VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Money, success, power and political ideologies can never give someone a foundation for a life that has real joy and real meaning, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Jesus helps “us feel the joy of being sons and daughters of the father who is in heaven, showing us the solid basis on which to build our lives,” the pope said March 6 during his recitation of the Angelus prayer.

Discussing the day’s Gospel parable about building a house on rock or on sand, the pope said, “Christ is the rock of our life.” He said: “Jesus is the living word of God. When he taught, people recognized divine authority in his words, felt the closeness and merciful love of the Lord and gave praise to God.”

Pope Benedict said that for the past 2,000 years, people who have had the grace to know Jesus, especially through the Bible, have learned the truth about God and about themselves. “Often man does not build his actions and his existence on this identity, but prefers the sands of ideology, power, success and money,” the pope said.