Confined to the immediate, the relative and the useful
One of the illusions produced in the course of history was the belief that technical and scientific progress would be able, in an absolute manner, to provide answers and solutions to all humanity’s problems. And we see that this is not the case. […] Even in the epoch of scientific and technological progress — which has given us so much — the human person remains a being who wishes for more, for something more than comfort and well-being; the human being who is open to the whole truth of his or her existence, who cannot stop at material things but opens to a far wider horizon. […]
The risk is always that of remaining confined to the world of things, of the immediate, the relative, the useful, of losing sensitivity to all that refers to our spiritual dimension. It is by no means a question of contempt for the use of reason or of rejecting scientific progress, far from it. Rather, it is a matter of understanding that each one of us is not only made in a “horizontal” dimension but also has a “vertical” dimension.
BENEDICT XVI.
Speech, 19/6/2011
Yearning for absolute truth
No darkness of error or of sin can totally take away from man the light of God the Creator. In the depths of his heart there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it. This is eloquently proved by man’s tireless search for knowledge in all fields. It is proved even more by his search for the meaning of life.
ST. JOHN PAUL II.
Veritatis splendor, 6/8/1993
A window open onto the infinite
A person cannot live without this search for the truth about himself – who am I, what am I living for – a truth that is an incentive to widen his horizon and to go beyond material things, not in order to flee from reality but to live it in an even truer way that is richer in meaning and hope, and not merely superficial. […]
I invite you to become aware of this healthy and positive restlessness and not to be afraid to ask yourselves the fundamental questions on the meaning and value of life. Do not stop at partial, immediate answers; they are certainly easier and more convenient at the time and can bring a few moments of happiness, exaltation or intoxication but they do not lead you to the true joy of living, the joy that is born, as Jesus said, from those who build on solid rock rather than on sand. Learn how to reflect, how not to interpret your human experience superficially but rather in depth: you will discover, with wonder and joy, that your heart is a window open onto the infinite!
BENEDICT XVI.
Speech, 19/6/2011
Only God can fill the human heart
The root reason for human dignity lies in man’s call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by God’s love and constantly preserved by it […].
The Church knows that her message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the human heart when she champions the dignity of the human vocation, restoring hope to those who have already despaired of anything higher than their present lot. Far from diminishing man, her message brings to his development light, life and freedom. Apart from this message nothing will avail to fill up the heart of man: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.”
ST. PAUL VI.
Gaudium et spes. Second Vatican
Council, 7/12/1965
Without Him, nothing makes sense, nothing is worthwhile
For you – for us – the Lord is everything. He is everything in different ways: as Creator and the source of existence, as love that calls and challenges, as the strength that impels and inspires us to give. Without Him, nothing exists, nothing makes sense, nothing is worthwhile. […].
In this regard, St. Augustine describes God’s presence in his own life using beautiful imagery. He speaks of a light not bound by space, a voice that never fades, food that is not lessened by eating, and a hunger which is never satisfied, and he concludes: “This is what I love when I love my God.” These are the words of a mystic, yet they resonate with our own experience. They reveal the longing for infinity that dwells in the hearts of all man and woman.
LEO XIV.
Homily, 9/10/2025
God desires to make Himself known
The need for a foundation for personal and communal life becomes all the more pressing at a time when we are faced with the patent inadequacy of perspectives in which the ephemeral is affirmed as a value and the possibility of discovering the real meaning of life is cast into doubt. […]
As the source of love, God desires to make Himself known; and the knowledge which the human being has of God perfects all that the human mind can know of the meaning of life.
ST. JOHN PAUL II.
Fides et ratio, 14/9/1998
Knowledge that gives meaning to all things
It is important in our time that we do not forget God, together with all the other kinds of knowledge we have acquired in the meantime, and they are very numerous! They all become problematic, at times dangerous, if the fundamental knowledge that gives meaning and orientation to all things is missing: knowledge of God the Creator. […]
For us Christians God is no longer a hypothesis, as He was in the philosophy that preceded Christianity, but a reality, for God “lowered the heavens and came down.” Heaven is God Himself and He came down among us.
BENEDICT XVI.
General Audience, 11/1/2006
The Lord is near!
God remains a mystery. But a positive mystery, which, from our incipient notions, leads us ever more to successive and endless investigations and discoveries. Our knowledge of God is a window illuminated by the sky, an infinite sky. […]
God wants to be known. We must seek Him in the book of creation, in the Word of God, in the Church, in the depths of our own conscience…
We must overcome the temptation, so strong in our days, to consider impossible a knowledge of God that is adequate to our cultural maturity and corresponds to our existential needs and our spiritual duties. That would be indolence, vileness and blindness. We must, rather, seek. Seek in the book of creation; seek in the study of the Word of God; in the school of the Church, Mother and Teacher; in the depths of our own conscience… Seek God, seek Him always. And know this: He is near.
ST. PAUL VI.
General Audience, 22/7/1970
