No saints in plaster: God gives the grace to live a holy life, says the pope

The saints were people in flesh and blood whose lives included real struggles and joys, and whose holiness reminds all the baptized that they too are called to be saints, said Pope Francis.

Thousands of people joined the pope on November 1 for the noon recitation of the Angelus prayer on the feast of All Saints. Many people in St. Peter's Square had just organized the 10K "Saints' Race", sponsored by a Catholic organization.

The feasts of All Saints and of all souls on 1st and 2nd November, said the pope, “recall the link that exists between the church on Earth and that in heaven, between us and our loved ones who have passed on to the other life. "

The saints that the church remembers - officially or not by name - "are not simply symbols or human beings far from us and unreachable," he said. “On the contrary, they were people who lived with their feet on the ground; they lived the daily struggle of existence with its successes and failures. "

The key, however, he said, was that "they always found the strength in God to get up and continue the journey".

Holiness is both "a gift and a call," the pope said to the crowd. God grants people the grace necessary to be holy, but one must respond freely to that grace.

The seeds of holiness and the grace to live it are found in baptism, said the pope. Therefore, each person must commit himself to holiness "in the conditions, obligations and circumstances of his life, trying to live everything with love and charity".

"We walk to that" holy city "where our brothers and sisters are waiting for us," he said. "It's true, we can get tired of the bumpy road, but hope gives us the strength to go on."

Remembering the saints, said Francis, "it leads us to raise our eyes to heaven so as not to forget the realities of the earth, but to face them with more courage and more hope".

The pope also said that modern culture gives many "negative messages" about death and death, therefore he encouraged people to visit and pray in a cemetery in early November. "It would be an act of faith," he said.