Sep 23, 2011 / 14:39 pm
At the Etzelsbach Marian shrine in Germany, Pope Benedict said that Mary helps us understand our purpose in life and shows us the path to authentic happiness.
“'Understand,' she seems to say to us, that God, who is the source of all that is good and who never desires anything other than your true happiness, has the right to demand of you a life that yields unreservedly and joyfully to his will, striving at the same time that others may do likewise,” he said.
The Marian Vespers service on Sept. 23 is the latest in a series of events planned for Pope Benedict's Sept. 22-25 state visit to his native land.
Before presiding over the vespers in an esplanade near the small chapel, the Pope greeted the crowds as they gathered in the field of Wallfahrtkapelle for the service.