Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our catechesis for the Year of
Faith, we have seen that a mysterious desire for God lies deep with the
human heart. By his grace, God inspires and accompanies our efforts to
know him and to find our happiness in him. Yet today, in our
secularized world, faith often seems difficult to justify; we are faced
with a “practical” atheism, a tendency to think and live “as if God did
not exist”.
Yet once God is removed from our lives, we become
diminished, for our greatest human dignity consists in being created by
God and called to live in communion with him. As believers, we need to
offer convincing reasons for our faith and hope.
We can find such
reasons in the order and beauty of creation itself, which speaks of its
Creator; in the longing for the infinite present in the human heart,
which finds satisfaction in God alone; and in faith, which illumines and
transforms our lives through our daily union with the Lord. By the
witness of our living faith, may we lead others to know and love the God
who reveals himself in Christ.
I greet the participants in the
Conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. I also
greet the El Shaddai European Convention. I welcome the Westminster
Cathedral Choir and I thank them, and the other choirs present, for
their praise of God in song. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims
present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Denmark,
Gibraltar, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States, I
cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings.
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