Pope Benedict XVI: We are "made for love"

"It requires us to exercise tolerance and to offer forgiveness," Pope Benedict XVI, the Pope who loves cats and Mozart, said during his General Audience, spoken in English, this morning:

Marriage is truly an instrument of salvation, not only for married people but for the whole of society. Like any truly worthwhile goal, it places demands upon us, it challenges us, it calls us to be prepared to sacrifice our own interests for the good of the other …

"It invites us to nurture and protect the gift of new life," Benedetto continued:

Those of us fortunate enough to be born into a stable family discover there the first and most fundamental school for virtuous living and the qualities of good citizenship. I encourage all of you in your efforts to promote a proper understanding and appreciation of the inestimable good that marriage and family life offer to human society.

"Human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, are made for love – indeed at the core of our being, we long to love and to be loved in return," said our beloved Papa Ratzi:

Only God’s love can fully satisfy our deepest needs, and yet through the love of husband and wife, the love of parents and children, the love of siblings for one another, we are offered a foretaste of the boundless love that awaits us in the life to come.

Update: Maggie's links.

Comments

[Sissy Willis]

TypePad informs us we'd unwittingly blocked a blank space in our Block List. Is that why our comments for the last few days have disappeared into the dustbin of history?

Just unblocked blank space. Let's see if that does the trick.

Apologies and regrets to any of our wonderful commenters whose precious words may have gone poof.

[Teresa]

Yay! Comments return and the blog doesn't hate us anymore. ;-)

Love the kitties - so cute!

[Connecticut Yankee]

I was wondering about the fate of a previous comment about Tiny and her gentleman caller. Good to know it was only a techno-glitch.

[Sissy Willis]

Teresa and Connecticut Yankee:

Wish I'd seen your earlier comments. Goomp reports via imail that several of his recent comments also disappeared. :(

I was beginning to feel like a pariah: What's wrong with me? What have I done? They never call, they never write ...

So happy to know you're still out there and looking forward to your treasured opinions on whatever's down the pike :)