Cardinal Artime: Our mission is urgent in a world where there is absence of God

In the eighth novelty Mass held this Saturday, May 3 in the Basilica of San Pedro for the eternal rest of Pope Francis, the Spanish cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime affirmed with conviction that “praying for the deceased is the greatest work of charity that we can offer.”

At the beginning of his homily, the one who was the eldest rector of the Salesians cited the Holy Cure of Ars, patron of the priests, who said that when praying for the deceased “we give them eternal goods.”

“It is what we do today, as the people of God attached to its shepherds, and in a special way together with the consecrated: pray for who has already started,” said the purple before the cardinals gathered in Rome for the conclave that will begin on May 7.

Cardinal Artime stressed that Pope Francis felt “deeply loved by the people of God”, and also by the different expressions of consecrated life, who prayed for him.

Highlighting that the third Sunday of Easter will be held tomorrow, the purple said that the joy of the resurrected “continues to illuminate the Christian life.”

He recalled below the occasion in which Pope Francis wondered: “Where did the first disciples find the force for his testimony?”

“Only the living presence of risen Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain that courage. His faith was based on such a deep and personal experience of the dead and risen Lord, that they did not fear anything or anyone,” said the Pontiff on that occasion.

In this regard, he also remembered San Juan Paul II, who claimed that today’s men “need to find the Lord and his message of salvation.”

The consecrated and their “specific vocation”

Going to the consecrated present in the Basilica, Cardinal Artime recalled that “we are all called to witness the Lord Jesus, but we, the consecrated, have received a specific vocation that asks us to testify to God’s primacy with all our life.”

“It is an urgent mission in a world where the absence of God is often experienced or its centrality is forgotten,” he added.

Therefore, he stressed that “nothing should be put to the love of Christ” and urged authenticity and commitment:

“By our baptism and our religious profession, we are called to testify that only God fully gives human existence. Our life must be an eloquent sign of the Kingdom of God for today’s world, credible witnesses of the Gospel, without conforming to the mentality of this century but continuously renewing our mission.”

He also pointed out that “only the presence of the risen Jesus transforms everything”, making darkness become light.

The Spanish cardinal concluded with a call to be “testimonies of the Lord” and to be close to the last and discarded, as Pope Francis asked.