‘We are called to allow ourselves to be inspired by these models of holiness, among whom stand out first of all the martyrs who shed their blood for Christ and those who have been beatified and canonized for being examples of Christian life and our intercessors. We then think of the Venerables, men and women whose heroic exercise of virtue has been recognized, of those who in singular circumstances have made of their lives an offering of love to the Lord and to their brothers and sisters, as well as the Servants of God whose Causes for beatification and canonization are underway. ... They are all our friends, companions on the road, who help us realize our baptismal vocation to the full and show us the most beautiful face of the Church, which is holy and the mother of the Saints.’
Every local Church is therefore invited to promote this remembrance with appropriate initiatives.
For the Salesian Family this is also a great opportunity to promote all the Causes of Beatification and Canonisation that are accompanied by the General Postulation in communion with the local Churches. ‘This initiative,’ Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General for the Salesian Family's Causes of Saints, reminds us, ’emphasises that the Causes are an ecclesial event: they have great ecclesial relevance and constitute a wealth that involves the entire Christian community. They are not something private, but a gift to the Church and a good of the Church. Giving an ecclesial dimension to a Cause is vital. The processes of discernment, the collection of testimonies and documents, the attention to the reputation for holiness and the signs that accompany every Inquiry, must have this ecclesial dimension, involving dioceses, parishes, groups, the Salesian Family and value the places of origin, life and death of the candidates for holiness’.
Such an ecclesial dimension is very effective not only to make the candidates for holiness better and more directly known as exemplary witnesses of the sequela Christi, but also to foster in the faithful a readiness - in addition to imitation - to implore spiritual/material graces and favours. This strengthens and develops in them a feeling of closeness, also psychological and existential, to the Saints, an affinity of heart and mind, an affective and spiritual ‘sympathy’, a communio spiritualis that, while keeping alive the fame sanctitatis et signorum, flows into a true pedagogy of holiness.
The 174 Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God of the Salesian Charismatic Family also shine ‘like stars in the heavens’ in the firmament of the Church's holiness. They are to be sought out, looked upon, thanked, invoked as blessed seeds, steeped in heaven, imbued with God, oases of hope, which enlighten and sustain them on their earthly pilgrimage towards the homeland of Heaven.
