OPENING UP TO GOD DOES NOT DETACH US FROM THE WORLD

Vatican City,  (VIS) - Benedict XVI addressed a message to the participants in the Portuguese session of the Courtyard of Gentiles, which is being held in Guimaraes and Braga, Portugal, on 16 and 17 November, on the theme of "The value of life".

"Awareness of the sacredness of life … is part of the moral heritage of humankind", writes the Pope. "We are not the chance product of evolution; rather, each of us is the fruit of God's will: He loves us. … God loves every person who, therefore, is unconditionally deserving of life. 'The blood of Christ, while it reveals the grandeur of the Father's love, shows how precious man is in God's eyes, and how priceless the value of his life is'".

"However, in the modern age, man has sought to subtract himself from the creating and redeeming gaze of the Father, looking only to himself and not to divine Power. … In a building without windows, it is man who has to provide air and light; yet even in such a self-constructed world, man seeks God's 'resources', which are thereby transformed into our own products. … We must reopen the windows, look anew upon the vastness of the world, the sky and the earth, and learn to use them in the correct way. The value of life becomes evident only if God exists; therefore it would be good if non-believers could live 'as if God existed'. While they may not have 'the strength to believe', they should live on the basis of this hypothesis. … So many problems exist, but they will not be resolved unless God is placed at the centre … once more visible in the world and crucial to our lives".

"He who opens himself to God does not distance himself from the world and man, but instead finds brothers: in God, the walls that separate us are broken down, we all become brothers, each a part of the other", the Pope concludes.