Pope: World Needs to Rediscover the Joy of Faith

VATICAN CITY, Jan. 11, 2010, 10.25 Hrs (Zenit.org):

The world has need of rediscovering the joy of faith, Pope Benedict XVI said as he presided over the baptism of 14 infants in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

It is "a great day" for these children, the Pope said during a homily that was interrupted several times by crying newborns. "With Baptism," he said, "they become participants in the death and resurrection of Christ, they begin the joyous and exciting adventure of the disciple."

"Even in our time faith is a gift that needs to be rediscovered, to be cultivated to be witnessed to," he continued.

With this in mind the Pontiff, turning to those present, especially the parents and godparents, hoped that "the Lord will grant that each of us live the beauty and the joy of being Christians."

In this way, he claimed, it is possible to introduce others "to the fullness of adhesion to Christ."

"Baptism enlightens with the light of Christ, opens the eyes to his splendor and introduces one to the mystery of God through the divine ray of faith," the Holy Father added.

In this light, Pope Benedict XVI said, the children can "walk their whole life, helped by the words and example of their parents, their godfathers and godmothers."

Keep torch lit

"[The parents and godparents] must by their words and the testimony of their life commit themselves to keeping lit the torch of the children's faith, so that it may shine in this world of ours, which often gropes in the darkness of doubt, and bring the light of the Gospel, which is life and hope," he said.

In his remarks before the midday recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter's Square, the Pope again reflected on baptism in the context of today's feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Baptism, he explained, is an event that suggests quite well "the general sense of Christmas festivity in which the theme of 'becoming sons of God' thanks to the only-begotten Son's taking on of our humanity constitutes a dominant element."

He further pointed out that a model of society is also derived from Baptism: "that of being brothers." Fraternity, the Pope said, "cannot be established through an ideology, much less through the decree of just any power that has been set up."

"We recognize ourselves as brothers through a humble but profound awareness of being sons of the one heavenly Father," he added. "As Christians, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit received in Baptism, we have the gift and task of living as sons of God and brothers, to be like 'leaven' in a new humanity, solidary and rich in peace and hope."