Madrid, Spain, Jul 12, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Archbishop of Madrid, Caridnal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, said this week that in his search for happiness man loses his way when his ideas and behavior are not centered in God.
The cardinal noted how frequently people fall into error when the light of divine truth does not guide their decisions. When “we leave God out as a point of reference for our conduct, ideas and thoughts, because we do not want to acknowledge that happiness comes from Him and nobody else, we lose our way.”
During a Mass of thanksgiving for the recent archdiocesan pilgrimage to Rome and audience with Pope Benedict XVI on July 4, Cardinal Rouco underscored “how important it is to know the path to life well and to find it,” noting that often people get caught up in their own pursuits and neglect to think about what it is that brings man happiness.
“All of this,” he explained, “has to do with the lack of knowledge about the purpose of man’s life or about which path will help him achieve that purpose.” To not know that man comes from God and is going to Him is “to not discover the path,” the cardinal stated.