文章基本信息

标题：Holiness Knows No Bounds
作者：Martins ; Cardinal José Saraiva
期刊名称：Word Among Us
印刷版ISSN：0742-4639
出版年度：2004
卷号：Sep 2004
出版社：Word Among Us

Holiness Knows No Bounds

Martins, Cardinal José Saraiva

The saints show the world "the divine in the human, the eternal in time."

Saints and holiness are recognized in an upward movement from the bottom to the top. Still today, it is Christians themselves who, recognizing the "odor of holiness" by an intuition of faith, point out candidates for canonization to their bishop, who is responsible for taking the first step in the process of canonization. . . . Neither the Congregation for the Causes of Saints nor the pope "invent" or "fabricate" saints. The Holy Spirit has already singled them out, as all believers know well. This same Spirit-as the gospel says-"breathes wherever he wills," an observation to which we have grown accustomed down through the centuries, especially today, since the Church has spread in every part of the world and to every social class.

The phenomenon of the saints and of Christian holiness gives rise to a sense of wonder that has always existed in the Church and cannot but amaze, even an attentive lay observer, especially today in a world continuously and rapidly changing, culturally fragmented in values as well as in customs. From wonder comes the question: How . . . can there be so many saints, so different yet so consonant with Christ and with the Church? What is it that impels people freely to accept the fertile seed of Christianity that subsequently develops into such diversity and beauty in the unity of holiness?

What a difference there is between globalization, such a buzzword today, and the catholicity or universality of the Christian faith and of the Church! . . . This international dimension confirms that holiness knows no bounds and that in the Church it is far from dead; indeed, it continues to be vitally upto-date. The world is changing, yet the saints, while changing with the changing world, always represent the same living face of Christ.

Cardinal Martins is Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.