Pope Benedict's Sunday 'Angelus' message

(September 22, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged world leaders gathering at this week's U.N. general assembly not to allow the global financial crisis to divert their efforts in trying to wipe out poverty and disease around the world. "I would like to invite them again to take up and implement with courage the measures needed to wipe out extreme poverty, hunger, ignorance and the scourge of pandemics, which especially affect the most vulnerable," he said speaking after reciting his weekly midday ‘Angelus’ Marian prayer at the papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo, outside Rome.
At a high-level meeting on Thursday, the 63^rd session of the United Nations General Assembly will study the progress made towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals set in 2000, which aim to reduce poverty and hunger and improve education, equality, health care and the environment by 2015. The Pope acknowledged that such efforts require sacrifices at this time of global economic difficulties but said they would produce great benefits for needy countries "and for the peace and well-being of the entire planet".
The Holy Father also sent a message to the countries around the Caribbean and the southeast United States damaged by hurricanes Ike and Gustav this month. The pope singled out Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Texas as the worst-hit areas and told their populations he had remembered them in his prayers and that he hoped "solidarity and brotherhood will prevail over other factors" in relief efforts.
Earlier, before reciting the ‘Angelus’ prayer, the Pope reflected on Sunday’s Gospel reading saying being able to work for the Lord is itself an inestimable reward. Referring to the parable from Matthew's Gospel, the Holy Father noted how the money offered to the workers represents eternal life, a "gift that God reserves for everyone." Indeed," he continued, "precisely those who are considered 'last,' if they will accept it, become 'first,' while the 'first' can run the risk of becoming 'last.' The first message of this parable is in the fact itself that the owner does not tolerate, so to speak, unemployment. And being able to work in the Lord's vineyard, putting yourself at his service, cooperating in his project, constitutes in itself an inestimable reward, which repays all toil. This message, the Pontiff pointed out cannot be understood by those who work solely for pay. He also addressed the pilgrims and visitors in various languages, including in English.
Listen!
I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus prayer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that God is always generous in his dealings with us. The Kingdom of Heaven will come to us not as a reward for our good deeds, based on strict justice, but as a grace, a gift of God’s mercy and abounding love. Let us ask the Lord to keep us always in his love! I wish you all a pleasant stay in Castel Gandolfo and Rome, and a blessed Sunday!

Pope Benedict’s first public appointment however was a Mass in the Cathedral of Albano, near the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, where he dedicated the altar. In his homily he pointed out that the Mass is the key to opening our souls to reconciliation, asking, “How can we present ourselves divided and far from each other at God's altar?" "May this altar upon which the sacrifice of the Lord will soon be renewed be for you, dear brothers and sisters, be a constant invitation to love; always draw near to it with a heart open to the love of Christ and to spreading it, to receiving and bestowing forgiveness." "Every time that you come to the altar for the Eucharistic celebration your soul opens to forgiveness and fraternal reconciliation, ready to accept the apologies of those who have hurt you and ready, in turn, to forgive," the Pontiff affirmed.