Prayer -2- Man in Prayer - Catechesis with Pope Benedict XVI - Totus2us

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Catechesis with Pope Benedict XVI

Religion & Spirituality


Pope Benedict XVI: "Man is by his nature religious, he is homo religiosus just as he is homo sapiens and homo faber: “The desire for God” the Catechism further affirms, “is written in the heart of man, because man is created by God and for God” (n 27). The image of the Creator is imprinted on his being and he feels the need to find a light so as to give an answer to the questions that concern the profound meaning of reality; an answer that he cannot find in himself, in progress, in empirical science. The homo religiosus does not stand out only in the ancient worlds, he traverses the whole history of humanity. In this regard, the rich terrain of human experience has seen arise various forms of religiosity, in the attempt to respond to the desire for fullness and happiness, to the need for salvation, to the search for meaning. The “digital” man, like the cave man, seeks in the religious experience ways to overcome his finiteness and to secure his precarious earthly adventure. Moreoever, life without a transcendent horizon would not have a full meaning, and happiness, to which we all tend, is spontaneously projected towards the future, in a tomorrow that has yet to be accomplished. The Second Vatican Council, in its declaration Nostra Aetate, underlined it synthetically: “Men await from the various religions the answer to the hidden enigmas of the human condition which, yesterday as today, profoundly agitate the heart of man: the nature of man [ - who am I? - ], the meaning and purpose of our life, good and sin, the origin and purpose of suffering, the way to reach true happiness, death, judgement and retribution after death, finally the ultimate and ineffable mystery that surrounds our existence, from whence we draw our origin and towards which we tend” (n 1). Man knows that he cannot respond on his own to his fundamental need to understand. However much he has deluded himself and still deludes himself as being self-sufficient, he has the experience of not being sufficient to himself. He needs to open himself to the other, to something or to someone, who can give him that which he lacks, he must go out of himself towards the One who is able to fill the breadth and depth of his desire." (General Audience, 11 May 2011) For much more, visit Totus2us - dedicated to Our Lady, it was inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.