with God, Christian life can become
empty and "an impossible ethic, a collection of rules and laws to obey for
no good reason," the pope said during Mass Oct. 15 in St. Peter's Square.
"This is the danger: a Christian life that becomes routine,
content with 'normality,' without drive or enthusiasm, and with a short
memory," he said during the Mass.
At the beginning of the Mass, Pope Francis proclaimed 35 new
saints, including: the "Martyrs of Natal," Brazil, a group of 30
priests, laymen, women and children who were killed in 1645 during a wave of
anti-Catholic persecution; and the "Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala," three
children who were among Mexico's first native converts and were killed for
refusing to renounce the faith.
Tapestries hung from the facade of St. Peter's Basilica bearing
images of the martyrs as well as pictures of Sts. Angelo da Acri, an Italian
Capuchin priest known for his defense of the poor, and Faustino Miguez, a
Spanish priest who started an advanced school for girls at a time when such
education was limited almost exclusively to boys.
An estimated 35,000 pilgrims — many of them from the new saints'
countries of origin — attended the Mass, the Vatican said Oct. 15.
In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on the day's Gospel reading
from St. Matthew in which Jesus recounts the parable of the wedding feast.
Noting Jesus' emphasis on the wedding guests, the pope said that
God "wants us, he goes out to seek us and he invites us" to celebrate
with him.
"For him, it is not enough that we should do our duty and
obey his laws," Pope Francis said. "He desires a true communion of
life with us, a relationship based on dialogue, trust and forgiveness."
However, he continued, Jesus also warns that "the invitation
can be refused" as it was by those who "made light" of the
invitation or were too caught up in their own affairs to consider attending the
banquet.
"This is how love grows cold, not out of malice but out of
preference for what is our own: our security, our self-affirmation, our
comfort," the pope said.
Despite constant rejection and indifference, God does not cancel
the wedding feast but continues to invite Christians to overcome "the
whims of our peevish and lazy selves" and to imitate the church's new
saints who, he said, not only said yes to God's invitation, but wore "the
wedding garment" of God's love.
"The saints who were canonized today, and especially the
many martyrs, point the way," Pope Francis said. "The robe they wore
daily was the love of Jesus, that 'mad' love that loved us to the end and
offered his forgiveness and his robe to those who crucified him."