Benedict XVI at the start of Advent 2005

A Time "Full of Hope and Spiritual Expectation"

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

With this Sunday Advent begins, an extremely evocative time from the religious point of view, as it is full of hope and spiritual expectation. Every time the Christian community prepares to remember the birth of the Redeemer, it feels a tremor of joy, which is communicated, in a certain measure, to the whole of society.

During Advent, the Christian population relives a double movement of the spirit. On one hand, it raises its gaze to the final goal of pilgrimage in history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other, recalling his birth in Bethlehem with emotion, it bends down before the crib. The hope of Christians is directed to the future, but always remains well rooted in a past event. In the fullness of time, the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary, "born of woman, born under the law," as St. Paul writes (Galatians 4:4).

The Gospel invites us today to remain vigilant while awaiting the last coming of Christ. "Watch!" says Jesus, "for you do not know when the master of the house will come" (Mark 13:35-37). The brief parable of the master who left on a trip and of the servants, in charge of taking his place, manifests the importance of being ready to receive the Lord, when he comes unexpectedly. The Christian community awaits his "manifestation" with longing, and the Apostle Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, exhorts them to have confidence in God's fidelity, and to live so that when he returns he will find them "guiltless" (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:7-9) in the day of the Lord. For this reason, very appropriately, at the beginning of Advent the liturgy puts on our lips the invocation of the Psalm: "Show us thy steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation" (Psalm 84:8).

We could say that Advent is the time in which Christians must awaken in their hearts the hope of being able, with the help of God, to renew the world. In this connection, I would also like to recall today the Second Vatican Council's constitution "Gaudium et Spes" on the Church in the contemporary world: It is a text profoundly permeated with Christian hope.

I am referring in particular to Number 39, entitled: "New Earth and New Heaven." In it, one can read: "We are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:13). Nevertheless, "the expectation of a new earth must not weaken, but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one." We will rediscover the good fruits of our efforts, in fact, when Christ hands to his father his eternal and universal kingdom. May Mary most holy, virgin of Advent, enable us to live this time of grace watching and committed while awaiting the Lord.

The Mystical Significance of the Hebrew Letteres - REISH

REISH
Process - The Art of Clarification

Although the letter reish is situated close to the end of the alef-beit,"its primary meaning is "head" or "beginning." There are four "beginnings" in the alef-beit (comparable to the four New Years enumerated in the beginning of the tractate Rosh HaShanah) relative to four different categories of phenomena. The ordinal beginning of the alef-beit is the letter alef. Phonetically, the vapor, the amorphous "matter" from which the pronunciation of every letter is formed, is the secret of the letter hei. In script, every letter begins from a point, the secret of the letter yud. In relation to meaning, cognizant intelligence or wisdom, reish means "beginning." These four letters combine to spell aryeh, "the lion," the first of the four "holy animals" of the Divine chariot of Ezekiel. They further combine to spell yirah, "fear" or "awe."

"The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God." In Chassidut we are taught that the inner experience of the soul which serves as the vessel to arouse and contain ever new flashes of insight, wisdom, is bitul, "selflessness." Fear, the beginning of wisdom, corresponds to the source of this state in the soul. Fear "shocks" ego, breaking the innate coarseness of the heart, that coarseness or egocentricity that prevents one from being truly receptive and perceptive to reality outside oneself in general, and the Divine Essence of all reality in particular.

The two letters that fill the letter reish are yud and shin, spelling yeish, which means "something," in general identified in Chassidut with the consciousness of ego or being a separate, independent entity - a "something." Reish is the only letter "pregnant" with this "filling." In Chassidut we are taught that though the lower "something," the "created something," appears to be totally separate from the consciousness of its Creator and the creative force which continuously brings it into existence, nonetheless its seeming separate "somethingness" serves, in truth, to reflect the Absolute and "True Something" who is truly and uniquely independent, the "Cause of all causes."

The insight of Divine wisdom is the "nothing" between the two states of "something," whose ultimate purpose is to serve to draw the consciousness of the "True Something" into the experience of the lower "something." In the power of the process of rectification, the ego must first be "shaken" by the fear of God, the beginning of wisdom. Thereafter one’s "matter" can be purified and clarified in order to become a fitting "mirror" to reflect the True Something. This process of clarification, dependent upon wisdom and its beginning, fear, is expressed in the verse: "You have made all in wisdom." "Made" refers throughout the Torah to the process of rectification and clarification. The Zohar paraphrases this verse: "You have clarified them all with wisdom." The "art of clarification" is the "beginning of the end"; the three final letters of the alef-beit, are the beginning, middle, and end of the end, respectively. Just as the tzadik connects to the kuf in its full spelling, so the "reish" "leads in" to the shin, all the clarifications of wisdom ascending upward to their Divine Source in the flame of the love of God and His people Israel.

From the legens of the Jews - ADAM

ADAM--MAN AND THE WORLD

With ten Sayings God created the world, although a single Saying would have sufficed. God desired to make known how severe is the punishment to be meted out to the wicked, who destroy a world created with as many as ten Sayings, and how goodly the reward destined for the righteous, who preserve a world created with as many as ten Sayings.

The world was made for man, though he was the last-comer among its creatures. This was design. He was to find all things ready for him. God was the host who prepared dainty dishes, set the table, and then led His guest to his seat. At the same time man's late appearance on earth is to convey an admonition to humility. Let him beware of being proud, lest he invite the retort that the gnat is older than he.

The superiority of man to the other creatures is apparent in the very manner of his creation, altogether different from theirs. He is the only one who was created by the hand of God. The rest sprang from the word of God. The body of man is a microcosm, the whole world in miniature, and the world in turn is a reflex of man. The hair upon his head corresponds to the woods of the earth, his tears to a river, his mouth to the ocean. Also, the world resembles the ball of his eye: the ocean that encircles the earth is like unto the white of the eye, the dry land is the iris, Jerusalem the pupil, and the Temple the image mirrored in the pupil of the eye. But man is more than a mere image of this world. He unites both heavenly and earthly qualities within himself. In four he resembles the angels, in four the beasts. His power of speech, his discriminating intellect, his upright walk, the glance of his eye--they all make an angel of him. But, on the other hand, he eats and drinks, secretes the waste matter in his body, propagates his kind, and dies, like the beast of the field. Therefore God said before the creation of man: "The celestials are not propagated, but they are immortal; the beings on earth are propagated, but they die. I will create man to be the union of the two, so that when he sins, when he behaves like a beast, death shall overtake him; but if he refrains from sin, he shall live forever." God now bade all beings in heaven and on earth contribute to the creation of man, and He Himself took part in it. Thus they all will love man, and if he should sin, they will be interested in his preservation.

The whole world naturally was created for the pious, the God-fearing man, whom Israel produces with the helpful guidance of the law of God revealed to him. It was, therefore, Israel who was taken into special consideration at the time man was made. All other creatures were instructed to change their nature, if Israel should ever need their help in the course of his history. The sea was ordered to divide before Moses, and the heavens to give ear to the words of the leader; the sun and the moon were bidden to stand still before Joshua, the ravens to feed Elijah, the fire to spare the three youths in the furnace, the lion to do no harm to Daniel, the fish to spew forth Jonah, and the heavens to open before Ezekiel.

In His modesty, God took counsel with the angels, before the creation of the world, regarding His intention of making man. He said: "For the sake of Israel, I will create the world. As I shall make a division between light and darkness, so I will in time to come do for Israel in Egypt--thick darkness shall be over the land, and the children of Israel shall have light in their dwellings; as I shall make a separation between the waters under the firmament and the waters above the firmament, so I will do for Israel--I will divide the waters for him when he crosses the Red Sea; as on the third day I shall create plants, so I will do for Israel--I will bring forth manna for him in the wilderness; as I shall create luminaries to divide day from night, so I will do for Israel--I will go before him by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire; as I shall create the fowl of the air and the fishes of the sea, so I will do for Israel--I will bring quails for him from the sea; and as I shall breathe the breath of life into the nostrils of man, so I will do for Israel--I will give the Torah unto him, the tree of life." The angels marvelled that so much love should be lavished upon this people of Israel, and God told them: "On the first day of creation, I shall make the heavens and stretch them out; so will Israel raise up the Tabernacle as the dwelling-place of My glory. On the second day, I shall put a division between the terrestrial waters and the heavenly waters; so will he hang up a veil in the Tabernacle to divide the Holy Place and the Most Holy. On the third day, I shall make the earth put forth grass and herb; so will he, in obedience to My commands, eat herbs on the first night of the Passover, and prepare showbread for Me. On the fourth day, I shall make the luminaries; so will he make a golden candlestick for Me. On the fifth day, I shall create the birds; so will he fashion the cherubim with outstretched wings. On the sixth day, I shall create man; so will Israel set aside a man of the sons of Aaron as high priest for My service."

Accordingly, the whole of creation was conditional. God said to the things He made on the first six days: "If Israel accepts the Torah, you will continue and endure; otherwise, I shall turn everything back into chaos again." The whole world was thus kept in suspense and dread until the day of the revelation on Sinai, when Israel received and accepted the Torah, and so fulfilled the condition made by God at the time when He created the universe.

Benedict XVI reflects on Scripture... Eph 1:3-10

"Main Verbs of This Canticle Lead Us Always to the Son"

1. Every week the Liturgy of Vespers presents to the prayer of the Church the solemn opening hymn of the Letter to the Ephesians, the text just proclaimed. It belongs to the genre of the "berakot," that is, the "blessings" that already appear in the Old Testament and that will have a further diffusion in the Judaic tradition. It is, therefore, a constant flow of praise that rises to God, who in Christian faith is celebrated as "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It is for this reason that in our hymn of praise the figure of Christ is central, in which the work of God the Father is revealed and fulfilled. In fact, the three main verbs of this long and compact canticle lead us always to the Son.

2. God "chose us in him" (Ephesians 1:4): It is our vocation to holiness and to adoptive filiation and therefore to fraternity with Christ. This gift, which radically transforms our state of creatures, is offered to us "by the work of Jesus Christ" (verse 5), a work that enters in the great divine salvific plan, in that loving "favor of [his] will" (verse [5]) of the Father that the Apostle contemplates, overwhelmed.

The second verb, after that of the election ("chose us"), designates the gift of grace: "the grace he granted us in the beloved […]" (ibid.). In Greek we have the same root twice, "charis" and "echaritosen," to underline the gratuitousness of the divine initiative which precedes every human response. The grace that the Father bestows on us in his Only-begotten Son is, therefore, manifestation of his love that envelops us and transforms us.

3. Then we have the third fundamental verb of the Pauline canticle: Its object is always divine grace which was "lavished upon us" (verse 8). We find ourselves, therefore, before a verb of abundance, we could say -- according to its original sense -- of excess, of donation without limits or reservations.

Thus we reach the infinite and glorious profundity of the mystery of God, opened and revealed by grace to one called by grace and love, this revelation being impossible to reach only with the endowment of human intelligence and capacities. "'What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,' this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

4. The "mystery" of the divine "will" has a center that is destined to coordinate the whole of being and the whole of history, leading it to the fullness willed by God: It is "a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Ephesians 1:10). Prominent in this "plan," in Greek "oikonomia," that is, in this harmonious plan of the architecture of being and existence, is Christ, head of the body of the Church, but also axis that recapitulates in himself "all things, things in heaven and things on earth." Dispersion and limitations are surmounted and that "fullness" is configured which is the true end of the plan that the divine will had established from the beginning.

We find ourselves, therefore, before a grandiose fresco of the history of creation and salvation, on which we now meditate and reflect further with the words of St. Irenaeus, great Doctor of the Church of the second century, who, in some magisterial pages of his treatise "Against the Heresies" developed his own articulated reflection on the recapitulation accomplished by Christ.

5. Christian faith, he affirms, recognizes that "there is only one God and one Jesus Christ, our Lord, who came with his plan and recapitulated all things in himself. Among all things there is also man, fashioned by God. Therefore, he has also recapitulated man in himself, becoming visible, he who is invisible, comprehensible, he who is incomprehensible and man, he who is Word" (3,16,6: "Già e Non Ancora" [Already and Not Yet], CCCXX, Milan, 1979, p. 268).

Therefore, "the Word of God" becomes truly man, not in appearance, because then "his work would not have been true." Instead, "he was that which he seemed to be: God who recapitulates in himself his old creature, who is man, to kill sin, destroy death and vivify man. And because of this his works are true" (3,18,7: ibid., pp. 277-278). He made himself head of the Church to draw all to himself at the appropriate time. Let us pray, in keeping with the spirit of these words: Yes, Lord, draw us to yourself; draw the world to yourself and grant us peace, your peace.

The Mystical Significance of the Hebrew Letteres - BEIT

BEIT
Purpose: God's Dwelling Place Below

The letter beit, from the word "house," refers to God's house: "My house will be called a House of Prayer for all peoples." The Midrash states that the Divine motivation for creation was that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, desired a dwelling place in lower reality. The fulfillment of this desire begins with the creation of man, a Divine soul enclothed in a physical body, and proceeds with the multiplication of man, to "conquer" the whole world and make it the kingdom of God.

The Torah precedes the detailed description of the Tabernacle and its vessels with the statement of its ultimate purpose: "They shall build me a Temple and I will dwell in them." Not "in it," the Sages explain, but "in them"--in each and every Jew. "Dwelling in them" is, in essence, the revelation of Divinity in the people of Israel, ever present but often "shadowed," as in the time of exile and destruction of the Temple. The innate sanctity of the people of Israel, the "sanctuary of God," when revealed and linked to that of the land of Israel, causes the Holy Land to expand and eventually encompass all the earth (lower reality): "the land of Israel will in the future spread out to all the lands of the earth."

Beit is numerically equal to the word "ta'avah," which means "desire" or "passion" (412). In general, "ta'avah" connotes a negative human property. However, in several places "ta'avah" denotes the positive passion of the tzadik, the righteous man. One passage in Proverbs states: "He will fulfill the passion of the tzadik," and a second says: "the passions of tzadikim are only good." The "ta'avah" of G-d, the "Tzadik of the world," is altogether above reason and logic. At this level one cannot ask "why." As expressed by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi: "About passion, there can be no question." As G-d is the essence of good so His passion is "only good." is numerically equal to the word "ta'avah," which means "desire" or "passion" (412). In general, "ta'avah" connotes a negative human property. However, in several places "ta'avah" denotes the positive passion of the tzadik, the righteous man. One passage in Proverbs states: "He will fulfill the passion of the tzadik," and a second says: "the passions of tzadikim are only good." The "ta'avah" of God, the "Tzadik of the world," is altogether above reason and logic. At this level one cannot ask "why." As expressed by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi: "About passion, there can be no question." As God is the essence of good so His passion is "only good."

"With whom did the Holy One, Blessed be He, take counsel whether or not to create the world? With the souls of the tzadikim." The "souls of the tzadikim" refers to all Jewish souls, as is said: "All your people are tzadikim." God's connotation as the "Tzadik of the world" refers to the absolute origin and unity of the Jewish soul in His very Essence. When the soul descends to be enclothed in the finite consciousness and experience of a seemingly mundane body, its task is to become the tzadik below in true emulation of its Source, the "Tzadik Above." This is accomplished through the refinement and purification of passion, ta'avah, to become "only good."

The "Tzadik Above" dwells in the House built for Him by the tzadik below. Here, the deepest passion of the Creator reaches fulfillment. The large beit, the first letter of the Torah and the beginning of Creation, expresses this ultimate purpose, as is said: "The final deed arose first in thought." In the first word of the Torah, Bereishit, the three "servant" letters--the prefix beit" and the two suffix letters, yud and tav - spell bayit, "house" (equivalent to the full spelling of the letter beit). The root of "bereishit," rosh, means "head." Thus the most "natural" permutation of bereishit reads: rosh bayit, "the head of the house." One permutation of the letters rosh is osher, "happiness." When the tzadik draws God, the "Head," into His House, it becomes a house of true and eternal happiness.

The drawing down of the "Head" to dwell in His "House" below, in true happiness, is the secret of bracha, "blessing," which begins with the letter beit. Our Sages teach that the "big beit" begins the Creation, and the Torah as a whole, with the power of blessing. God blesses His creation, which He creates with the attribute of lovingkindness, the attribute of Abraham, as will be explained in the letter hei. Abraham, the first Jewish soul, is subsequently entrusted with the Divine power of blessing, the "big beit" of Creation, as is said: "And you shall be [the one who bestows] blessing." Afterwards, at the time of his circumcision, he was given the "small hei" of Creation, the power to draw down and manifest the Divine blessing of happiness in the smallest detail of reality.

The Priestly Blessing is composed of three verses. The number of words progress in the order 3, 5, 7, with equal differences of two, beit. The number of letters progress in the order: 15, 20, 25, with equal differences of five, hei. Words represent full, or large consciousness, whereas letters represent particular, or small consciousness. The power to bless "fullness" is the power of the beit, as is said: "And full with the blessing of God." The power to draw down the blessing to the smallest detail of reality is that of hei.

This service of Abraham, and all Jews after him, leads to the fulfillment of the ultimate intention of Creation, the realization of Israel's power of blessing, that the domain of the King (the "Head of the House") extend to encompass all reality and, thereby, bestow true happiness to all.

From the legends of the Jews... THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD--THE FIRST THINGS CREATED

Louis Ginzberg

In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth, seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white fire, and lying in the lap of God; the Divine Throne, erected in the heaven which later was over the heads of the Hayyot; Paradise on the right side of God, Hell on the left side; the Celestial Sanctuary directly in front of God, having a jewel on its altar graven with the Name of the Messiah, and a Voice that cries aloud, "Return, ye children of men."

When God resolved upon the creation of the world, He took counsel with the Torah. Her advice was this: "O Lord, a king without an army and without courtiers and attendants hardly deserves the name of king, for none is nigh to express the homage due to him." The answer pleased God exceedingly. Thus did He teach all earthly kings, by His Divine example, to undertake naught without first consulting advisers.

The advice of the Torah was given with some reservations. She was skeptical about the value of an earthly world, on account of the sinfulness of men, who would be sure to disregard her precepts. But God dispelled her doubts. He told her, that repentance had been created long before, and sinners would have the opportunity of mending their ways. Besides, the Temple service would be invested with atoning power, and Paradise and hell were intended to do duty as reward and punishment. Finally, the Messiah was appointed to bring salvation, which would put an end to all sinfulness.

Nor is this world inhabited by man the first of things earthly created by God. He made several worlds before ours, but He destroyed them all, because He was pleased with none until He created ours. But even this last world would have had no permanence, if God had executed His original plan of ruling it according to the principle of strict justice. It was only when He saw that justice by itself would undermine the world that He associated mercy with justice, and made them to rule jointly. Thus, from the beginning of all things prevailed Divine goodness, without which nothing could have continued to exist. If not for it, the myriads of evil spirits had soon put an end to the generations of men. But the goodness of God has ordained, that in every Nisan, at the time of the spring equinox, the seraphim shall approach the world of spirits, and intimidate them so that they fear to do harm to men. Again, if God in His goodness had not given protection to the weak, the tame animals would have been extirpated long ago by the wild animals. In Tammuz, at the time of the summer solstice, when the strength of behemot is at its height, he roars so loud that all the animals hear it, and for a whole year they are affrighted and timid, and their acts become less ferocious than their nature is. Again, in Tishri, at the time of the autumnal equinox, the great bird ziz flaps his wings and utters his cry, so that the birds of prey, the eagles and the vultures, blench, and they fear to swoop down upon the others and annihilate them in their greed. And, again, were it not for the goodness of God, the vast number of big fish had quickly put an end to the little ones. But at the time of the winter solstice, in the month of Tebet, the sea grows restless, for then leviathan spouts up water, and the big fish become uneasy. They restrain their appetite, and the little ones escape their rapacity.

Finally, the goodness of God manifests itself in the preservation of His people Israel. It could not have survived the enmity of the Gentiles, if God had not appointed protectors for it, the archangels Michael and Gabriel. Whenever Israel disobeys God, and is accused of misdemeanors by the angels of the other nations, he is defended by his designated guardians, with such good result that the other angels conceive fear of them. Once the angels of the other nations are terrified, the nations themselves venture not to carry out their wicked designs against Israel.

That the goodness of God may rule on earth as in heaven, the Angels of Destruction are assigned a place at the far end of the heavens, from which they may never stir, while the Angels of Mercy encircle the Throne of God, at His behest.

Czy dostrzegasz żebraka... w sobie?

Augustyn Pelanowski OSPPE

Czytałem u Kazantzakisa opowieść o kimś, kto całe życie zbierał pieniądze na pielgrzymkę do Jerozolimy. Kiedy już zebrał wielką sumę, spakował torby podróżne, pożegnał się z rodziną i wyruszył w stronę Świętego Miasta. Ale kiedy tylko wyjechał za bramę swojego miasta, ujrzał żebraka, który nie miał ani domu, ani nikogo, kto by mu pomógł. Oddał więc mu wszystkie oszczędności i wrócił do domu. Rodzina wybiegła naprzeciw zdziwiona i zaczęła pytać z przekąsem: „Już dojechałeś do Jerozolimy?”. On ze stoickim uśmiechem powiedział: „Tak, dojechałem, zobaczyłem nawet Jezusa”. Okazał miłosierdzie i dlatego uznał, że nie musi wędrować do Jerozolimy.

Takimi żebrakami możemy być też sami dla siebie. Wyruszamy w daleką podróż, żyjemy wielkimi aspiracjami, a nie zauważamy, że wewnątrz nas jest mały, biedny człowiek, którego tak naprawdę nie lubimy. Jemu powinniśmy okazać najwięcej miłości. Z jednej strony, nie sposób pomagać innym, kiedy nie chcemy pomóc sobie samym i nie zgadzamy się na swoją małość i swoją kruchość. Z drugiej strony, czasem trzeba pomóc komuś biednemu, żeby dorosnąć do odkrycia kogoś wcale nie lepiej uposażonego we własnym wnętrzu. Najlepiej bowiem jesteśmy przygotowani, by pomóc innym, gdy nam udzielono pomocy. Nikt nie wie, co to bieda, jeśli osobiście jej nie doświadczył. Okaż jałmużnę najpierw sobie samemu! Jałmużna to słowo kojarzy nam się jedynie z udzieleniem komuś jakiejś łaski, ale jałmużna może być także udzielaniem sobie prawdy. Dlatego proponuję odczytać słowa Jezusa w inny sposób: Czy uznałeś w sobie kogoś głodnego uczuć, głodnego czyjejś obecności, głodnego miłości? Czy uznałeś w sobie spragnionego dobrego słowa? Czy uznałeś w sobie przybysza, kogoś, kto nie umie się odnaleźć, kto czuje się zagubiony? Czy widzisz swoją nagość, swój wstyd? Czy wiesz już, na co chorujesz? Czy znasz swoje więzienie? W czym czujesz się ograniczony i zamknięty? W tym wszystkim przecież był Jezus. On tego wszystkiego doświadczył i dlatego w tym wszystkim był gotowy nam pomóc. Tak napisano o Nim w Liście do Hebrajczyków: „Nie takiego bowiem mamy arcykapłana, który by nie mógł współczuć naszym słabościom, lecz doświadczonego we wszystkim na nasze podobieństwo, z wyjątkiem grzechu” (Hbr 4,14–15). Czy widzisz, że Jego słabości są i Twoimi?

Na pewno nie zachęcam nikogo do użalania się nad sobą, ale do zwolnienia się z ciężaru buntu i tych wszystkich narzekań, które czynią nas niezadowolonymi z naszego naśladowania Jezusa. Jałmużną może być właśnie ta nasza medytacja nad sobą samym. Czy udzieliłeś sobie słów prawdy – porównania siebie z życiem Jezusa? Czy zgodziłeś się na niedomagania, trudności, przykrości życia? Czy Twoje pragnienie bycia takim jak Jezus zostało spełnione, gdy zdałeś sobie sprawę, że tylko jedno pragnienie powinno być w Tobie: domagać się spełnienia pragnienia w takim miejscu jak Jezus – na krzyżu?

Benedict XVI on Christ, King of the Universe

"The Kingdom Is a Gift Offered to People of All Times"

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, is celebrated. From the announcement of his birth, the only-begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary, is defined as "king," in the messianic sense, that is, heir to the throne of David, according to the promises of the prophets, over a kingdom that will have no end (cf. Luke 1:32-33).

Christ's royalty remained totally hidden until he was 30 years old, spent in an ordinary life in Nazareth. Later, during his public life, Jesus inaugurated the new kingdom, which "is not of this world" (John 18:36), and he realized it fully at the end with his death and resurrection. Upon appearing, risen, to the apostles, he said to them: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). This power arises from love, which God has fully manifested in the sacrifice of his Son. The kingdom of Christ is a gift offered to people of all times so that whoever believes in the incarnate word "should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). For this reason, precisely in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, proclaims: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (22:13).

"Christ, Alpha and Omega," thus is entitled the paragraph with which the first part concludes of the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution "Gaudium et Spes," promulgated 40 years ago. In this beautiful page, which takes up some of the words of the servant of God, Pope Paul VI, we read: "The Lord is the goal of human history, the focal point of the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings."

And he adds: "Enlivened and united in his Spirit, we journey toward the consummation of human history, one which fully accords with the counsel of God's love: 'To re-establish all things in Christ, both those in the heavens and those on the earth' (Ephesians 11:10)" (No. 45).

In the light of Christ's centrality, "Gaudium et Spes" interprets the condition of contemporary man, his vocation and dignity, as well as the realms of his life: family, culture, economy, politics and international community. This is the mission of the Church yesterday, today and always: to proclaim and witness to Christ, so that man, every man, may fully realize his vocation.

May the Virgin Mary, associated by God in a singular way to the royalty of her Son, enable us to acknowledge him as lord of our lives to cooperate faithfully in the coming of his kingdom of love, justice and peace.