Scottish Catholic Observer

This year’s Bishops’ Day for Life Message will reflect on what it means to live a full and happy life, reminding the Faithful that true happiness is to be found in God.

Day for Life Masses will be celebrated throughout the country on Tuesday May 31 and—in a leaflet to be distributed to parishes at Masses this weekend—the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland highlight that the day takes as its starting point one of Pope Benedict XVI’s messages when he spoke to Catholics across the UK during his four-day state visit in September last year.

“Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places,” the Holy Father while visiting the UK.  “The key to it is very simple—true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only He can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.”

The Scottish bishops’ message highlights for parishioners that ‘in a culture that often measures happiness in terms of pleasure, success and money, many are thinking again about what brings true meaning and joy to life. The recent economic upheavals have left many individuals and families facing an uncertain future. For the Christian the deepest joy in life does not come from what I have or what I can achieve. It comes from the knowledge that: ‘even before I was formed in my mother’s womb I was known and loved by my Creator”’ (Jerimiah 1:5; Psalm 139.)

Catholics are also reminded that—in the words of the Holy Father—‘a culture of respect for life is essential for a civilisation of love.’

“Openness to life is at the centre of true development,” Pope Benedict said. “When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good… The acceptance of life strengthens moral fibre and makes people capable of mutual help.”

Catholics are reminded in this year’s message that the Day for Life is ‘an opportunity to ask ourselves if there is anything more we can do to be of help to our neighbours, to improve the quality of life of others and of society as a whole, especially in these financially challenging times.’

— To read the bishops’ message in full, with prayers and reflections, visit http://sconews.co.uk/opinion/striving-for-a-full-and-happy-life/