VATICAN - Benedict XVI presides Requiem Mass for the Cardinals and Bishops who died in the past year: “They were men of different characteristics, but the most important thing, friendship with the Lord Jesus, they had in common ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On the 5th November in St Peter's Basilica, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI presided the customary annual Requiem Mass for the Cardinals and Bishops who died in the past year. “The Church's prayers for the dead Benedict XVI said in his homily - is ‘founded’, we might say, on Jesus' own prayer, which we just heard in the Gospel: ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am’ (Jn 17,24). Jesus is referring to his disciples, especially the apostles who are with Him at the Last Supper. However the Lord's prayer extends to his disciples of all times…. We can understand that He asks the Father if all disciples who have gone before us in the sign of the faith may be with Him in the house of his eternal glory”.
“Our thoughts go at this moment especially to the venerable brothers for whom we offer this Eucharist - the Pope said -. They were all men of different characteristics, due to personal vicissitudes and for the ministry exercised, but the most important thing they had in common: friendship with the Lord Jesus… during his earthly life Jesus made known to them the name of God, allowing them to share in the love of the Most Holy Trinity. The Father's love for the Son entered into them and so the very Person of the Son, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, lived in each of them: an experience of divine nature which tends by nature to occupy the whole existence, transforming it and preparing it for the glory of eternal life”.
The Holy Father reflected on the first reading: the ancient prophecy of the Prophet Hosea - "He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence." (Hos 6,2) - “expresses trust in the Lord's help: confidence which at times the people, sad to say, contradicted with its fickleness and superficiality, even going as far as to abuse of divine goodness. In the Person of Jesus, instead, love for God the Father becomes fully sincere, authentic and faithful. He assumes in himself the whole reality of ancient Israel bringing it to completion”. The Psalm “put on our lips the anguished longing of a Levite far from Jerusalem and the Temple and longing to return there to stand once again before the Lord (cfr Ps 41,1-3). "my soul thirsts for God, the living God: / when will I see the face of God?" (Ps 42/41,3). This thirst contains a truth which does not fail, hope which does not disappoint. It is thirst which even in the darkest night, illuminates the way to the source of life, as St John of the Cross sang so admirably. The Psalmist speaks of the lamenting of the soul, but at the centre and the end of his wonderful hymn he places a refrain filled with trust: "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (v. 6). In the light of Christ and his Paschal mystery, these words reveal their wonderful truth: not even death can render vain the hope of the believer, because Christ has entered for us the sanctuary of heaven and there, after preparing a place for us he will lead us”.
“With this faith and hope - the Pope said - our beloved Brothers recited this Psalm countless times…now, at the end of their exile on earth, they have reached the homeland. Following the way opened by the Risen Lord, they entered not in a temple built by human hands, but heaven itself. There, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints, they contemplate - and this is our prayer - at last the face of God and sing his praises for ever more. Amen!” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 6/11/2007; righe 41, parole 638)