Father Damien de Veuster's canonization as a saint with four others Sunday drew thousands to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but it was especially awe-inspiring for Maui Catholics. See Maui NewsFrom Zenit.org The Pope's Comments:
"A saint is one who doesn't put themselves at the center, but rather chooses to go against the grain and live according to the Gospel", says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today during the canonization Mass of five blessed -- a bishop, two priests, a religious brother and a religious sister -- held in St. Peter's Basilica.
Among the five canonized was Father Damien De Veuster, the first Hawaiian saint.
The Pontiff began the homily by asking the question posed to Christ by a rich young man in Sunday's Gospel: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"The Divine Master looks at him with love," the Holy Father continues, "and proposes the qualitative leap, he calls him to the heroism of sanctity, he asks him to abandon everything and follow him: 'Sell what you own and give the money to the poor...then come, follow me!'"
"This is the Christian vocation that flows from a proposal of love by the Lord, and that can be realized only thanks to our loving reply," he said. "Jesus invites his disciples to the total giving of their lives, without calculation or personal gain, with unfailing trust in God.
"The saints welcome this demanding invitation and set about following the crucified and risen Christ with humble docility. Their perfection, in the logic of a faith that is humanly incomprehensible at times, consists in no longer placing themselves at the center, but choosing to go against the flow and live according to the Gospel."
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