Popes Message to 'Communion and Liberation' movement

VATICAN CITY (Zenit) - In a world where youth often find their heroes among athletes and TV personalities, a message sent on behalf of Benedict XVI suggests that it is time to ask what happiness really is.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state, considered the truth of happiness and fulfillment in a message sent on behalf of the Holy Father to an annual meeting sponsored by the Catholic lay Communion and Liberation movement and held in Rimini, Italy.

The meeting began today and runs through Saturday. This year's theme is taken from a phrase from the founder of Communion and Liberation, Monsignor Luigi Giussani: "Either Protagonists or Nobodies."

In a social and cultural climate in which "more and more the new generations aim at an ideal represented by film actors, by television and entertainment personalities and myths, by athletes, by soccer players, etc.," Cardinal Bertone wrote, "the true question that lies hidden beneath the word action is: what is happiness?"

The cardinal then recalled the example of St. Paul and his radical conversion.

"All of us, 2,000 years later, can consider ourselves 'sons' of his preaching, and our civilization knows that it is indebted to this man for the values that are present at its foundation," he said. "And yet, Paul's existence is far from [...] public recognition. Paul's existence is much more typically full of tribulation, afflicted by hostility and danger, full of problems to face, rather than consolations and joys."

Success

Then, can Paul's life be considered truly successful, Cardinal Bertone asked. "What does it mean, in fact, for the Christian to 'succeed'? What does the life of so many saints who spent their existence in convents tell us?"

Responding to these questions, the secretary of state recalled Benedict XVI's observation that "man is made for the eternal fulfillment of his existence."

"The fulfillment of the human," Cardinal Bertone affirmed, "is the knowledge of God, for which every person was created and toward which he moves with every fiber of his being. To follow this, neither fame nor success with the crowds is of any use."

"This is the action that the title of this year's edition of the Rimini meeting aims to propose: Whoever gives his life to God, who calls him to cooperate in the universal project of salvation, is the 'protagonist' of his existence," he explained. "It does not matter if God's design foresees a reduced sphere of action for us.

"It is not important whether we live within the walls of a monastery or are immersed in multiple and diverse activities of the world; it is not important whether we are fathers or mothers, consecrated or priests.

"God makes use of us according to his plan of love, according to the modality that he establishes, and asks us to support the action of the Holy Spirit; he wants us to be his co-workers in the realization of the his Kingdom."

In conclusion, Cardinal Bertone conveyed the Holy Father's wish "that these reflections help the participants in the meeting to encounter Christ, to better understand the value of Christian life and to realize in it the humble action of serving the mission of the Church in Italy and in the world."

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