Seven New Saints

Yesterday (Sunday 16 October 2016), Pope Francis canonised seven new saints of the church.  Pope Francis said that each one "struggled to the very end with all their strength," which they received through perseverance and prayer and "… they remained firm in faith, with a generous and steadfast heart. Through their example and their intercession, may God also enable us to be men and women of prayer”.

One, an Argentine "gaucho priest," St. Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero had ridden on a donkey when traveling thousands of miles to minister to the poor and the sick. 
 
St. Jose Sanchez del Rio, a 14-year-old Mexican boy martyred for refusing to renounce his faith during the Cristero War of the 1920s. 
 
St. Salomone Leclerq, who was killed after refusing to renounce his faith at the height of the French Revolution. 
 
The French Carmelite writer and mystic, St. Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity, had given the Church a great example of a life devoted to prayer.  St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia, a Spanish bishop who spent his life devoted to Eucharistic adoration, smiled radiantly.
 
St. Ludovico Pavoni, the Italian founder of the Sons of Mary Immaculate, who dedicated his life to the vocational and spiritual education of the poor and hearing impaired, and St. Alfonso Maria Fusco, the Italian founder of the Congregation of the Baptistine Sisters of the Nazarene and of the Little House of Providence, a home for abandoned children.
 
In his homily, Pope Francis said the central theme of the Sunday readings was prayer, an important aspect in the lives of the newly canonized saints and something that obtained for them "the goal of heaven."  He reflected on the day's first reading which recalled Moses raising his arms in prayer while the Israelites fought Amalek's army. When Moses' arms would fall from weariness, the tide would turn against Israel.  Just as Aaron and Hur held Moses arms up until the Israelites won the battle, the pope said, so should Christians "support one another" in the "commitment to prayer."  "Weariness is inevitable," he said. "Sometimes we simply cannot go on, yet, with the support of our brothers and sisters, our prayer can persevere until the Lord completes his work." 
 
Like Moses who grew weary, yet was sustained by Aaron and Hur, Christians must remember they are not alone in the church, the pope said.   "We are members of the body of Christ, the church, whose arms are raised day and night to heaven, thanks to the presence of the risen Christ and his Holy Spirit. Only in the church, and thanks to the church's prayer, are we able to remain steadfast in faith and witness," he said. 

Looking at the day's Gospel reading, the pope said Jesus' parable of the widow who persists in seeking justice reveals "the mystery of prayer" which involves crying out persistently and not losing heart.  "To pray is not to take refuge in an ideal world, nor to escape into a false, selfish sense of calm. On the contrary, to pray is to struggle, but also to let the Holy Spirit pray within us," the pope said. 

Pope Francis prayed that "the example and intercession of these luminous witnesses sustain the commitment of each one in your respective areas of work and service for the good of the church and the civil community."