(September 19, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message to his countrymen in Germany
ahead of his visit this week, urging them to discover God. In the public TV message
aired on Saturday evening by German broadcaster ARD, the Pope said none of his September
22-25 trip “is religious tourism and much less a 'show.' The motto of this four-day
visit is: 'Where God is, there is a future. The Pontiff said his meeting with representatives
of Germany’s Evangelical Church will consist in being able to think, listen to the
Word of God and pray, thus they will be very close, and a true ecumenism will manifest
itself. The trip, the Pontiff said, "must focus on the fact that God returns to our
world, this God who often seems totally absent, of whom we have dire need." He pointed
to three channels by which God can be found: namely, creation, Scripture, and those
who are "touched by him." Talking about those touched by Him, the Pope said he was
not thinking only of great figures from Paul to Francis of Assisi to Mother Teresa;
but was recalling the many simple people about whom no one speaks. “And yet,” he said,
“when we meet them, there emanates something of goodness, sincerity, joy, and we know
that God is there and that he touches us too." The 84-year old German Pope concluded
with an invitation to "try to return to seeing God, to return to being persons through
whom the light of hope might enter the world, a light that comes from God and helps
us to live."