Pope holds up Mother Teresa to those seeking true happiness in life
(Dec. 17, 2007) To those seeking happiness in drugs or other «artificial paradises»
and in the selfish quest for «pleasure at all costs,» Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday
held up the figure Mother Teresa of Kolkata as a symbol of our times of the Gospel
of joy and unconditional love for others. «Every day she lived next to misery, human
degradation and death,» the pope told thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's
Square at noon to recite the Marian ‘angelus’ prayer with him . «Yet, she offered
the smile of God to everybody.» The Pope said that some wonder whether this evangelical
witness is still possible in our days. The answer to this, he said, is given by
the lives of men and women of every age and social condition, who consecrate their
lives for other. And among these is Blessed Mother Teresa, of our own times. The
Pope recalled one of her sayings: “We impatiently await Heaven, where God is, but
it is in our power to be in heaven even here on earth in this very moment. Being
happy with God means: loving like Him, helping like Him, giving like Him, and serving
like Him”. Yes, the Pope said, joy enters the hearts of those who put themselves
at the service of the smallest and poorest. God resides in those who love in this
way, and he animates them with joy. On the contrary, the Pontiff pointed out, real
happiness cannot be found in cultures «that put individual happiness in the place
of God, a mentality that has its emblematic effect in the quest for pleasure at all
costs, in the spread of the use of drugs as an escape, a shelter in artificial paradises,
which turn out to be completely illusory.» In an annual tradition, children came
to St. Peter's Square bearing figures of baby Jesus they will be placing in the Nativity
scenes at home, to be blessed by the Pope. Earlier Sunday morning, Pope Benedict
consecrated a new church on the outskirts of Rome, blessing the parish's children.