Saint Stanislaus Papczynski — The Life and Writings

‘WITnesses To THIs MYsTeRY of ResURReCTIon’ The following is the homily given by Pope francis on June 5, 2016, at the first canonization ceremony in the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, for the canonizations of stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczynski and Maria elizabeth Hesselblad: The word of God, which we have just heard, points us to the central event of our faith: God’s victory over suffering and death. It proclaims the Gospel of hope, born of Christ’s paschal mystery, whose splendour is seen on the face of the Risen Lord and reveals God our Father as one who comforts all of us in our afflictions. That word calls us to remain united to the Passion of the Lord Jesus, so that the power of his resurrection may be revealed in us. In the Passion of Christ, we find God’s response to the des- perate and at times indignant cry that the experience of pain and death evokes in us. He tells us that we cannot flee from the Cross, but must remain at its foot, as Our Lady did. In suffering with Jesus, she received the grace of hoping against all hope (cf. Rom 4:18). This was the experience of Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, and Maria elizabeth Hesselblad, who today are proclaimed saints. They remained deeply united to the passion of Jesus, and in them the power of his resurrection was revealed. This Sunday’s first reading and Gospel offer us amazing signs of death and resurrection. The first took place at the hand of the Prophet Isaiah, the second by Jesus. In both cases, they involved the young children of widows, who were then given back alive to their mothers. The widow of zarephath — a woman who was not a Jew, yet had received the Prophet elijah in her home — was upset S AINT S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 184