Only God Can Answer the Big Questions, Says John Paul II

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 1, 2002 (Zenit.org).- God is the only one who can draw people out of a dull existence and respond to their fundamental questions, says John Paul II.

When he greeted several thousand pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square today, the First Sunday of Advent, the Pope reminded them that "God is the future of man and of the world."

"If the awareness of God is lost," he warned, "humanity closes itself to the future and inevitably loses the perspective of its pilgrimage in time. Why be born, why die? Why sacrifice oneself, why suffer?"

"To these questions Christianity offers a complete response," he said. "For this reason, Christ is the hope of humanity. He is the real meaning of our present, because he is our sure future."

The Holy Father explained that Advent "reminds us that he [Christ] has come, but also that he will come. And the life of believers is a continuous and vigilant expectation of his coming."

"From the encounter with him and from the contemplation of his face springs that missionary vigor that makes us come out of our daily dullness to be courageous witnesses of his," the Pope continued.

John Paul II concluded by inviting his listeners to meditate on these great realities over the coming weeks in the company of the Virgin Mary, especially by reflecting on the joyful mysteries of the rosary.