Beatitudes provide a new standard of human happiness, Pope says

January 31, 2011

At this Sunday audience on January 30, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Beatitude offer “a new program for life, to free ourselves from the false values of the world and open ourselves to true goodness, now and in the future.”

Offering his reflections on the day’s Gospel reading, said that Beatitudes provide a new standard for measuring human happiness, in which, “apart from rewarding each person in material terms, God opens the Kingdom of Heaven.” Armed with that promise, he said, “the Church does not fear poverty, humiliation, or persecution,” and rises above the concerns of “a society often attracted by material well-being and worldly power.”

 

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Further information:

• The Beatitudes are a new way of living (Vatican Radio)
• Angelus: World Leprosy Day, Prayers for Middle East Peace (VIS)