2007-12-17 15:31:29

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.







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