Benedict XVI Sunday joined his prayer to the International Day of
Intercession for peace in the Holy Land, addressing the 30 thousand
people in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus.
A message of peace
embodied in some way by the two doves released from the window of his
study by two young people from Catholic Action Rome, who gathered, like
every year, in St Peter's Square at the end of their "Caravan of Peace."
The pope, after the Angelus, also sent his wishes "of serenity
and prosperity" to all peoples of the Far East, who in a few days time
will celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Before the Marian prayer, inspired by today's Gospel of the
Sermon on the Mount, the Pope had said that "the Church does not fear
poverty, contempt, persecution in a society often attracted to material
wealth and worldly power," because "as St. Paul writes," God chose the
weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and
despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing
those who are something "(1 Cor 1:27-28)."
When Jesus proclaimed "blessed" the poor in spirit, the
afflicted, the merciful, those who hunger for justice, the pure in
heart, the persecuted," he did not present "a new ideology," but "a
teaching that comes from above and touches the human condition".
A
teaching that is "directed to the whole world, now and in the future ...
and which can be understood and lived only in following Jesus, walking
with Him".
The Beatitudes, in fact, "are a new way of
life, to free us from the false values of the world and open us up to
true good, present and future."
"In fact, when God comforts, satisfies the hunger for justice,
dry the tears of the afflicted, it means that in addition to
significantly rewarding each person, He opens the Kingdom of Heaven. "The Beatitudes are the transposition of the cross and resurrection in the existence of the disciples' ((Jesus of Nazareth, Milano 2007, p. 97). They
reflect the life of the Son of God who allows himself to be persecuted,
despised to the point of a death sentence so that men are given
salvation”.
Finally, Benedict XVI also had a thought for today’s
celebration of the World Day of for Sufferers of Leprosy, "promoted in
the 1950s by Raoul Follereau and officially recognized by the UN.
Leprosy, although declining, still unfortunately affects many people who
live in conditions of severe poverty. I assure all patients of my
special prayer, which I also extend to those who assist them and, in
many ways, are committed to defeating Hansen's disease. "