VATICAN CITY, JAN. 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The world presents false values but there are true goods — both present and future — to be obtained, says Benedict XVI.
The secret to obtaining these goods, he adds, is found in the Beatitudes.
The Pope affirmed this today when he reflected on the Beatitudes — proclaimed in the Gospel for today’s Mass — before praying the midday Angelus with thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
«The Beatitudes are a new program of life to liberate us from the false values of the world and open us to the true goods, present and future,» he said. «When, in fact, God consoles, satiates the hunger for justice, dries the tears of the afflicted, it means that, besides recompensing everyone in a material way, he opens the Kingdom of Heaven.»
Jesus «proclaims as ‘blessed’ the poor in spirit, the afflicted, the merciful, those who hunger for justice, the pure of heart and the persecuted,» the Holy Father noted. «This is not a new ideology but a teaching that comes from above and touches the human condition — precisely that which the Lord, becoming incarnate, chose to assume — to save it.»
The Bishop of Rome said that it is because of this that «the Church does not fear poverty, scorn and persecution in a society that is often attracted by material well-being and worldly power.»
He cited St. Augustine in saying that all these difficulties can be endured for the name of Jesus, «not only with a peaceful soul but even with joy.»
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On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full text: www.zenit.org/article-31605?l=english
