Building Our Life on Christ
- POPE BENEDICT XVI
If we remain alone with our own strength we do not succeed in building our life as a firmly established house.
Our strength and our wisdom are not enough for that. Is human life therefore absurd, is it despair — a meaningless path towards death? The Gospel tells us: there is the one who is truly wise; he has found the rock, and he himself (his Word) is the rock; he himself has laid the foundation of the house.
We are wise if we leave the foolish isolation of self-realization that builds on the sand of our own ability. We are wise if we do not try in isolation, with everyone acting for himself or herself, to build the purely private house of our own individual life. It is our wisdom to build the joint house with him so that we ourselves become his living house.
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Acknowledgement
Pope Benedict XVI. "Building Our Life on Christ." from The Yes of Jesus Christ: Exercises in Faith, Hope and Love (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991)
Reprinted under a fair use provision.
The Author
Pope Benedict XVI is the author of Jesus of Nazareth, Vol II, Jesus of Nazareth, Vol I, Caritas in Veritate: Charity in Truth, Saved in Hope: Spe Salvi, God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est,The End of Time?: The Provocation of Talking about God, Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions, Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, Salt of the Earth: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church at the End of the Millennium, God and the World: Believing and Living in Our Time, In the Beginning: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall, The Spirit of the Liturgy, The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church, Introduction to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Introduction to Christianity, Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today, Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, Behold the Pierced One, and God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life.
