The young Carlo Acutis, recently beatified, said: "I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on things that do not please God. The lives of the saints constitute a powerful argument of credibility. They demonstrate in a concrete and effective way the truthfulness of the Gospel, which does not remain merely a theoretical doctrine, much less an ideology, but contains the divine seed for developing excellence in personal existence, in societies and in cultures.
Close and powerful
Their intense lives, driven by faith, show in a close and powerful way the definitive humanism contained in the Christian message, which makes present in the world the supernatural newness of the Kingdom of God. Their existence, filled with the fire of the Spirit, refutes not only the imposture of a pretended atheistic humanism, disproved by the terrible totalitarian regimes of the contemporary world, but also the pretension of a lukewarm and mediocre Christianity, worldly, incapable of transmitting the life of faith.
Living Gospel
The saints are really the living, lived Gospel, expressed in the history of people from all walks of life: they are an extension or continuation of Christ himself and of his work in time and space, in the widest variety of circumstances, forms and options. The Church presents all these astonishing but accessible, tangible testimonies-the saints "next door" (Francis), "of ordinary life" (St. Josemaría)-as the fundamental driving force of her evangelizing mission.
Attraction to Jesus
The luminous and simple lives of the saints, truly virtuous, convince us of the fullness that Christ offers. They are "the most beautiful face of the Church, the bride of Christ" (Francis); they are a glimpse of divine beauty incarnate. They strongly attract people to Jesus, the cause of universal redemption and the ultimate model for all, by their superior, eternal wisdom; they powerfully influence by their life of prayer, intercession and hidden sacrifice; they regenerate peoples by their example of generous, audacious and heroic charity.
Thus prayed St. Faustina Kowalska: "Help me, Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never be suspicious or judge according to appearances, but seek the beautiful in the soul of my neighbor and go to help him."
The saints "have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult circumstances of the Church's history" (St. John Paul II). They stand out as "stars of hope" and point to Christ as the only Savior (Benedict XVI). They are a clear luminary and a sure guide on the earthly pilgrimage towards heaven.
