The Pontiff continued: "When we pray properly, we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well…
…“In this way we undergo those purifications by which we become open to God and are prepared for the service of our fellow human beings,” explained Benedict XVI. “We become capable of the great hope, and thus we become ministers of hope for others.” …
…“It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed,” added the Pope, “but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. Christ descended into ‘Hell’ and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light…
…Instead of evil being unleashed within man, the light shines victorious: suffering – without ceasing to be suffering – becomes, despite everything, a hymn of praise.”
“In the end,” he added, “even the ‘yes’ to love is a source of suffering, because love always requires expropriations of my ‘I,’ in which I allow myself to be pruned and wounded. Love simply cannot exist without this painful renunciation of myself, for otherwise it becomes pure selfishness and thereby ceases to be love.”
But the avoidance of love also finds suffering, added the Pontiff. “When we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, …] we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater.”
…The Pope said that even though in modern society the idea of the Last Judgment has been forgotten, “God now reveals his true face in the figure of the sufferer who shares man’s God-forsaken condition by taking it upon himself.
…“This innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: There is a God, and God can create justice in a way that we cannot conceive, yet we can begin to grasp it through faith. …Yes, there is a resurrection of the flesh.
…“The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives,” said the Holy Father. “They are lights of hope.”
…people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us?”…”
