The "true wisdom" on Earth can be spread by Christ's disciples to
eliminate the "darkness," said Pope Benedict XVI during the Sunday
Angelus on 6th. February.
The Pope was joined by a crowd of pilgrims who covered much of St.
Peter's Square on for the Sunday Angelus prayer.
Many of those in
attendance were members of different Catholic associations for the
defense of life and the family.
Some had brought large green balloons
that flew overhead to mark Italy's national "Day for Life."
In his address before the prayer, the Pope spoke about Christ's words
from the day's Gospel which he refers to the disciples as the "salt of
the Earth" and "the light of the world."
Christ sought to transmit a sense of mission and witness to the
disciples through this image, he explained.
In their culture, salt
evoked values such as alliance, solidarity, life and wisdom.
Light, on the other hand, was "the first work of God the Creator and
the source of life.
The very Word of God is compared to light, as
proclaimed by the psalmist: 'Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light
for my path'," said the Pope.
Sunday's first reading from the Book of Isaiah also refers to light
rising up from the darkness when one assists the hungry and satisfies
"the afflicted soul."
"Wisdom," said Pope Benedict "sums itself up in the beneficial
effects of salt and light. In fact, the disciples of the Lord are called
to donate new 'flavor' to the world, and to preserve it from
corruption, with the wisdom of God, who shines fully on the face of his
Son, because He is the 'true light, which enlightens everyone'."
"United to Him, Christians can spread the light of the love of God,
the true wisdom that gives meaning to the existence and action of men,
in the midst of the darkness of indifference and selfishness."
The Pope made an appeal for the dignity of sick persons as the World
Day for the Sick approaches.
"The Lord takes care of man in every
situation, he shares in suffering and opens hearts to hope," he said.
He exhorted all who work in health care to see the sick "not only a
body marked by fragility, but first of all a person, to which to give
all solidarity and offer adequate and competent answers."
The day for the sick is celebrated worldwide on Feb. 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
For the Italian Day for Life, the Pope also called every person to
"put at the center, in every circumstance, the value of the human
being."
He concluded with the prayer that “parents, grandparents, teachers,
priests and all who are dedicated to education might form the young
generations to wisdom of heart, so that they might reach the fullness of
life.”