VATICAN-Three new Saints on Mission Day, "a model for all believers"

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "As we celebrate with the whole Church World Mission Day - an annual event that aims to awaken the enthusiasm for and commitment to mission - we praise the Lord for three new Saints: Bishop Guido Maria Conforti, the priest and Luigi Guanella and the religious Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro". These are the words of Pope Benedict XVI during the Mass he presided on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, on Sunday, October 23, during which he canonized the three Blessed. "The three new Saints - said the Pope - allowed themselves to be transformed by divine love, and to it they based their entire existence. In different situations and with different charisms, they loved the Lord with all their heart and their neighbor as themselves "so as to become a model for all believers" (1 Thess 1.7). "
San Guido Maria Conforti, the Pope said in his homily, "since, he was a boy, had to overcome the opposition of his father to enter the seminary, he displayed strength of character to follow the will of God, in his complete response to Caritas Christi, in his contemplation of the Crucified, which drew him. He felt a strong urge to proclaim this love with those who had not yet received the announcement, and the motto 'Caritas Christi urget nos' (cf. 2 Cor 5.14) summarizes the program of the missionary Institute to which he, having just turned thirty, gave life: a religious family placed entirely at the service of evangelization, under the patronage of the great apostle of the East St. Francis Xavier. St. Guido Maria was called to live this apostolic zeal in the episcopal ministry first in Ravenna, then in Parma: with all his strength he devoted himself to the good of the souls entrusted to him, especially those who had moved away from the path of the Lord. His life was marked by many trials, even serious ones. He was able to accept any situation with docility, accepting it as an indication of the path traced for him by divine providence, in every circumstance, even in the most mortifying defeats, he was able to recognize God's plan, who guided him to building his Kingdom. He, in first place, testified what he then taught his missionaries, namely, that perfection consists in doing God's will, on the model of Jesus Crucified. St Guido Maria Conforti kept his inner gaze fixed on the cross, which drew him softly to Him, by contemplating him he saw the horizon of the world open up before him, he saw the 'urgent' desire, hidden in the heart of every man, to receive and to welcome the announcement of the only love that saves. "
St. Luigi Guanella "during his earthly life lived the Gospel of love with courage and determination" highlighted the Pope "Thanks to the deep and continuous union with Christ, in the contemplation of his love, Don Guanella, guided by Divine Providence, become a friend and teacher, comfort and relief for the poorest and the weakest ... Today let us praise and thank God because St. Luigi Guanella was a prophet and an apostle of charity. In his testimony, so full of humanity and care for the least, we recognize a luminous sign of God's presence and beneficial action... May this new Saint of charity for all, especially for members of the congregations he founded, be the model of deep and fruitful synthesis between contemplation and action, as he himself lived and practiced".
Santa Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro right from the beginning was able to unite Jesus Christ’s teachings with daily work. "Working, as she had done since childhood, was not only a way to avoid being a burden to others, but it also meant the freedom to follow her vocation, and at the same time gave her the ability to attract and form other women, who through work could find God and hear his call ... This is how the Servants of St. Joseph were born, in the humility and simplicity of the Gospel, which in the house of Nazareth is presented as a school of Christian life".
Finally, the Pope invited us to be drawn by the examples and teachings of the three new saints, "so that our whole existence becomes a witness of authentic love for God and neighbor". (SL) (Agenzia Fides 24/10/2011)