On Saint Paul
On Paul's World and Time
Period
"I Begin Today a New Cycle of Catecheses, Dedicated to the Great
Apostle"
VATICAN CITY, JULY 2, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
On the occasion of the Pauline Year, the Holy Father began a new
cycle
of catecheses today, dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to begin today a new cycle of catecheses, dedicated
to the
great Apostle St. Paul. To him, as you know, I have consecrated this
year, which extends from the liturgical feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on
June 29, 2008, to the same feast in 2009.
The Apostle Paul, an exceptional and virtually inimitable yet
stimulating figure, is before us as an example of total dedication to
the Lord and his Church, as well as of great openness to humanity and
its cultures. It is just, therefore, that we reserve a particular place
for him, not only in our veneration, but also in an effort to
understand what he has to say to us, Christians of today, as well.
In this, our first meeting, I would like to pause to consider the
environment in which he lived and worked. Such a topic would seem to
take us far from our time, given that we must insert ourselves in the
world of 2,000 years ago. And yet, this is only apparently and partly
true, because it can be verified that in many ways, the socio-cultural
environment of today is not so different than that of back then.
A primary and fundamental factor to keep in mind is the
relationship
between the environment in which Paul was born and developed and the
global context in which he successively inserted himself. He came from
a very precise and specific culture, certainly of the minority, which
was that of the people of Israel and their tradition. In the ancient
world and notably at the heart of the Roman Empire, as scholars of the
subject teach us, the Jews constituted about 10% of the total
population. Here in Rome, their number around the middle of the first
century was even fewer, reaching a maximum of 3% of the inhabitants of
the city.
Their beliefs and lifestyle, as happens also today, distinguished
them
clearly from the surrounding environment. And this could have two
results: either derision, which might lead to intolerance, or
admiration, which was expressed in different ways, such as the case of
the "God-fearing" or "proselyte," pagans who associated themselves in
the synagogue and shared the faith in the God of Israel.
As concrete examples of this double attitude we can mention, on
one
hand, the sharp judgment of an orator such as Cicero, who scorned their
religion and even the city of Jerusalem (cf. Pro Flacco, 66-69), and on
the other, the attitude of Poppea, Nero's wife, who is remembered by
Flavius Josephus as a "sympathizer" of the Jews (cf. Antichita
giudaiche 20, 195.252; Vita 16). And we should note Julius Caesar had
already officially recognized particular rights for them, noted by the
already-mentioned Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (cf. Ibid. 14,
200-216). What is certain is that the number of Jews, as is true today,
was far greater outside the land of Israel, namely, in the Diaspora,
and not in the territory that others called Palestine.
It is no wonder, then, that Paul himself was the object of the
double,
contrasting evaluation, of which I have spoken. One thing is certain:
The particularity of the Jewish culture and religion easily found a
place within a reality as all-pervasive as the Roman Empire. More
difficult and trying was the position of the group of those Jews and
Gentiles who adhered in faith to the person of Jesus of Nazareth,
insofar as they were distinguished both from Judaism and the prevailing
paganism.
In any case, two factors favored Paul's commitment. The first was
the
Greek, or rather the Hellenistic culture, which after Alexander the
Great became the common patrimony at least of the Eastern Mediterranean
and the Middle East, though integrating within itself many elements of
peoples traditionally regarded as barbarians. A writer of the time
states, in this regard, that Alexander "ordered that all keep the whole
'ecumene' [inhabited earth] as homeland ... and that there be no longer
a distinction between Greek and Barbarian" (Plutarch, De Alexandri
Magni fortuna aut virtute, paragraphs 6.8).
The second factor was the political-administrative structure of
the
Roman Empire, which guaranteed peace and stability from Britain to
southern Egypt, unifying a territory of a dimension never before seen.
In this space, one could move with sufficient liberty and security,
enjoying among other things an extraordinary road system, and finding
in every point of arrival, basic cultural characteristics that, without
detriment to local values, represented in any case a common fabric of
unification "super partes," so much so that the Jewish philosopher
Philo of Alexandria, contemporary of Paul himself, praises the emperor
Augustus because he "has brought together in harmony all the savage
peoples ... becoming a guardian of peace" (Legatio ad Caium, paragraphs
146-147).
The universalistic vision typical of St. Paul's personality, at
least
of the Christian Paul after the event on the road to Damascus,
certainly owes its basic impetus to faith in Jesus Christ, inasmuch as
the figure of the Risen One goes beyond that of any particularistic
restriction. In fact, for the apostle "there is no longer Jew or Greek,
no longer slave or free man, no longer male or female, but all are only
one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). Yet, the historical-cultural
situation of his time and environment also influenced his choices and
commitment. Paul has been described as a "man of three cultures,"
taking into account his Jewish origin, Greek language, and his
prerogative of "civis romanus," as attested also by his name of Latin
origin.
We must recall in particular the Stoic philosophy, which prevailed
in
Paul's time and also influenced, though marginally, Christianity. In
this connection, we cannot but mention the names of Stoic philosophers,
such as the initiators Zeno and Cleanthes, and then those
chronologically closer to Paul, such as Seneca, Musonius and Epictetus.
Found in them are very lofty values of humanity and wisdom, which were
naturally received in Christianity. As a scholar on the subject writes
masterfully, "Stoicism ... proclaimed a new ideal, which imposed on man
duties toward his fellowmen, but at the same time freed him from all
physical and national ties and made him a purely spiritual being" (M.
Pohlenz, La Stoa, I, Florence 2, 1978, pp. 565ff).
It is enough to think, for example, of the doctrine of the
universe
understood as one great harmonious body and, consequently, of the
doctrine of the equality of all men without social distinctions, to the
equating at least in principle of man and woman, and then the ideal of
frugality, of the just measure and of self-control to avoid all
excesses. When Paul writes to the Philippians: "Whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is
anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8),
does no more than take up a strictly humanist concept proper to that
philosophical wisdom.
In Paul's time, there was also a crisis of the traditional
religion, at
least in its mythological and also civic aspects. After Lucretius,
already a century earlier, had controversially stated that "religion
has led to so many misdeeds" (De rerum natura 1, 101), a philosopher
such as Seneca, going well beyond any external ritualism, taught that
"God is close to you, he is with you, he is within you" (Lettere a
Lucilio, 41, 1).
Similarly, when Paul addressed an auditorium of Epicurean
philosophers
in the Areopagus in Athens, he says literally that "God does not live
in shrines made by man ... but in him we live and move and have our
being" (Acts 17: 24.28). With this, he certainly echoes the Jewish
faith in one God that cannot be represented in anthropomorphic terms,
but he also follows a religious line with which his listeners were
familiar. We must take into account, moreover, that many educated
pagans did not frequent the official temples of the city, and went to
private places that promoted the initiation of followers.
Not a motive for wonder, therefore, was the fact that Christian
meetings (the "ekklesiai"), as attested to especially in the Pauline
Letters, took place in private homes. At the time, moreover, there was
still no public building. Therefore, the meetings of Christians must
have seemed to their contemporaries as a simple variation of this more
intimate religious practice. Nevertheless, the differences between
pagan and Christian worship are not of slight importance and involved
as much the awareness of the participants' identity as well as the
common participation of men and women, the celebration of the "Lord's
Supper" and the reading of the Scriptures.
In conclusion, from this brief review of the cultural environment
of
the first century of the Christian era, it is clear that it is not
possible to understand St. Paul adequately without considering the
background, both Jewish as well as pagan, of his time. Thus his figure
acquires a historical and ideal depth, revealing shared and original
elements of the environment. However, this is also equally true for
Christianity in general, of which the Apostle Paul is a paradigm of the
first order, from whom all of us today have much to learn. This is the
objective of the Pauline Year: to learn the faith from him, to learn
from him who Christ is, to learn, in the end, the path for an upright
life.
[The Pope then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In English,
he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last Sunday, the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, marked
the
beginning of a Year dedicated to the figure and teaching of the Apostle
Paul. Today's Audience begins a new series of catecheses aimed at
understanding more deeply the thought of Saint Paul and its continuing
relevance. Paul, as we know, was a Jew, and consequently a member of a
distinct cultural minority in the Roman Empire. At the same time, he
spoke Greek, the language of the wider Hellenistic culture, and was a
Roman citizen. Paul's proclamation of the Risen Christ, while grounded
in Judaism, was marked by a universalist vision and it was facilitated
by his familiarity with three cultures. He was thus able to draw from
the spiritual richness of contemporary philosophy, and Stoicism in
particular, in his preaching of the Gospel. The crisis of traditional
Greco-Roman religion in Paul's time had also fostered a greater concern
for a personal experience of God. As we see from his sermon before the
Areopagus in Athens (cf. Acts 17:22ff.), Paul was able to appeal to
these currents of thought in his presentation of the Good News. Against
this broad cultural background, Paul developed his teaching, which we
will explore in the catecheses of this Pauline Year.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Paul's Biography
"He Dedicated Himself to the Proclamation of the Gospel" (August 27,
2008)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the last catechesis before the holidays -- two months ago, at the
beginning of July -- I began a new series of topics on the occasion of
the Pauline Year, reflecting on the way St. Paul lived. Today I would
like to take up again and continue the reflection on the Apostle of the
Gentiles, proposing a brief biography of him.
Because we will dedicate next Wednesday to the extraordinary event that
occurred on the road to Damascus, Paul's conversion, an essential
change in his life that followed from his meeting with Christ, today we
will pause briefly on the whole of his life.
We have the biographical extreme points of Paul's life respectively in
the Letter to Philemon, in which he declares himself "old" (Philemon 9:
"presbytes"), and in the Acts of the Apostles, which at the moment of
Stephen's stoning describe him as "young" (7:58: "neanias"). The two
designations are evidently generic, but, according to ancient
computations, a man around 30 years old was described as "young," while
"old" was said when a man reached around 60.
In absolute terms, the date of Paul's birth depends to a great extent
on the dating of the Letter to Philemon. Traditionally, its writing is
dated during his Roman imprisonment, in the mid 60s. Hence, Paul would
have been born in the year 8; he would have been more or less 60 years
old, while at the moment of Stephen's stoning he was 30. This must be
the correct chronology. In fact, the celebration of the Pauline Year we
are observing follows this chronology. 2008 was chosen thinking of his
birth more or less in the year 8.
In any case, he was born in Tarsus in Cilicia (cf Acts 22:3). The city
was the administrative headquarters of the region and in 51 B.C. It had
as proconsul none other than Marcus Tullius Cicero, while 10 years
later, in 41, Tarsus was the site of the first meeting between Mark
Anthony and Cleopatra.
A Jew of the Diaspora, he spoke Greek although having a name of Latin
origin, derived by assonance from the Hebrew original Saul/Saulos, and
he held Roman citizenship (cf. Acts 22:25-28). Paul seems to be
situated, therefore, on the border of the various cultures -- Roman,
Greek, Hebrew -- and perhaps also because of this was disposed to
fruitful universal openness, to a mediation between cultures, to a true
universality.
He also learned manual work, perhaps from his father, consisting of the
work of "tent maker" (cf. Acts 18:3: skenopoios), to be understood
probably as laborer of coarse goat's wool or linen fibers to make mats
or tents (cf. Acts 20:33-35). Toward the year 12-13, the age in which a
Jewish boy becomes "bar mitzvah" (son of the precept), Paul left Tarsus
and went to Jerusalem to be educated at the feet of Rabbi Gamaliel the
Elder, nephew of the great Rabbi Hillel, according to the most rigid
norms of Pharisaism and acquiring a great zeal for the Mosaic Torah (cf
Galatians 1:14; Philippians 3:5-6; Acts 22:3; 23:6; 26:5).
On the basis of this profound orthodoxy that he learned in the school
of Hillel in Jerusalem, he saw in the new movement of Jesus of Nazareth
a risk, a menace for Jewish identity, for the fathers' true orthodoxy.
This explains the fact that he had fiercely "persecuted the Church of
God," as he admitted three times in his Letters (1 Corinthians 15:9;
Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:6). Even if it is not easy to imagine
specifically in what this persecution consisted of, his had, in any
case, an attitude of intolerance.
It is here that the event of Damascus is situated, to which we will
return in the next catechesis. It is certain that, from that moment on,
his life changed and he became a tireless Apostle of the Gospel. In
fact, Paul passed into history more as a Christian, what is more, as an
Apostle, than as a Pharisee. His apostolic activity is subdivided
traditionally on the basis of three missionary journeys, to which is
added a fourth -- his journey to Rome as a prisoner. All are narrated
by Luke in the Acts. In regard to the three missionary journeys,
however, it is necessary to distinguish the first from the other two.
For the first, in fact (cf. Acts 13-14), Paul did not have direct
responsibility, as it was entrusted instead to the Cypriot Barnabas.
Together they departed from Antioch on the Oronte, sent by that Church
(cf. Acts 13:1-3), and later, having set sail from the port of Seleucia
on the Syrian coast, they traversed the island of Cyprus from Salamis
to Paphos; from here they reached the southern coasts of Anatolia,
today's Turkey, and stopped at the city of Attalia, Perga of Pamphilia,
Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, from which they returned
to the point of departure.
Thus was born the Church of the people, the Church of the pagans. In
the meantime, above all in Jerusalem, a harsh discussion arose as to
what point these Christians from paganism were obliged to participate
in the life and laws of Israel -- all the observances and prescriptions
that separated Israel from the rest of the world -- to be truly
participants of the promises of the prophets and to enter effectively
into Israel's the heritage.
To resolve this fundamental problem for the birth of the future Church,
Paul met in Jerusalem with the so-called Council of the Apostles, to
resolve this problem on which the effective birth of the universal
Church depended. It was decided not to impose on converted pagans the
observance of the Mosaic Law (cf. Acts 15:6-30); that is, they were not
obliged to observe the norms of Judaism. The only need was to belong to
Christ, to live with Christ and according to his words. Thus, being of
Christ, they were also of Abraham, of God and participants of all the
promises.
After this decisive event, Paul left Barnabas, chose Silas and began
his second missionary journey (cf Acts 15:36-18, 22). Going beyond
Syria and Cilicia, he again saw the city of Lystra, where he took with
him Timothy -- a very important figure of the nascent Church, son of a
Jewess and a pagan -- and had him circumcised, he went across central
Anatolia and reached the city of Troas on the northern coast of the
Aegean Sea. And here another important event took place: In a dream he
saw a Macedonian from the other side of the sea, namely in Europe, who
said, "Come and help us!"
It was the future Europe that requested the help and light of the
Gospel. Spurred on by this vision, he entered Europe, sailing from
Macedonia and thus entering Europe. Disembarking in Neapolis, he
arrived in Philippi, where he founded an admirable Christian community.
Then he went to Thessalonica, and left the latter because of
difficulties caused by the Jews, traveled to Beroea, and then continued
to Athens.
In this capital of ancient Greek culture he preached to pagans and
Greeks, first in the Agora and then in the Areopagus. And the speech in
the Areopagus, referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, was a model of
how to translate the Gospel into Greek culture, and of how to make the
Greeks understand that this God of Christians and Jews, was not a God
who was foreign to their culture, but the unknown God awaited by them,
the true answer to the most profound questions of their culture.
After Athens he arrived in Corinth, where he stayed for a year and a
half. And here we have a very certain chronological event, the most
certain of his whole biography, because during this first stay in
Corinth he had to appear before the governor of the senatorial province
of Achaia, Proconsul Gallione, on accusations of illegal worship.
Regarding Gallione, there is an ancient inscription found in Delphi
where it is said that he was proconsul of Corinth between the years 51
and 53. Hence, here we have an absolute certain fact. Paul's stay in
Corinth took place in those years. Hence we may suppose that he arrived
more or less in the year 50 and stayed until the year 52. Then, from
Corinth, passing through Cencre, the city's eastern port, he went to
Palestine reaching Caesarea Maritima, and from there he left for
Jerusalem to return later to Antioch on the Oronte.
The third missionary journey (cf. Acts 18:23-21:16) began as usual in
Antioch, which had become the point of origin of the Church of the
pagans, of the mission to the pagans, and was also the place where the
term "Christians" was born. Here for the first time, St. Luke tells us,
Jesus' followers were called "Christians."
From there Paul went directly to Ephesus, capital of the province of
Asia, where he stayed for two years, carrying out a ministry that had
fruitful returns for the region. From Ephesus, Paul wrote the Letters
to the Thessalonians and Corinthians. The population of the city,
however, was incited against him by the local silversmiths, who saw
their income diminish given the decline of the worship of Artemis --
the temple dedicated to her in Ephesus, the Artemysion, was one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world. Because of this he had to flee to
the north. Having crossed Macedonia once more, he went down again to
Greece, probably to Corinth, staying there for three months and writing
the famous Letter to the Romans.
From here he retraced his steps: Passing back through Macedonia, he
sailed to Troy, and then, briefly visiting the islands of Miletus,
Chios, Samos, he reached Miletus where he gave an important address to
the elders of the Church of Ephesus, sketching a portrait of the true
pastor of the Church (cf. Acts 20).
From here he set sail for Tyre, from where he reached Caesarea Maritima
to go once again to Jerusalem. Here he was arrested because of a
misunderstanding: Some Jews had mistaken other Jews of Greek origin for
pagans, introduced by Paul in the Temple area reserved only for the
Israelites. The planned sentence to death was avoided by the
intervention of the Roman tribune guarding the area of the Temple (cf.
Acts 21:27-36). This occurred while the imperial Procurator Anthony
Felicius was in Judea. After spending a period in prison -- whose
duration is debatable -- Paul, being a Roman citizen, appealed to
Caesar -- who at the time was Nero -- and the subsequent Procurator
Porcio Festo sent him to Rome under military custody.
The journey to Rome touched the Mediterranean islands of Crete and
Malta, and then the cities of Syracuse, Rhegium and Puteoli. The
Christians of Rome went to meet him on the Via Appia at the Appia Forum
(70 kilometers south of the capital) and others at the Three Taverns
(40 kilometers).
In Rome he met with delegates of the Jewish community, to whom he
confided that it was for "the hope of Israel" that he endured his
chains (cf. Acts 28:20). However, Luke's account ends with the mention
of two years in Rome under house arrest, without reference either to a
sentence of Caesar (Nero), or even less so to the death of the accused.
Subsequent traditions speak of a liberation, which would have favored a
missionary journey to Spain or an eventual short trip to the East,
specifically to Crete, Ephesus and Nicopolis in Epirus. Always on a
hypothetical basis, a new arrest is conjectured and a second
imprisonment in Rome -- from where he would have written the three
so-called pastoral letters, namely the two to Timothy and the one to
Titus, with a second trial, that turned out to be unfavorable to him.
However, a series of reasons induce many scholars of St. Paul to end
the Apostle's biography with Luke's account in the Acts.
We will turn to his martyrdom later on in the cycle of these
catecheses. For now, in this brief account of Paul's journeys, suffice
it to take into account how he dedicated himself to the proclamation of
the Gospel without sparing his energy and facing a series of grave
trials, of which he has left us an account in the second Letter to the
Corinthians (cf 11:21-28).
Of the rest, he writes: "I do it all for the sake of the Gospel"
(1Corinthians 9:23), exercising with absolute generosity what he calls
his "anxiety for all the Churches" (2 Corinthians 11:28). We see a
determination that is explained only by a soul truly fascinated by the
light of the Gospel, enamored of Christ, a soul sustained by a profound
conviction: That it is necessary to take the light of Christ to the
world, to proclaim the Gospel to all.
This I think is what stays with us from this brief account of St.
Paul's journeys: to see his passion for the Gospel, and thus intuit the
grandeur, the beauty, and even more, the deep need that all of us have
of the Gospel. Let us pray so that the Lord, who made Paul see his
light and hear his word and touched his heart profoundly, make us also
see his light, so that our hearts will also be touched by his word and
so that we too will be able to give today's world, which thirsts for
it, the light of the Gospel and the truth of Christ.
[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today's catechesis presents the life of Saint Paul, the great
missionary whom the Church honors in a special way this year. Born a
Jew in Tarsus, he received the Hebrew name "Saul" and was trained as a
"tent maker" (cf. Acts 18:3). Around the age of twelve he departed for
Jerusalem to begin instruction in the strict Pharisaic tradition which
instilled in him a great zeal for the Mosaic Law. On the basis of this
training, Paul viewed the Christian movement as a threat to orthodox
Judaism. He thus fiercely "persecuted the Church of God" (1 Corinthians
19:6; Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:6) until a dramatic encounter on
the road to Damascus radically changed his life. He subsequently
undertook three missionary journeys, preaching Christ in Anatolia,
Syria, Cilicia, Macedonia, Achaia, and throughout the Mediterranean.
After his arrest and imprisonment in Jerusalem, Paul exercised his
right as a Roman citizen to appeal his case to the Emperor. Though Luke
makes no reference to Nero's decision, he tells us that Paul spent two
years under house arrest in Rome (cf. Acts 28:30), after which --
according to tradition -- he suffered a martyr's death. Paul spared no
energy and endured many trials in his "anxiety for all the Churches" (2
Corinthians 11:28). Indeed, he wrote: "I do everything for the sake of
the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:23). May we strive to emulate him by doing
the same.
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Paul's Conversion
"We Are Christians Only If We Encounter Christ"
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 3, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in Paul VI Hall.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Today's catechesis will be dedicated to the experience St. Paul had on
the road to Damascus, commonly called his conversion. Precisely on the
road to Damascus, in the first 30 years of the first century, and
following a period in which he persecuted the Church, the decisive
moment of Paul's life took place. Much has been written about it and,
of course, from many points of view. The fact is that a complete
turnabout took place there, a total change of perspective. Henceforth,
unexpectedly, he began to consider as "loss" and "rubbish" all that
before was for him the highest ideal, almost the raison d'etre of his
existence (Philippians 3:7-8). What happened?
In this respect, we have two sources. The first type, the most
well-known, are the accounts owed to Luke's pen, who on three occasions
narrates the event in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 9:1-19; 22:3-21;
26:4-23). The average reader, perhaps, might be tempted to pause too
long on certain details, such as the light from the sky, the fall to
the ground, the voice that called, the new state of blindness, the
curing when something like scales fall from his eyes and the fasting.
However, all these details point to the heart of the event: The Risen
Christ appeared as a splendid light and addressed Saul, transforming
his thinking and his very life. The splendor of the Risen One left him
blind; presenting also externally what the interior reality was, his
blindness in regard to the truth, to the light, which is Christ. And
then, his definitive "yes" to Christ in baptism reopens his eyes, and
makes him truly see.
In the early Church, baptism was also called "illumination," because
this sacrament gives light, makes one truly see. All that is indicated
theologically was realized in Paul also physically: Once cured of his
interior blindness, he sees well. Hence, St. Paul was not transformed
by a thought but by an event, by the irresistible presence of the Risen
One, whom he could never again doubt, so strong had been the evidence
of the event, of that encounter. The latter changed Paul's life
fundamentally. In this connection, one can and must speak of a
conversion. This meeting is the center of St. Luke's account, who quite
possibly used an account born, probably, in the community of Damascus.
The local coloring suggests this by the presence of Ananias and the
names, both of the street as well as of the owner of the house where
Paul stayed (Cf. Acts 9:11).
The second type of source on the conversion is made up of St. Paul's
letters themselves. He never spoke in detail about this event; I think
he assumed that everyone knew the essentials of his story. All knew
that from being a persecutor, he was transformed into a fervent apostle
of Christ. And this did not happen at the end of his own reflection but
of an intense event, of an encounter with the Risen One. Although not
mentioning details, he refers to this most important event, that is,
that he is also a witness of the resurrection of Jesus, the revelation
of which he has received directly from Jesus himself, together with the
mission of apostle.
The clearest text on this aspect is found in his account of what
constitutes the center of the history of salvation: the death and
resurrection of Jesus and the apparitions to witnesses (cf. 1
Corinthians 15). With words of very ancient tradition, which he also
received from the Church of Jerusalem, he says that Jesus died
crucified, was buried, and after his resurrection appeared first to
Cephas, that is, Peter, then to the Twelve, and afterwards to 500
brothers who were still alive at that time, then to James, and then to
all the apostles.
And to this account, received from tradition, he adds: "Last of all ...
he appeared also to me" (1 Corinthians 15:8). Thus he clarifies that
this is the foundation of his apostolate and of his new life. There are
also other texts in which the same reference appears: "Jesus Christ our
Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship (cf. Romans
1:5); and elsewhere: "Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" (1 Corinthians
9:1), words with which he alludes to something that all know. Finally,
the most complete text is found in Galatians 1:15-17: "But when he who
had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his
grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but
I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus." In this
"self-apology" he underlines decidedly that he is also a true witness
of the Risen One, that he has a mission received directly from the
Risen One.
We can see that the two sources, the Acts of the Apostles and the
Letters of St. Paul, converge in a fundamental point: The Risen One
spoke with Paul, called him to the apostolate, made him a true apostle,
a witness of the resurrection, with the specific charge to proclaim the
Gospel to the pagans, to the Greco-Roman world. And, at the same time,
Paul learned that, despite the immediateness of his relationship with
the Risen One, he must enter the communion of the Church, be baptized,
and live in harmony with the other apostles. Only in this communion
with all will he be able to be a true apostle, as he wrote explicitly
in the First Letter to the Corinthians: "Whether then it was I or they,
so we preach and so you believed" (15:11). There is only one
proclamation of the Risen One, because Christ is only one.
As we see in these passages, Paul never interprets this moment as an
event of conversion. Why? There are many theories, but the reason is
very obvious. This change of his life, this transformation of his whole
being was not the result of a psychological process, of a maturation or
intellectual and moral evolution, but it came from outside: It was not
the result of his thinking but of the encounter with Jesus Christ. In
this sense it was not simply a conversion, a maturing of his "I,"
rather, it was death and resurrection for himself: a life of his died
and a new one was born with the Risen Christ.
In no other way can this renewal of Paul be explained. All
psychological analyses cannot clarify or resolve the problem. Only the
event, the intense encounter with Christ is the key to understand what
happened: death and resurrection, renewal on the part of him who
revealed himself and spoke with him. It is in this more profound sense
that we can and must speak of conversion. This meeting was a real
renewal that changed all his parameters. One can now say that what
before was essential and fundamental for him, now has become "rubbish"
for him; there is no longer "gain" but loss, because now only life in
Christ is what counts.
However, we must not think that Paul locked himself blindly in an
event. In reality, the opposite occurred, because the risen Christ is
the light of truth, the light of God himself. This enlarged his heart,
and opened it to all. At that moment, he did not lose all that was good
and true in his life, in his heritage, but understood in a new way the
wisdom, truth, and depth of the law and the prophets; he appropriated
them in a new way. At the same time, his reason opened to the wisdom of
the pagans. Having opened himself to Christ with all his heart, he
became able to engage in a wider dialogue with all, he made himself
everything to all. Hence he could really be the apostle to the pagans.
Let us now look at our situation. What does this mean for us? It means
that also for us, Christianity is not a new philosophy or new morality.
We are Christians only if we encounter Christ. Of course he does not
show himself to us in that irresistible, luminous way, as he did with
Paul to make him Apostle of the Gentiles.
However, we can also encounter Christ in the reading of sacred
Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church. We can
touch Christ's heart and feel him touch ours. Only in this personal
relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do
we really become Christians. And in this way, our reason opens, the
whole of Christ's wisdom opens and all the richness of the truth.
Therefore, let us pray to the Lord to enlighten us, so that, in our
world, he will grant us the encounter with his presence, and thus give
us a lively faith, an open heart, and great charity for all, capable of
renewing the world.
[The Holy Father then greeted the pilgrims in several languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today's catechesis focuses on Saint Paul's conversion. In the Acts of
the Apostles, Saint Luke recounts for us the dramatic episode on the
road to Damascus which transformed Paul from a fierce persecutor of the
Church into a zealous evangelizer. In his own letters, Paul describes
his experience not so much in terms of a conversion, but as a call to
apostleship and a commission to preach the Gospel. In the first
instance, this was an encounter not with concepts or ideas but with the
person of Jesus himself. In fact, Paul met not only the historical
Jesus of the past, but the living Christ who revealed himself as the
one Saviour and Lord. Similarly, the ultimate source of our own
conversion lies neither in esoteric philosophical theories nor abstract
moral codes, but in Christ and his Gospel. He alone defines our
identity as Christians, since in him we discover the ultimate meaning
of our lives. Paul, because Christ had made him his own (cf. Phil
3:12), could not help but preach the Good News he had received (cf. 1
Cor 9:16). So it is with us. Transfixed by the greatness of our
Saviour, we - like Saint Paul - cannot help but speak of him to others.
May we always do so with joyful conviction!
I welcome all the English-speaking visitors present at today's Audience
including the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit and a
group of Maltese altar boys currently serving in Saint Peter's
Basilica. May your visit to Rome strengthen your commitment to share
the Good News of Jesus Christ. Upon all of you, I invoke God's abundant
blessings of joy and peace.
------------------------------------------
On Paul, an Apostle
of Christ
"Love Is the True Wealth of Human Life"
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 10, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI gave at today's general audience, held in Paul VI Hall in
the Vatican. The Pope arrived for the gathering by helicopter from the
papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last Wednesday I spoke about the great turning point in St. Paul's life
after his encounter with the Risen Christ. Jesus entered his life and
transformed him from persecutor into apostle. That meeting marked the
start of his mission. Paul could not continue to live as he did before.
Now he felt invested by the Lord with the charge to proclaim his Gospel
as an apostle.
It is precisely about this new condition of life, namely of his being
an apostle of Christ, that I would like to speak today. In keeping with
the Gospel, we normally identify the Twelve with the title of apostles,
thus intending to indicate those who were life companions and hearers
of Jesus' teaching. But Paul also feels himself a true apostle and it
seems clear, therefore, that the Pauline concept of apostolate is not
restricted to the group of Twelve.
Obviously, Paul is able to distinguish well his own case from that of
those "who were apostles before" him (Galatians 1:17): He recognizes
for them an all-together special place in the life of the Church.
However, as everyone knows, Paul also sees himself as apostle in the
strict sense. It is true that, at the time of the Christian origins, no
one traveled as many kilometers as he did, by earth and sea, with the
sole object of proclaiming the Gospel.
Hence, he had an idea of the apostolate that went beyond that left to
the group of Twelve, and handed down above all by St. Luke in the Acts
(cf. Acts 1-2:26; 6:2). In fact, in the First Letter to the Corinthians
Paul makes a clear distinction between "the Twelve" and "all the
apostles," mentioned as two different groups to benefit from the
apparitions of the Risen One (cf. 14:5.7).
In that same text he then goes on to humbly name himself "the least of
the apostles," comparing himself to an abortion and affirming
literally: "not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to
me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of
them; not I, however, but the grace of God (that is) with me." (1
Corinthians 15:9-10).
The metaphor of the abortion expresses extreme humility; it is also
found in the Letter to the Romans of St. Ignatius of Antioch: "I am the
least of all, I am an abortion, but it will be given to me to be
something, if I reach God" (9:2). What the bishop of Antioch will say
in relation to his imminent martyrdom, foreseeing that it would reverse
his unworthy condition, St. Paul says in relation to his own apostolic
commitment: It is in this that the fruitfulness of God's grace is
manifested, who knows how to transform an unsuccessful man into a
splendid apostle. From persecutor to founder of Churches: This is what
God has done in one who, from the evangelical point of view, could have
been considered rejected!
According to St. Paul's conception, what has God made of him and of the
other apostles? In his letters three main characteristics appear, which
constitute the apostle. The first is to have "seen the Lord" (cf. 1
Corinthians 9:1), namely, to have had a decisive encounter with him,
virtually chosen, by the grace of God with the revelation of his Son in
view of the joyful proclamation to the pagans. In a word, it is the
Lord who constitutes the apostolate, not one's presumption. The apostle
does not make himself, but is made by the Lord. Hence, the apostle
needs to refer constantly to the Lord. It is no accident that Paul says
he was "called to be an apostle" (Romans 1:1), that is, "not from human
beings nor through a human being but through Jesus Christ and God the
Father" (Galatians 1:1). This is the first characteristic: to have seen
the Lord, to have been called by him.
The second characteristic is to "have been sent." The Greek term
"apostolos" itself means, in fact, "sent, ordered," that is, ambassador
and bearer of a message; therefore he must act as charged with and
representative of a mandate. It is because of this that Paul describes
himself as "Apostle of Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians
1:1), namely, his delegate, placed totally at his service, so much so
as to call himself "a slave of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:1). Once again
the idea appears in the first place of another initiative, that of God
in Jesus Christ, to whom one is fully obliged, but above all the fact
is underlined that a mission was received from him to fulfill in his
name, putting absolutely in second place all personal interests.
The third requisite is the exercise of the "proclamation of the
Gospel," with the consequent foundation of Churches. The title
"apostle," in fact, is not and cannot be honorific. It entails
concretely and even dramatically the whole existence of the subject in
question. In the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul exclaims: "Am I
not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in
the Lord?" (9:1).
Similarly in the Second Letter to the Corinthians he affirms: "You are
our letter ... a letter of Christ administered by us, written not in
ink but by the Spirit of the living God" (3:2-3).
Do not be surprised, then, if [St. John] Chrysostom speaks of Paul as
"a diamond soul" (Panegirici, 1,8), and continues saying: "In the same
way that fire applying itself to different materials is reinforced even
more ... so Paul's word won to his cause all those with whom he
related, and those who made war on him, captivated by his speeches,
became fuel for this spiritual fire" (ibid., 7,11). This explains why
Paul describes apostles as "God's co-workers" (1 Corinthians 3:9; 2
Corinthians 6:1), whose grace acts with them.
A typical element of the true apostle, brought well into the light by
St. Paul, is a sort of identification between the Gospel and the
evangelizer, both destined to the same end. No one like Paul, in fact,
has evidenced how the proclamation of the cross of Christ appears as "a
stumbling block" and "foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:23), to which many
react with incomprehension and rejection. This occurred at that time,
and it should not be surprising that the same happens also today. The
apostle also shares in the destiny of appearing as "a stumbling block"
and "foolishness," and Paul knows it; this is the experience of his
life.
To the Corinthians he wrote, not without a trace of irony: "For as I
see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people
sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to
angels and human beings alike. We are fools on Christ's account, but
you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held
in honor, but we in disrepute. To this very hour we go hungry and
thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about
homeless and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we
bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently.
We have become like the world's rubbish, the scum of all, to this very
moment" (1 Corinthians 4:9-13). It is a self-portrait of St. Paul's
apostolic life: In all these sufferings the joy prevails of being
bearers of God's blessing and of the grace of the Gospel.
Paul, moreover, shares with the Stoic philosophy of his time the idea
of a tenacious constancy in all the difficulties that come his way; but
he surpasses the merely humanistic perspective, recalling the component
of the love of God and of Christ. "What will separate us from the love
of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we
are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be
slaughtered.' No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through
him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans
8:35-39).
This is the certainty, the profound joy that guides the Apostle Paul in
all these affairs: Nothing can separate us from the love of God. And
this love is the true wealth of human life.
As can be seen, St. Paul gave himself to the Gospel with all this life;
we can say 24 hours out of 24! And he carried out his ministry with
fidelity and joy, "to save at least some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).
And in his encounters with the Churches, though knowing he had a
relationship of paternity with them (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:15) if not
really of maternity (cf. Galatians 4:19), he put himself in an attitude
of complete service, stating admirably: "Not that we lord it over your
faith; rather, we work together for your joy, for you stand firm in the
faith" (2 Corinthians 1:24). This remains the mission of all the
apostles of Christ in all times: to be fellow workers of true joy.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Pope then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In English, he
said]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In today’s catechesis we turn to Saint Paul’s view of what it means to
be an apostle of Jesus Christ. Though he did not belong to the group of
the Twelve, called by Jesus during his ministry, Paul nevertheless
claims the title for himself because he was chosen and transformed by
the grace of God, and shared the three principal characteristics of the
true apostle. The first is to have seen the Lord (1 Cor 9:1) and to
have been called by him. One becomes an apostle by divine vocation, not
by personal choice. The second characteristic also underlines the
divine initiative: an apostle is someone who is sent and therefore acts
and speaks as a delegate of Christ, placed totally at his service. The
third characteristic is dedication to the work of proclaiming the
Gospel and founding Christian communities. Saint Paul can point to his
many trials and sufferings that speak clearly of his courageous
dedication to the mission (cf. 2 Cor 11:23-28). In this context he sees
an identification between the life of the apostle and the Gospel that
he preaches; the apostle himself is despised when the Gospel is
rejected. Saint Paul was steadfast in his many difficulties and
persecutions, sustained above all by the unfailing love of Christ (cf.
Rom 8:35-39). May the example of his apostolic zeal inspire and
encourage us today!
I am happy to greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims
present at today’s audience, including the All Party Parliamentary
Group from the United Kingdom, and the participants in the seminar on
Social Communications at the Santa Croce Pontifical University. I also
greet the groups from England, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, South Africa,
Zambia, India and the United States of America. May your pilgrimage
renew your love for the Lord and his Church, and may God bless you all!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Paul and the Other Apostles
"He Insists on Fidelity to What He Himself Has Received"
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 24, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I would like to speak about the relationship between St. Paul and
the apostles who preceded him in the following of Jesus. These
relationships were always marked by profound respect and by the
frankness that in Paul stemmed from the defense of the truth of the
Gospel. Although he was practically a contemporary of Jesus of
Nazareth, he never had the opportunity to meet him during his public
life. Because of this, after the dazzling light on the road to
Damascus, he saw the need to consult the first disciples of the Master,
who had been chosen by [Christ] to take the Gospel to the ends of the
earth.
In the Letter to the Galatians, Paul elaborates an important report on
the contacts maintained with some of the Twelve: above all with Peter,
who had been chosen as Cephas, Aramaic word that means rock, on which
the Church was built (cf. Galatians 1:18), with James, the "Lord's
brother" (cf. Galatians 1:19), and with John (cf. Galatians 2:9). Paul
does not hesitate to acknowledge them as the "pillars" of the Church.
Particularly significant is the meeting with Cephas (Peter), which took
place in Jerusalem. Paul stayed with him for 15 days to "consult him"
(cf. Galatians 1:19), that is, to be informed on the earthly life of
the Risen One, who had "seized" him on the road to Damascus and was
changing his life radically: from persecutor of the Church of God he
became evangelizer of faith in the crucified Messiah and Son of God,
which in the past he had tried to destroy (cf. Galatians 1:23).
What type of information did Paul obtain on Jesus in the three years
after the encounter of Damascus? In the First Letter to the Corinthians
we find two passages, which Paul had learned in Jerusalem and which had
been formulated as central elements of the Christian tradition, the
constitutive tradition. He transmits them verbally, exactly as he has
received them, with a very solemn formula: "I delivered to you ... what
I also received."
He insists, therefore, on fidelity to what he himself has received and
transmits faithfully to the new Christians. They are constitutive
elements and concern the Eucharist and the Resurrection. They are texts
already formulated in the [decade of] the 30s. Thus we come to the
death, burial in the heart of the earth and resurrection of Jesus (cf.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Let's take one at a time: the words of Jesus in the Last Supper (cf. 1
Corinthians 11:23-25) really are for Paul the center of the life of the
Church. The Church is built from this center, being in this way
herself. In addition to this Eucharistic center, from which the Church
is always reborn -- also for all Paul's theology, for all his thought
-- these words have a notable impact on Paul's personal relationship
with Jesus. On one hand, they attest that the Eucharist illumines the
curse of the cross, changing it into a blessing (Galatians 3:13-14),
and on the other, they explain the breadth of the very death and
resurrection of Jesus. In his letters, the "for you" of the institution
becomes the "for me" (Galatians 2:20), personalized, knowing that in
that "you" he himself was known and loved by Jesus and, on the other
hand, "for all" (2 Corinthians 5:L14): this "for you" becomes "for me"
and "for the Church" (Ephesians 5:25), that is, also "for all" of the
expiatory sacrifice of the cross (cf. Romans 3:25). By and in the
Eucharist, the Church is built and recognizes herself as "Body of
Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:27), nourished every day by the strength of
the Spirit of the Risen One.
The other text, on the Resurrection, transmits to us again the same
formula of fidelity. St. Paul wrote: "For I delivered to you as of
first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised
on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he
appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve" (1 Corinthians 15:3-5). Also in
this tradition transmitted to Paul he again mentions the expression
"for our sins," which underlines the gift that Jesus has made of
himself to the Father, to deliver us from sin and death. From this gift
of himself, Paul draws the most moving and fascinating expressions of
our relationship with Christ: "For our sake he made him to be sin who
knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2
Corinthians 5:21). "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by
his poverty you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). It is worthwhile
to recall the commentary with which the then Augustinian monk Martin
Luther accompanied these paradoxical expressions of Paul: "This is the
grandiose mystery of divine grace toward sinners: by an admirable
exchange our sins no longer are ours, but Christ's, and the
righteousness of Christ is no longer Christ's but ours" (Commentary on
the Psalms from 1513-1515). And so we have been saved.
In the original kerygma -- proclamation -- transmitted from mouth to
mouth, it is worth pointing out the use of the verb "has risen,"
instead of "rose" which would have been more logical, in continuity
with "died" and "was buried." The verbal form "has risen" has been
chosen to underline that Christ's resurrection affects up to the
present the existence of believers: We can translate it as "has risen
and continues to be alive" in the Eucharist and in the Church. Thus all
the Scriptures attest to the death and resurrection of Christ, because
-- as Hugh of Saint Victor wrote -- "the whole of divine Scripture
constitutes only one book, and this book is Christ, because the whole
of Scripture speaks of Christ and finds its fulfillment in Christ" (De
Arca Noe, 2, 8). If St. Ambrose of Milan can say that "in Scripture we
read Christ," it is because the Church of the origins has reread all
Israel's Scriptures starting from and returning to Christ.
The enumeration of the Risen One's apparitions to Cephas, to the
Twelve, to more than 500 brethren, and to James closes with the
reference to the personal apparition received by Paul on the road to
Damascus: "Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to
me" (1 Corinthians 15:8). Because he had persecuted the Church of God,
he expresses in this confession his unworthiness to be considered an
apostle, at the same level as those who preceded him: but God's grace
has not been in vain in him (1 Corinthians 15:10). Hence, the boastful
affirmation of divine grace unites Paul with the first witnesses of
Christ's resurrection. "Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and
so you have believed" (1 Corinthians 15:11). The identity and unity of
the proclamation of the Gospel is important: both they and I preach the
same faith, the same Gospel of Jesus Christ dead and risen who gives
himself in the most holy Eucharist.
The importance that he bestows on the living Tradition of the Church,
which she transmits to her communities, demonstrates how mistaken is
the view of those who attribute to Paul the invention of Christianity:
Before proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he encountered him on
the road to Damascus, and met him in the Church, observing his life in
the Twelve, and in those who had followed him on the roads of Galilee.
In the next catecheses we will have the opportunity to go more
profoundly into the contributions that Paul has made to the Church of
the origins; however, the mission received on the part of the Risen One
in order to evangelize the Gentiles must be confirmed and guaranteed by
those who gave him and Barnabas their right hand, in sign of approval
of their apostolate and evangelization, and of acceptance in the one
communion of the Church of Christ (cf. Galatians 2:9).
We understand, therefore, that the expression -- "[f]rom now on,
therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we
once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no
longer" (2 Corinthians 5:16) -- does not mean that his earthly life has
little relevance for our maturing in the faith, but that from the
moment of the Resurrection, our way of relating to him changes. He is,
at the same time, the Son of God, "who was descended from David
according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to
the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead," as St. Paul
recalls at the beginning of the Letter to the Romans (1:3-4).
The more we try to follow in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth on the
roads of Galilee, so much the more will we understand that he has taken
charge of our humanity, sharing in everything except sin. Our faith is
not born from a myth or an idea, but from an encounter with the Risen
One, in the life of the Church.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[At the end of the audience, Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims in several
languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In today's catechesis we turn again to the life of Saint Paul and
consider his relationship with the Twelve Apostles. In his letter to
the Galatians, Paul speaks of his visits to Jerusalem where he
consulted Peter, James and John, reputed to be the "pillars" of the
Church. Paul's mission to the Gentiles needed to be confirmed and
guaranteed by those who had been disciples of Jesus during his earthly
life, and they offered to him and to Barnabas the right hand of
fellowship. Paul passed on the living tradition that he had received:
the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, his death and resurrection, and
his appearances to Peter and to the Twelve. Paul emphasizes that Jesus
died "for our sins", he offered himself to the Father in order to
deliver us from sin and death. And now that Jesus has risen from the
dead, he is living in his Church and in the Eucharist, where we
continue to encounter him. Just as Paul's teaching is rooted in his
experience on the road to Damascus, and in his knowledge of Christ
acquired through the Church, so too our faith is grounded, not on myths
or pious legends, but on the words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, and
on our encounter with the risen Lord, present in the life of his Church.
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and
visitors here today, including the choir from New Zealand and the
groups from Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia, Africa, Australia and the
Far East. I greet in particular the new students from the Venerable
English College and the priests from Ireland who are taking part in a
renewal course. May your pilgrimage renew your faith in Christ present
in his Church, after the example of the Apostle Saint Paul. May God
bless you all!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
On Paul's Dealings
With Peter
"Only Sincere Dialogue Could Guide the Path of the Church"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 1, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
The respect and veneration for the Twelve, which Paul had always
cultivated, did not diminish when he frankly defended the truth of the
Gospel, which is nothing other than Jesus Christ, the Lord. Today, we
wish to pause on two episodes that show this veneration, and at the
same time, the freedom with which the Apostle addressed Cephas and the
other apostles: the so-called Council of Jerusalem and the incident in
Antioch of Syria, related in the Letter to the Galatians (cf. 2:1-10;
2:11-14).
Every council and synod in the Church is an "event of the Spirit" and
gathers together the solicitudes of the whole People of God. Those who
participated in the Second Vatican Council experienced this in first
person. Because of this, St. Luke, in informing us about the first
council of the Church, which took place in Jerusalem, introduces in
this way the letter the apostles sent in this circumstance to the
Christian communities of the diaspora: "It is the decision of the Holy
Spirit and of us" (Acts 15:28). The Spirit, who works in the whole
Church, guides the apostles by the hand in the hour of taking on new
paths or fulfilling their projects. He is the principal artisan of the
building up of the Church.
Nevertheless, the assembly in Jerusalem took place in a moment of not
little tension within the community of the origins. It regarded
responding to the question of whether it was opportune to demand
circumcision of the pagans who were converting to Jesus Christ, the
Lord, or whether it was licit to leave them free of the Mosaic law,
that is, free from the observation of the necessary norms for being a
just man, obedient to the law, and above all, free of the norms
relating to the purification rituals, pure and impure foods, and the
Sabbath.
St. Paul in Galatians 2: 1-10 also refers to the assembly in Jerusalem:
Fourteen years after his encounter with the Risen One in Damascus -- we
are in the second half of the decade of the 40s -- Paul leaves for
Antioch of Syria with Barnabas, and also accompanied by Titus, his
faithful coworker who, though of Greek origin, had not been obligated
to be circumcised when he joined the Church. On this occasion, Paul
presents to the Twelve, defined as those of repute, his gospel of
freedom from the law (cf. Galatians 2:6).
In light of his encounter with the risen Christ, he had understood that
in the moment of passing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, circumcision
was no longer necessary for the pagans, nor the laws regarding food and
regarding the Sabbath, as a sign of justice: Christ is our justice and
"just" is all that which conforms to him. Other signs are not necessary
in order to be just. In the Letter to the Galatians, he refers, with
few words, to the development of the assembly: He enthusiastically
recalls that the gospel of liberty from the law was approved by James,
Cephas and John, "the pillars," who offered to him and to Barnabas the
right hand in sign of ecclesial communion in Christ (Galatians 2:9).
As we have noted, if for Luke the Council of Jerusalem expresses the
action of the Holy Spirit, for Paul it represents the recognition of
the liberty shared among all those who participated in it: liberty from
the obligations deriving from circumcision and the law; this liberty
for which "for freedom, Christ has set us free" and let us not submit
again to the yoke of slavery (cf. Galatians 5:1). The two forms with
which Paul and Luke describe the Assembly of Jerusalem are united in
the liberating action of the Holy Spirit, because "where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom," he would say in the Second Letter to
the Corinthians (cf. 3:17).
For all that, as clearly appears in St. Paul's letters, Christian
liberty is never identified with license or with the freewill to do
what one wants. It is carried out in conformity with Christ, and
therefore, in the authentic service of man, above all, of the most
needy. Because of this, Paul's report of the assembly closed by
recalling the recommendation the apostles gave him: "Only, we were to
be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do"
(Galatians 2:10).
Every council is born from the Church and returns to the Church: On
that occasion it returned with the attention to the poor, which from
Paul's various notes in his letters, are above all those of the Church
of Jerusalem. In the concern for the poor, particularly testified to in
the Second Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 8-9) and in the conclusion of
the Letter to the Romans (cf. 15), Paul shows his fidelity to the
decisions that matured during the assembly.
Perhaps we are not yet able to fully understand the meaning Paul and
his communities gave to the collection for the poor of Jerusalem. It
was a totally new initiative in the panorama of religious activities.
It was not obligatory, but free and spontaneous. All of the Churches
founded by Paul in the West participated. The collection expressed the
debt of these communities to the mother Church of Palestine, from which
they had received the ineffable gift of the Gospel. The value that Paul
attributes to this gesture of participation is so great that he rarely
calls it a "collection": It is rather "service," "blessing," "love,"
"grace," even "liturgy" (2 Corinthians 9).
This last term, in particular, is surprising; it confers on the
collection of money a value even of veneration: On one hand, it is a
liturgical gesture or "service," offered by each community to God, and
on the other, it is an action of love carried out in favor of the
people. Love for the poor and divine liturgy go together; love for the
poor is liturgy. These two horizons are present in every liturgy
celebrated and lived in the Church, which by its nature opposes a
separation between worship and life, between faith and works, between
prayer and charity toward the brothers. Thus the Council of Jerusalem
is born to resolve the question of how to behave with the pagans who
arrived to the faith, choosing freedom from circumcision and the
observances imposed by the law, and it ends with the pastoral
solicitude that places at the center faith in Christ Jesus and love for
the poor of Jerusalem and the whole Church.
The second episode is the well known incident in Antioch, in Syria,
which allows us to understand the interior liberty that Paul enjoyed.
How should one behave on the occasions of communion at the table
between believers of Jewish origin and those of Gentile background?
Here is revealed the other epicenter of the Mosaic observance: the
distinction between pure and impure foods, which deeply divided the
observant Hebrews from the pagans. Initially, Cephas, Peter, shared the
table with both, but with the arrival of some Christians linked to
James, "the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19), Peter had begun to
avoid contact at the table with pagans, so as not to scandalize those
who continued observing the rules regarding food purity. And this
choice was shared by Barnabas. That choice deeply divided the
Christians come from circumcision and those come from paganism.
This behavior, which truly threatened the unity and liberty of the
Church, brought a fiery reaction from Paul, who arrived to the point of
accusing Peter and the rest of hypocrisy. "If you, though a Jew, are
living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the
Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Galatians 2:14). In reality, the concerns
of Paul, on one hand, and Peter and Barnabas on the other, were
different: For the latter, the separation of the pagans represented a
way to teach and avoid scandalizing the believers coming from Judaism.
For Paul, it constituted, on the other hand, the danger of a
misunderstanding of the universal salvation in Christ offered as much
to the pagans as to the Jews. If justification was brought about only
in virtue of faith in Christ, of conformity with him, without any work
of the law, then what sense was there in still observing the [rules on]
purity of food when participating at the table? Very probably the
perspectives of Peter and Paul were different: for the first, not
losing the Jews who had embraced the Gospel, for the second, not
diminishing the salvific value of the death of Christ for all believers.
It is interesting to note, but writing to the Christians of Rome a few
years later, (around the middle of the decade of the 50s), Paul will
find himself before a similar situation and he will ask the strong that
they not eat impure food so as not to lose the weak or cause scandal
for them. "It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that
causes your brother to stumble" (Romans 14:21). The incident in Antioch
showed itself to be a lesson both for Peter and for Paul. Only sincere
dialogue, open to the truth of the Gospel, could guide the path of the
Church: "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but
of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).
It is a lesson that we should also learn: With the distinct charisms
entrusted to Peter and Paul, let us all be guided by the Spirit, trying
to live in the liberty that finds its orientation in faith in Christ
and is made tangible in service to our brothers. It is essential to be
ever more conformed to Christ. It is in this way that one is truly
free, in this way the deepest nucleus of the law is expressed in us:
the love of God and neighbor. Let us ask the Lord to teach us to share
his sentiments, to learn from him the true liberty and evangelical love
that embraces every human being.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he
said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider two events
which illustrate Paul’s relationship to the Twelve, which combined
respect for their authority with frankness in the service of the
Gospel. At the Council of Jerusalem Paul defended before the Twelve his
conviction that the grace of Christ had freed the Gentiles from the
obligations of the Mosaic Law. Significantly, the Church’s decision in
this matter of faith was accompanied by a gesture of concrete concern
for the needs of the poor (cf. Gal 2:10). By endorsing Paul’s
collections among the Gentiles, the Council thus set its teaching on
Christian freedom within the context of the Church’s communion in
charity. Later, in Antioch, when Peter, to avoid scandalizing Jewish
Christians, abstained from eating with the Gentiles, Paul rebuked him
for compromising the freedom brought by Christ (cf. Gal 2:11-14). Yet,
writing to the Romans years later, Paul himself insisted that our
freedom in Christ must not become a source of scandal for others (cf.
Rom 14:21). Paul’s example shows us that, led by the Spirit and within
the communion of the Church, Christians are called to live in a freedom
which finds its highest expression in service to others.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On How St. Paul Knew Christ
"Jesus Lives Now and Speaks With Us Now"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 8, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the previous catecheses on St. Paul, I spoke of his encounter with
the Risen Christ, which fundamentally changed his life, and then of his
relationship with the Twelve Apostles called by Jesus, particularly
with Sts. James, Peter and John, and of his relationship with the
Church of Jerusalem.
The question that now remains is what St. Paul knew of the earthly
Jesus: of his life, his teachings, his passion. Before entering into
this question it could be useful to have in mind that Paul himself
distinguished two ways of knowing Jesus and, in general, two ways of
knowing a person.
He writes in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: "Consequently, from
now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew
Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer”
(5:16). To know "according to the flesh," in a corporeal way, means to
know only from the outside, with external criteria: one can see a
person many times, recognize the individual's facial characteristics
and the many details of how he acts: how he talks, moves, etc. Yet,
even knowing someone in this way, one does not really know the person,
one doesn't know the nucleus of the person. Only with the heart is one
able to truly know a person.
In fact the Pharisees, the Sadducees, knew Christ from the outside,
they heard his teachings, and knew many details of him, but they did
not know him in his truth. There is an analogous distinction in the
words of Jesus. After the Transfiguration, he asked the apostles: "Who
do people say I am?" And, "Who do you say that I am?" The people know
him, but superficially; they know many things about him, but they do
not really know him. On the other hand, thanks to their friendship, and
the role of their hearts, the Twelve at least substantially understood
and began to learn more of who Christ really was.
This distinctive manner of knowing also exists today: There are learned
individuals who know many details of Christ, and simple people who
don't know these details, but they know Christ in his truth: "The heart
speaks to the heart." And Paul essentially says that he knows Jesus in
this way, with the heart, and that he knows essentially the person in
his truth; and then afterward, he knows the details.
Having said this, the question remains: What did Paul know about the
life, words, passion and miracles of Jesus? It seems he never met
Christ during his early life. Surely he learned the details of Christ's
earthly life from the apostles and the nascent Church. In his letters
we find three forms of reference to the pre-Easter Jesus. First, there
are explicit and direct references. Paul spoke of the Davidic lineage
of Jesus (cf. Romans 1:3), he knew of the existence of his "brothers"
or blood relatives (1 Corinthians 9:5; Galatians 1:19), he knew of the
development of the Last Supper (cf 1 Corinthians 11:23). He know other
phrases of Jesus, for example on the indissolubility of marriage (cf 1
Corinthians 7:10 with Mark 10:11-12), on the need that those who
announce the Gospel be sustained by the community as the worker
deserves his wage (cf 1 Corinthians 9:14 with Luke 10:7). Paul knew the
words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper (cf 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 with
Luke 22:19-20), and he also knew the cross of Jesus. These are direct
references to the words and facts of the life of Jesus.
Second, we can see in some phrases of the Pauline letters various
allusions to the confirmed tradition in the synoptic Gospels. For
example, the words we read in 1 Thessalonians, according to which "the
day of the Lord will come like a thief at night” (5:2), cannot be
explained by referring to the Old Testament prophecies, because the
metaphor of the thief at night is only found in the Gospels of Matthew
and Luke, hence taken from the synoptic tradition. And when one reads
that God "chose the foolish of the world" (1 Corinthians 1:27-28), one
notes the faithful echo of the teachings of Jesus on the simple and the
poor (cf Matthew 5:3; 11:25; 19:30). There are also the words of Jesus
in the messianic Jubilee: “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and
the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” Paul knows --
from his missionary experience -- that these words are true, those who
are childlike are the ones who have their hearts open to knowledge of
Christ. Also, the mention of the obedience of Jesus "to death" that is
found in Philippians 2:8 can't but point to the total willingness of
the earthly Christ to fulfill the will of the Father (cf Mark 3:35; Jn
4:34).
Paul therefore knew the passion of Christ, his cross, and the way in
which he lived the last moments of his life. The cross of Jesus and the
tradition regarding the fact of the cross is at the center of the
Pauline Kerygma. Another pillar of the life of Jesus that Paul knew was
the Sermon on the Mount, some elements of which he cites almost
literally when he writes to the Romans: "Love one another. ... Blessed
are the persecuted. ... Live in peace with all. ... Overcome evil with
good." In his letters there is a faithful expression of the Sermon on
the Mount (cf Matthew 5-7).
Finally, it is possible to find a third way that the words of Jesus are
in the letters of Paul: It is when he transposed the pre-Easter
tradition to the post-Easter period. A typical example is the theme of
the Kingdom of God. This is certainly at the center of the preaching of
the historical Christ (cf Matthew 3:2; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43). In Paul
the transposition of this theme is revealed, for after the resurrection
it is evident that Jesus, the Resurrected One, is the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom, then, is where Jesus is. And then necessarily the theme of
the Kingdom of God, in which the mystery of Christ had been
anticipated, is transformed into Christology.
Jesus' own instructions for entering the Kingdom of God are valid for
Paul in regard to the justification by faith: Both require an attitude
of great humility and availability, free of presumptions, to receive
the grace of God. For example, the parable of the Pharisee and the
publican (cf Luke 18:9-14) teaches exactly what St. Paul discusses when
he insists that nobody should glorify themselves in the presence of
God. Also, the teaching of Jesus on the publicans and the prostitutes,
who are more willing than the Pharisees to receive the Gospel (cf
Matthew 21:31; Luke 7:36-50), and his decisions to share a table with
them (cf Matthew 9:10-13; Luke 15:1-2), are found in the doctrine of
Paul on the mysterious love of God toward sinners (cf Romans 5:8-10 and
Ephesians 2:3-5). In this way the theme of the Kingdom of God is
proposed in a new manner, but always faithful to the tradition of the
historic Jesus.
Another example of the faithful transposition of the doctrinal nucleus
of Jesus is found in the "titles" that refer to him. Before Easter,
Christ called himself "Son of Man"; after Easter it is evident that the
Son of Man is also the Son of God. Therefore, the preferred title of
Paul for Jesus is "Kyrios" -- Lord (cf Phillipians 9:11) -- that
indicates the divinity of Jesus. With this title the Lord Jesus appears
in the full light of his resurrection.
On the Mount of Olives, in the moment of Jesus' extreme anguish (cf
Mark 14:36), the disciples, before going to sleep, heard how Jesus
spoke with the Father and called him "Abba -- Father.” This is a very
informal word, equal to "daddy," used only by children for their
father. Until that moment it was unthinkable that a Hebrew use a word
such as that to address God; but Jesus, being truly a son, talked in
this way during this hour of intimacy and said "Abba, Father."
In the letters of St. Paul to the Romans and Galatians, surprisingly,
this word "Abba," which expresses the exclusivity of the sonship of
Jesus, appears in the mouths of the baptized (cf Romans 8:15; Galatians
4:6). They have received the "Spirit of the Son" and now carry in
themselves this Spirit, and they can talk as Jesus and with Jesus as
true sons of the Father. They can say "Abba" because they have been
converted into sons and daughters in the Son.
And finally, I would like to point out the salvific dimension of the
death of Jesus, as we find in the Gospel in which "the Son of Man did
not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for
many” (Mark 10:45; Matthew 20:28). The faithful expression of this
phrase of Jesus appears in the Pauline doctrine on the death of Jesus
as a rescue (cf 1 Corinthians 6:20), as redemption (cf Romans 3:24), as
liberation (cf Galatians 5:1) and as reconciliation (cf Romans 5:10; 2
Corinthians 5:18-20). Here is the center of Pauline theology, which is
based in this phrase of Jesus.
In conclusion, St. Paul did not think Jesus was something historical,
as a person from the past. He certainly knew the great tradition
regarding his life, his words, his death and his resurrection, but he
did not treat them as something from the past; he proposed them as the
reality of the living Jesus. The words and actions of Jesus for Paul do
not pertain to a historic time, to the past. Jesus lives now and speaks
with us now, and lives for us. This is the true manner to get to know
Jesus, and to learn the tradition of him. We should also learn to know
Jesus, not physically, as a person of the past, but as our Lord and
brother, that today is with us and shows us how to live and how to die.
[Translation by Karna Swanson]
[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he
said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider Paul’s
relationship to the so-called "historical" Jesus. In a celebrated
passage Paul states that "even though we once knew Christ according to
the flesh, we no longer know him in that way" (2 Cor 5:16). Here the
Apostle does not claim that he knew Jesus during his earthly ministry,
but rather that he once considered Jesus from a merely human
standpoint. Significantly, Paul’s knowledge of Christ came from the
preaching of the early Church. Both his initial rejection of Jesus and
-- after his conversion on the road to Damascus -- his preaching of the
glorified Christ were based on the Gospel as proclaimed by the first
Christian community. In his Letters, Paul refers explicitly to the
facts of Jesus’ earthly life, as well as to his teaching. His Letters
also reflect many central themes and images drawn from the preaching of
Jesus. Paul’s teaching on the Jesus’ identity as the Son of the Father,
in whom we receive redemption and adoptive sonship, is clearly derived
from the Lord’s own experience and teaching. In a word, Paul’s
knowledge of Jesus and his proclamation of the risen Lord as God’s Son
and our Saviour, was grounded in the life and preaching of Jesus
himself.
I warmly greet all the English-speaking pilgrims, and in a special way,
diaconal candidates from the Pontifical North American College with
their families: may the grace of Holy Orders enliven you to preach the
Gospel of Christ with conviction and love! I also welcome pilgrims from
the Diocese of Hamilton, members of Christ Teens Malaysia, ecumenical
pilgrims from Norway, as well as visitors from Indonesia, China, Japan,
Australia, Sweden, England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Netherlands. God
bless you all!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Paul's Teaching on the Church
"We Are the Temple of God in the World"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 15, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters:
In last Wednesday's catechesis, I spoke of Paul's relationship with the
pre-Easter Jesus in his earthly life. The question was: "What did Paul
know of the life of Jesus, his words, his passion?"
Today, I would like to speak of the teaching of St. Paul on the Church.
We should begin by noting that this word -- "iglesia" in Spanish, like
"église" in French or "chiesa" in Italian -- is taken from the
Greek
"ekkle-sía." It comes from the Old Testament and means the
assembly of
the people of Israel, gathered by God, and particularly the model
assembly at the foot of Sinai.
Now this word alludes to the new community of believers in Christ who
know themselves to be the assembly of God, the new gathering of all
peoples by God and before him. The term "ekkle-sía" only appears
in the
writings of Paul, who is the first author of a Christian writing. This
happens in the "incipit" of the first Letter to the Thessalonians,
where Paul addresses himself textually to "the Church of the
Thessalonians" (cf. later as well the [address to the] "Church of the
Laodiceans in Colossians 4:16).
In other letters he speaks of the Church of God that is at Corinth (cf.
1 Corinthians 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 1:1), that is at Galatia (Galatians
1:2, etc). -- particular Churches, therefore -- but he recounts also
having persecuted "the Church of God," not one particular local
community, but the "Church of God." Thus we see that this word "Church"
has a multifaceted meaning: It indicates on one hand the assemblies of
God in particular places (a city, a country, a house), but it also
means all of the Church taken together. And thus we see that "the
Church of God" is not just the sum of the particular local Churches,
but that these are at the same time the actualization of the one Church
of God. All together they are the "Church of God," which precedes each
local Church and which is expressed and actualized in them.
It is important to observe that nearly always the word "Church" appears
with the added descriptor "of God": It is not a human association, born
from ideas or common interests, but a gathering of God. He has gathered
it together and because of this it is one in all of its actualizations.
The unity of God creates the unity of the Church in all of the places
where it is found. Later, in the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul
abundantly elaborates the concept of the unity of the Church, in
continuation with the concept of the people of God, Israel, considered
by the prophets as the "spouse of God," called to live a spousal
relationship with him. Paul presents the only Church of God as "spouse
of Christ" in love, one spirit with Christ himself.
It is known that the young Paul had been an ardent adversary of the new
movement constituted by the Church of Christ. He had been its
adversary, because he had seen threatened in this new movement the
fidelity to the tradition of the people of God, animated by faith in
the one God. This fidelity was expressed above all in circumcision, in
the observance of the norms of cultural purity, in abstaining from
certain foods, in respect for the Sabbath.
The Israelites paid for this fidelity with their blood during the time
of the Maccabees, when the Greek regime wanted to force all peoples to
take on a sole Greek culture. Many of the Israelites had defended with
their blood the vocation proper to Israel. The martyrs had paid with
their lives for the identity of their people, expressed through these
elements.
After his encounter with the risen Christ, Paul understood that the
Christians weren't traitors; on the contrary, in the new situation, the
God of Israel, through Christ, had extended his call to all people,
becoming the God of all peoples. In this way, fidelity to the only God
was fulfilled; the distinctive signs made up of particular norms and
observances were no longer necessary, because all were called, in their
differences, to form part of the one people of God in the "Church of
God," in Christ.
One thing was immediately clear to Paul in the new situation: the
fundamental and foundational value of Christ and the "word" he
proclaimed. Paul knew that not only is one not a Christian by coercion,
but that rather in the internal configuration of the new community, the
institutionally component was inevitably linked to the "living word,"
the proclamation of the living Christ in which God opens himself to all
peoples and unites them in the one people of God. It is significant
that Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, uses many times, even because
of Paul, the phrase "proclaim the word" (Acts 4:29,31; 8:25; 11:19;
13:46; 14:25; 16:6,32), with the evident intention of showing to the
maximum the decisive reach of the "word" of the proclamation.
Concretely, this word is made up of the cross and resurrection of
Christ, in which the Scriptures have been fulfilled. The paschal
mystery, announced in the word, is fulfilled in the sacraments of
baptism and Eucharist, and materializes in Christian charity. The
evangelizing work of Paul does not have any other goal than to firmly
establish the community of the believers in Christ. This idea is within
the same etymology of the term "ekkle-sía," which Paul, and with
him
all of Christianity, prefers to the other term "synagogue," not only
because originally the first is more "lay" -- deriving from the Greek
praxis of the political assembly and not properly religious -- but also
because it directly implies the more theological idea of a call "ab
extra," not only a simple meeting. The believers are called by God, who
gathers them in a community, his Church.
Along this line, we can also understand the original concept,
exclusively Pauline, of the Church as "Body of Christ." In this
respect, it is fitting to keep in mind the two dimension of this
concept. One is of a sociological character, according to which the
body is formed by its components and wouldn't exist without them. This
interpretation appears in the Letter to the Romans and the First Letter
to the Corinthians, where Paul takes up an image that already existed
in Roman sociology. He says that a people is like a body with distinct
members, each one of which has its function, but all, even the smallest
and apparently insignificant, are necessary so the body can live and
perform its functions. Opportunely, the Apostle observes that in the
Church there are many vocations: prophets, apostles, teachers, simple
peoples, all called to live charity each day, all necessary for
constructing the living unity of this spiritual organism.
The other interpretation makes reference to the very Body of Christ.
Paul sustains that the Church is not just an organism, but rather
becomes truly the Body of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist,
where all receive his Body and truly become his Body. Thus is fulfilled
the spousal mystery, that all are one body and one spirit in Christ.
Hence the reality goes much beyond the sociological imagination,
expressing its true, profound essence, that is, the unity of all the
baptized in Christ, considered by the Apostle, "one" in Christ,
conformed to the sacrament of his Body.
Saying this, Paul shows he knows well and he brings us to understand
that the Church is not his and is not ours: the Church is the body of
Christ, it is "Church of God, " "field of God," construction of God …
"temple of God" (1 Corinthians 3:9,16). This last designation is
particularly interesting, because it attributes to an interweaving of
interpersonal relationships a term that was commonly used to indicate a
physical place, considered sacred. The relationship between Church and
temple assumes therefore two complementary dimensions: On one hand, the
characteristic of separation and purity, which the sacred building had,
is applied to the ecclesial community; on the other hand, the concept
of a material space is surpassed, to transfer this value to the reality
of a living community of faith. If before, temples were considered
places of the presence of God, now it is known and seen that God does
not dwell in buildings made of stone, but that the place of the
presence of God is in the world of the living community of the
believers.
One separate discourse would merit the qualification of "people of
God," which in Paul is applied substantially to the people of the Old
Testament and afterward to the pagans, that were "no people" and that
have become also the people of God thanks to their insertion in Christ
through the word and the sacrament.
And a last sketch: In the Letter to Timothy, Paul qualifies the Church
as "house of God" (1 Timothy 3:15); and this is a truly original
definition, because it refers to the Church as a community structure in
which warm interpersonal relationships of a familial character are
lived. The Apostle helps us to understand ever better the mystery of
the Church in its distinct dimensions of assembly of God in the world.
This is the greatness of the Church and the greatness of our call: We
are the temple of God in the world, the place where God truly dwells,
and we are, at the same time, community, family of God, who is love. As
family and house of God we should carry out in the world the charity of
God and thus be, with the strength that comes from faith, the place and
sign of his presence. Let us pray to the Lord so that he grants us to
be ever more his Church, his Body, the place of the presence of his
charity in this our world and in our history.
[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he
said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider his
teaching on the Church. It was "the Church of God" which Paul
persecuted before his conversion, and throughout his Letters he uses
the term "Church" both with reference to local Christian communities
and to the Church as a whole. For Paul, faith in the person of Jesus
Christ and his Gospel is at the heart of the Church. Paul’s entire work
of evangelization, centred on the proclamation of the Paschal mystery
of the Lord’s death and resurrection, was aimed at establishing new
communities of those who believe in the Lord and share in the life of
the Spirit. The Church thus takes shape as an "ekklesía", a
concrete
assembly called into being by God’s word. For Paul, the Church is also
the "Body of Christ", a living body endowed with a complex of
ministries which are spiritual in their origin and purpose. In the
variety and the theological richness of his teaching on the Church,
Paul invites us to understand and love the Church ever more deeply, and
to work for her upbuilding in faith and charity.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Paul's Christology
"The Radical Humility of Christ Is the Expression of Divine Love"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 22, 2008 - Here is a translation of the
address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St.
Peter's Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters:
In the catecheses from previous weeks, we have meditated on the
"conversion" of St. Paul, fruit of a personal encounter with the
crucified and risen Christ, and we have asked ourselves about the
reaction of the Apostle to the Gentiles to the earthly Jesus. Today I
would like to speak of the teaching St. Paul left us about the
centrality of the risen Christ in the mystery of salvation, about his
Christology.
In reality, the risen Jesus Christ, "exalted above every name," is at
the center of all his reflections. Christ is for the Apostle the
standard to evaluate events and things, the purpose of every effort
that he makes to announce the Gospel, the great passion that sustains
his steps along the paths of the world. And he is a living Christ,
concrete: The Christ, Paul says, "who loved me and gave himself up for
me" (Galatians 2:20). This person who loves me, with whom I can speak,
who listens and responds to me, this is really the principle for
understanding the world and for finding the way in history.
Anyone who has read the writings of St. Paul knows well that he does
not concern himself with narrating the events that made up the life of
Christ, even though we can imagine that in his catecheses, he recounted
much more about the pre-Easter Jesus than what he wrote in his letters,
which are admonitions for concrete situations. His pastoral and
theological work was so directed toward the edification of the nascent
communities, that it was natural for him to concentrate everything on
the announcement of Jesus Christ as "Lord," alive today and present
among his own.
Here we see the essentiality that is characteristic of Pauline
Christology, which develops the depths of the mystery with a constant
and precise concern: To announce, with certainty, Jesus and his
teaching, but to announce above all the central reality of his death
and resurrection as the culmination of his earthly existence and the
root of the successive development of the whole Christian faith, of the
whole reality of the Church.
For the Apostle, the Resurrection is not an event in itself that is
separated from the Death. The risen One is the same One who was
crucified. The risen One also had his wounds: The Passion is present in
him and it can be said with Pascal that he is suffering until the end
of the world, though being the risen One and living with us and for us.
Paul had understood on the road to Damascus this identification of the
risen One with Christ crucified: In that moment, it was revealed with
clarity that the Crucified is the risen One and the risen One is the
Crucified, who says to Paul, "Why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4).
Paul was persecuting Christ in the Church and then understood that the
cross is "a curse of God" (Deuteronomy 21:23), but a sacrifice for our
redemption.
The Apostle contemplates with fascination the hidden secret of the
crucified-risen One, and through the sufferings endured by Christ in
his humanity (earthly dimension) arrives to this eternal existence in
which he is one with the Father (pre-temporal dimension): "But when the
fullness of time had come," he writes, "God sent his Son, born of a
woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we
might receive adoption" (Galatians 4:4-5).
These two dimensions -- the eternal pre-existence with the Father and
the descent of the Lord in the incarnation -- are already announced in
the Old Testament, in the figure of Wisdom. We find in the wisdom
literature of the Old Testament certain texts that exalt the role of
Wisdom pre-existent to the creation of the world. In this sense, you
can see passages such as Psalm 90: "Before the mountains were born, the
earth and the world brought forth, from eternity to eternity you are
God" (verse 2). Or passages such as those that speak of creating
Wisdom: "The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways, the forerunner
of his prodigies of long ago; From of old I was poured forth, at the
first, before the earth" (Proverbs 8:22-23). Indicative as well is the
praise of Wisdom, contained in the book by that name: "Indeed, she
reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well" (Wisdom
8:1).
The same wisdom texts that speak of the eternal pre-existence of Wisdom
also speak of its descent, of the abasement of this Wisdom, which has
made for itself a tent among men. Thus we can already feel resonate the
words from the Gospel of John that speak of the tent of the flesh of
the Lord. A tent was created in the Old Testament: Here is indicated
the temple, worship according to the "Torah"; but from the point of
view of the New Testament, we can understand that this was only a
pre-figuration of the much more real and significant tent: the tent of
the flesh of Christ.
And we already see in the books of the Old Testament that this
abasement of Wisdom, its descent into flesh, also implies the
possibility of being rejected. St. Paul, developing his Christology,
refers precisely to this wisdom perspective: He recognizes in Jesus the
eternal Wisdom existing from all time, the Wisdom that descends and
creates a tent among us, and thus he can describe Christ as "the power
of God and the wisdom of God." He can say that Christ has become for us
"wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). In the same way, Paul clarifies
that Christ, like Wisdom, can be rejected above all by the rulers of
this age (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:6-9), such that in the plans of God a
paradoxical situation is created: the cross, which will become the path
of salvation for the whole human race.
A later development to this wisdom cycle, which sees Wisdom abase
itself so as to be later exalted despite rejection, is found in the
famous hymn in the Letter to the Philippians (cf. 2:6-11). This
involves one of the most elevated texts of the New Testament. Exegetes
mainly concur in considering that this pericope was composed prior to
the text of the Letter to the Philippians. This is an important piece
of information, because it means that Judeo-Christianity, before St.
Paul, believed in the divinity of Jesus. In other words, faith in the
divinity of Christ is not a Hellenistic invention, arising after the
earthly life of Christ, an invention that, forgetting his humanity, had
divinized him. We see in reality that the early Judeo-Christianity
believed in the divinity of Jesus. Moreover, we can say that the
apostles themselves, in the great moments of the life of the Master,
had understood that he was the Son of God, as St. Peter says at
Caesarea Philippi: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God"
(Matthew 16:16).
But let us return to the hymn from the Letter to the Philippians. The
structure of this text can be articulated in three stanzas, which
illustrate the principle moments of the journey undertaken by Christ.
His pre-existence is expressed with the words: "though he was in the
form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God something to be
grasped" (verse 6). Afterward follows the voluntary abasement of the
Son in the second stanza: "he emptied himself, taking the form of a
slave" (verse 7) "he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even
death on a cross" (verse 8). The third stanza of the hymn announces the
response of the Father to the humiliation of the Son: "Because of this,
God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above
every name" (verse 9).
What is impressive is the contrast between the radical abasement and
the resulting glorification in the glory of God. It is evident that
this second stanza contrasts with the pretension of Adam, who wanted to
make himself God, and it contrasts as well with the actions of the
builders of the Tower of Babel, who wanted to construct for themselves
a bridge to heaven and make themselves divine. But this initiative of
pride ended with self-destruction: In this way, one doesn't arrive to
heaven, to true happiness, to God. The gesture of the Son of God is
exactly the contrary: not pride, but humility, which is the fulfillment
of love, and love is divine. The initiative of abasement, of the
radical humility of Christ, which contrasts with human pride, is really
the expression of divine love; from it follows this elevation to heaven
to which God attracts us with his love.
Besides the Letter to the Philippians, there are other places in
Pauline literature where the themes of the pre-existence and the
descent of the Son of God to earth are united. A reaffirmation of the
assimilation between Wisdom and Christ, with all its cosmic and
anthropological consequences, is found in the First Letter to Timothy:
"[He] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by
angels, proclaimed to the Gentiles, believed in throughout the world,
taken up in glory" (3:16). It is above all based on these premises that
the function of Christ as mediator could be better defined, within the
framework of the only God of the Old Testament (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5 in
relation to Isaiah 43:10-11; 44:6). Christ is the true bridge who leads
us to heaven, to communion with God.
And finally, just a point regarding the last developments of the
Christology of St. Paul in the Letters to the Colossians and the
Ephesians. In the first, Christ is designated as the "firstborn of all
creation" (1:15-20). This word "firstborn" implies that the first among
many children, the first among many brothers and sisters, has lowered
to draw us and make us brothers and sisters. In the Letter to the
Ephesians, we find the beautiful exposition of the divine plan of
salvation, when Paul says that in Christ, God wanted to recapitulate
all things (cf. Ephesians 1:23). Christ is the recapitulation of
everything, he takes up everything and guides us to God. And thus is
implied a movement of descent and ascent, inviting us to participate in
his humility, that is, in his love for neighbor, so as to thus be
participants in his glorification, making ourselves with him into sons
in the Son. Let us pray that the Lord helps us to conform ourselves to
is humility, to his love, to thus be participants in his divinization.
[After the audience, the Pope greeted the people in several languages.
In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider the
centrality of Jesus Christ in his teaching. Paul preaches Christ as the
crucified and glorified Lord, alive and present within the Church. He
proclaims Christ’s incarnation and exaltation, but also his
pre-existence with the Father before all time. His affirmation of
Christ’s pre-existence evokes those Old Testament texts which portray
God’s Wisdom as being with him before creation and coming down to dwell
among men (e.g., Pr 8:22-23). Paul thus presents Christ as "the wisdom
of God" (1 Cor 1:24), the centre and fulfilment of the Father’s eternal
plan of salvation. The hymn found in his Letter to the Philippians
(Phil 2:6-11) contrasts Christ’s pre-existence "in the form of God" and
his subsequent "kenosis" or self-emptying, "even to death, death on a
Cross". Paul also appeals to Christ’s pre-existence and incarnation in
proclaiming Jesus as "the one mediator between God and man" (1 Tim
3:16), the firstborn of all creation and the head of the Church (cf.
Col 1:15-20). Paul’s "sapiential" christology invites us to welcome the
salvation offered by the crucified and risen Lord, the Eternal Son, who
is the very wisdom and power of God.
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On St. Paul and the
Cross
"The Risen One Is Always the One Who Has Been Crucified"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 29, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters:
In the personal experience of St. Paul, there is an indisputable fact:
While at the beginning he had been a persecutor of the Christians and
had used violence against them, from the moment of his conversion on
the road to Damascus, he changed to the side of Christ crucified,
making him the reason for his life and the motive for his preaching.
His was an existence entirely consumed by souls (cf. 2 Corinthians
12:15), not in the least serene and protected from snares and
difficulties. In the encounter with Jesus, he had understood the
central significance of the cross: He had understood that Jesus had
died and risen for all and also for [Paul], himself. Both elements were
important -- the universality: Jesus had truly died for everyone; and
the subjectivity: He had died also for me.
On the cross, therefore, the gratuitous and merciful love of God had
been manifested. Paul experienced this love above all in himself (cf.
Galatians 2:20) and from being a sinner, he converted to being a
believer, from persecutor to apostle. Day after day, in his new life,
he experiences that salvation is "grace," that everything descended
from the love of Christ and not from his merits, which in any case,
didn't exist. The "gospel of grace" thus became the only way to
understand the cross, the criteria not only for his new existence, but
also the answer for those who questioned him. Among these were, above
all, the Jews who placed their hope in works and hoped to gain
salvation from these; the Greeks as well, who opposed their human
wisdom to the cross; finally, there were certain heretical groups, who
had formed their own idea of Christianity according to their own model
of life.
For St. Paul, the cross has a fundamental priority in the history of
humanity; it represents the principal point of his theology, because to
say cross means to say salvation as grace given to every creature. The
theme of the cross of Christ becomes an essential and primary element
in the preaching of the Apostle: The clearest example of this is
regarding the community of Corinth.
Before a Church where disorders and scandals were present in a worrying
way, where communion was threatened by groups and internal divisions
that compromised the unity of the Body of Christ, Paul presents himself
not with sublime words or wisdom, but with the announcement of Christ,
of Christ crucified. His strength is not persuasive language, but
rather, paradoxically, the weakness and the tremor of one who trusts
only in the "power of God" (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:1-4). The cross, for
everything that it represents and also for the theological message it
contains, is scandal and foolishness. The Apostle affirms this with
impressive strength, which is better to hear with his own words: "The
message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God. … It was the will of God
through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have
faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we
proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to
Gentiles."
The first Christian communities, whom Paul addressed, knew very well
that Jesus is now risen and alive; the Apostle wants to remind not just
the Corinthians and the Galatians, but all of us, that the Risen One is
always the One who has been crucified. The "scandal" and the
"foolishness" of the cross are precisely in the fact that there, where
there seems to be only failure, sorrow and defeat, precisely there, is
all the power of the limitless love of God, because the cross is the
expression of love and love is the true power that is revealed
precisely in this apparent weakness.
For the Jews, the cross is "skandalon," that is, a trap or stumbling
block: It seems to be an obstacle to the faith of the pious Israelite,
who doesn't manage to find anything similar in sacred Scripture. Paul,
with no small amount of courage, seems to say here that the stakes are
very high: For the Jews, the cross contradicts the very essence of God,
who has manifested himself with prodigious signs. Therefore, to accept
the cross of Christ means to undergo a profound conversion in the way
of relating with God.
If for the Jews the reason to reject the cross is found in revelation,
that is, in fidelity to the God of their fathers, for the Greeks, that
is, the pagans, the criteria for judgment in opposing the cross is
reason. For this latter group, in fact, the cross is blight,
foolishness, literally insipience, that is, food lacking salt;
therefore, more than an error, it is an insult to good sense.
Paul himself on more than one occasion had the bitter experience of the
rejection of the Christian pronouncement judged "insipid," irrelevant,
not even worthy of being taken into consideration on the level of
rational logic. For those who, like the Greeks, sought perfection in
the spirit, in pure thought, it was already unacceptable that God
became man, submerging himself in all the limits of space and time.
Therefore it was decidedly inconceivable to believe that a God could
end up on the cross! And we see how this Greek logic is also the common
logic of our time.
The concept of "apátheia," indifference, as absence of passions
in God:
How could it have understood a God made man and defeated, who later on
even had taken up again his body so as to live resurrected? "We should
like to hear you on this some other time" (Acts 17:32), the Athenians
scornfully told Paul, when they heard him speak of the resurrection of
the dead. They believed that perfection was in liberating oneself from
the body, conceived as a prison: How could it not be considered an
aberration to take up again the body? In the ancient culture, there did
not seem to be space for the message of God incarnate. The whole of the
"Jesus of Nazareth" event seemed to be marked by the most total
insipience, and certainly the cross was the most emblematic point of
this.
But, why has St. Paul made precisely of this, of the word of the cross,
the fundamental point of his preaching? The answer is not difficult:
The cross reveals "the power of God" (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24), which is
different than human power. It reveals in fact his love: "For the
foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God
is stronger than human strength" (ibid., 1:25).
Centuries after Paul, we see that the cross, and not the wisdom that
opposes the cross, has triumphed. The Crucified is wisdom, because he
manifests in truth who God is, that is, the power of love that goes to
the point of the cross to save man. God avails of ways and instruments
that to us appear at first glance as only weakness. The Crucified
reveals, on one hand, the weakness of man, and on the other, the true
power of God, that is, the gratuitousness of love: Precisely this
gratuitousness of love is true wisdom.
St. Paul has experienced this even in his flesh, and he gives us
testimony of this in various passages of his spiritual journey, which
have become essential reference points for every disciple of Jesus: "He
said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect
in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:9); and even "God chose the lowly and
despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to
nothing those who are something" (1 Corinthians 1:28). The Apostle
identifies himself to such a degree with Christ that he also, even in
the midst of so many trials, lives in the faith of the Son of God who
loved him and gave himself up for his sins and those of everyone (cf.
Galatians 1:4; 2:20). This autobiographical detail of the Apostle is
paradigmatic for all of us.
St. Paul offered an admirable synthesis of the theology of the cross in
the Second Letter to the Corinthians (5:4-21), where everything is
contained in two fundamental affirmations: On one hand, Christ, whom
God has treated as sin on our behalf (verse 21), has died for us (verse
14); on the other hand, God has reconciled us with himself, not
attributing to us our sins (verses 18-20). By this "ministry of
reconciliation" all slavery has been purchased (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:20;
7:23).
Here it is seen how all of this is relevant for our lives. We also
should enter into this "ministry of reconciliation," which always
implies renouncing one's own superiority and choosing the foolishness
of love. St. Paul has renounced his own life, giving himself totally
for the ministry of reconciliation, of the cross that is salvation for
all of us. And this is what we should also know how to do: We can find
our strength precisely in the humility of love and our wisdom in the
weakness of renunciation to thus enter into the strength of God. We
should build our lives on this true wisdom: To not live for ourselves,
but to live in the faith in this God, about whom all of us can say: "He
loved me and gave himself up for me."
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After his address, the Holy Father greeted the pilgrims in various
languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider the central
place of the Cross of Jesus Christ in his preaching. Paul’s encounter
with the glorified Lord on the way to Damascus convinced him that Jesus
had died and risen for him and for all. The mystery of the Cross showed
him the power of God’s merciful and saving love. As Paul told the
Corinthians, he came not to preach in lofty words or wisdom, but to
proclaim "Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (cf. I Cor 2:2). The Cross,
which seems a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, is the
revelation of God’s wisdom and strength. As the supreme sign of God’s
love for sinful humanity, the Cross invites us to that true wisdom
which accepts the free gift of God’s merciful and saving love. On the
Cross Christ gave himself up for our sins (cf. Gal 1:4), becoming a
sacrifice of atonement in his own blood (cf. Rom 3:25). For Paul, faith
in the crucified Lord thus calls us to crucify our own flesh with its
desires, in order to share in Christ’s death and resurrection (cf. Gal
5:24). In accepting the weakness of the Cross, we experience the power
of God’s love for us.
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and
visitors present, especially those from Britain and Ireland, Norway,
Australia, Korea, Vietnam and the United States of America. I greet
especially the Delegation of Papal Knights from Great Britain, and the
members and benefactors of the Gregorian University Foundation of New
York. Upon you and your families, I cordially invoke God’s blessings of
peace and joy.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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On St. Paul and the
Resurrection
"2 Facts Are Important: The Tomb Is Empty and Jesus Really Appeared"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 5, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters:
"And if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty,
too, your faith. … You are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians
15:14,17). With these heavy words of the First Letter to the
Corinthians, St. Paul makes clear how decisive is the importance that
he attributes to the resurrection of Jesus. In this event, in fact, is
the solution to the problem that the drama of the cross implies. On its
own, the cross could not explain Christian faith; on the contrary, it
would be a tragedy, a sign of the absurdity of being. The Paschal
mystery consists in the fact that this Crucified One "was raised on the
third day, according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:4) -- thus
testifies the proto-Christian witness.
Here is the central key to Pauline Christology: Everything revolves
around this gravitational center point. The whole teaching of the
Apostle Paul departs from and always arrives at the mystery of the One
whom the Father has risen from the dead. The Resurrection is a
fundamental fact, almost a previous basic assumption (cf. 1 Corinthians
15:12), in base of which Paul can formulate his synthetic proclamation
("kerygma"): He who has been crucified, and who has thus manifested the
immense love of God for man, has risen and is alive among us.
It is important to note the link between the proclamation and the
Resurrection, just as Paul formulates it, and that which was used in
the first pre-Pauline Christian communities. Here one can truly see the
importance of the tradition that preceded the Apostle and that he, with
great respect and attention, wanted in turn to convey. The text on the
Resurrection, contained in Chapter 15:1-11 of the First Letter to the
Corinthians, emphasizes well the nexus between "receive" and
"transmit." St. Paul attributes great importance to the literal
formulation of tradition; the end of the fragment we are examining
highlights: "Whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed"
(1 Corinthians 15:11), thus spotlighting the unity of the kerygma, of
the proclamation for all believers and for all those who would announce
the resurrection of Christ.
The tradition to which he unites is the fount from which to draw. The
originality of his Christology is never in detriment to fidelity to
tradition. The kerygma of the apostles always prevails over the
personal re-elaboration of Paul; each one of his arguments flows from
the common tradition, in which the faith shared by all the Churches,
which are just one Church, is expressed.
And in this way, Paul offers a model for all times of how to do
theology and how to preach. The theologian and the preacher do not
create new visions of the world and of life, but rather are at the
service of the truth transmitted, at the service of the real fact of
Christ, of the cross, of the resurrection. Their duty is to help to
understand today, behind the ancient words, the reality of "God with
us," and therefore, the reality of true life.
Here it is opportune to say precisely: St. Paul, in announcing the
Resurrection, does not concern himself with presenting an organic
doctrinal exposition -- he does not want to practically write a
theology manual -- but rather to take up the theme, responding to
uncertainties and concrete questions that are posed him by the
faithful. An episodic discourse, therefore, but full of faith and a
lived theology. A concentration of the essential is found in him: We
have been "justified," that is, made just, saved, by Christ, dead and
risen, for us. The fact of the Resurrection emerges above all else,
without which Christian life would simply be absurd. On that Easter
morning something extraordinary and new happened, but at the same time,
something very concrete, verified by very precise signs, attested by
numerous witnesses.
Also for Paul, as for the other authors of the New Testament, the
Resurrection is united to the testimony of those who have had a direct
experience of the Risen One. It is about seeing and hearing not just
with the eyes and the ears, but also with an interior light that
motivates recognizing what the external senses verify as an objective
datum. Paul therefore gives -- as do the four Evangelists --
fundamental relevance to the theme of the apparitions, which are a
fundamental condition for faith in the Risen One who has left the tomb
empty.
These two facts are important: The tomb is empty and Jesus really
appeared. Thus is built this chain of tradition that, by way of the
testimony of the apostles and the first disciples, would reach
successive generations, up to us. The first consequence, or the first
way to express this testimony, is preaching the resurrection of Christ
as a synthesis of the Gospel message and as the culminating point of
the salvific itinerary. All of this, Paul does on various occasions:
One can consult the Letters and the Acts of the Apostles, where it can
always be seen that the fundamental point for him is being a witness of
the Resurrection.
I would like to cite just one text: Paul, under arrest in Jerusalem, is
before the Sanhedrin as one accused. In this circumstance in which life
and death are at stake, he indicates the meaning and the content of all
his concern: "I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead"
(Acts 23:6). Paul repeats this same refrain often in his Letters (cf. 1
Thessalonians 1:9ff, 4:13-18; 5:10), in which he invokes his personal
experience, his personal encounter with the resurrected Christ (cf.
Galatians 1:15-16; 1 Corinthians 9:1).
But we can ask ourselves: What is, for St. Paul, the deep meaning of
the event of the resurrection of Jesus? What does he say to us 2,000
years later? Is the affirmation "Christ has risen" also current for us?
Why is the Resurrection for him and for us today a theme that is so
determinant?
Paul solemnly responds to this question at the beginning of the Letter
to the Romans, where he makes an exhortation referring to the "gospel
of God … about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh,
but established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of
holiness through resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:3-4).
Paul knows well and he says many times that Jesus was the Son of God
always, from the moment of his incarnation. The novelty of the
resurrection consists in the fact that Jesus, elevated from the
humility of his earthly existence, has been constituted Son of God
"with power." The Jesus humiliated till death on the cross can now say
to the Eleven: "All power on heaven and on earth has been given to me"
(Matthew 28:18). What Psalm 2:8 says has been fulfilled: "Only ask it
of me, and I will make your inheritance the nations, your possession
the ends of the earth."
That's why with the resurrection begins the proclamation of the Gospel
of Christ to all peoples -- the Kingdom of Christ begins; this new
Kingdom that does not know another power other than that of truth and
love. The Resurrection therefore definitively reveals the authentic
identity and the extraordinary stature of the Crucified: An
incomparable and most high dignity -- Jesus is God! For St. Paul, the
secret identity of Jesus, even more than in the incarnation, is
revealed in the mystery of the resurrection. While the title "Christ,"
that is, "Messiah," "Anointed," in St. Paul tends to become the proper
name of Jesus and that of Lord specifies his personal relationship with
the believers, now the title Son of God comes to illustrate the
intimate relationship of Jesus with God, a relationship that is fully
revealed in the Paschal event. It can be said, therefore, that Jesus
has risen to be the Lord of the living and the dead (cf. Romans 14:9
and 2 Corinthians 5:15) or, in other words, our Savior (cf. Romans
4:25).
All of this carries with it important consequences for our life of
faith: We are called to participate from the depths of our being in the
whole of the event of the death and resurrection of Christ. The Apostle
says: We "have died with Christ" and we believe "that we shall also
live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him" (Romans 6:8-9).
This translates into sharing the sufferings of Christ, as a prelude to
this full configuration with him through the resurrection, which we
gaze upon with hope. This is also what has happened to Paul, whose
experience is described in the Letters with a tone that is as much
precise as realistic: "to know him and the power of his resurrection
and (the) sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if
somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians
3:10-11; cf. 2 Timothy 2:8-12). The theology of the cross is not a
theory -- it is a reality of Christian life. To live in faith in Jesus
Christ, to live truth and love implies renunciations every day; it
implies sufferings. Christianity is not a path of comfort; it is rather
a demanding ascent, but enlightened with the light of Christ and with
the great hope that is born from him.
St. Augustine says: Christians are not spared suffering; on the
contrary, they get a little extra, because to live the faith expresses
the courage to face life and history more deeply. And with everything,
only in this way, experiencing suffering, we experience life in its
depth, in its beauty, in the great hope elicited by Christ, crucified
and risen. The believer finds himself between two poles: on one side,
the Resurrection, which in some way is already present and operative in
us (cf. Colossians 3:1-4; Ephesians 2:6), and on the other, the urgency
of fitting oneself into this process that leads everyone and everything
to plenitude, as described in the Letter to the Romans with audacious
imagination: As all of creation groans and suffers near labor pains, in
this way we too groan in the hope of the redemption of our body, of our
redemption and resurrection (cf. Romans 8:18-23).
In sum, we can say with Paul that the true believer obtains salvation
professing with his lips that Jesus is Lord and believing in his heart
that God has raised him from the dead (cf. Romans 10:9). Important
above all is the heart that believes in Christ and in faith "touches"
the Risen One. But it is not enough to carry faith in the heart; we
should confess it and give testimony with the lips, with our lives,
thus making present the truth of the cross and the resurrection in our
history.
In this way, the Christian fits himself in this process thanks to which
the first Adam, earthly and subject to corruption and death, goes
transforming into the last Adam, heavenly and incorruptible (cf. 1
Corinthians 15:20 - 22:42-49). This process has been set in motion with
the resurrection of Christ, in which is founded the hope of being able
to also enter with Christ into our true homeland, which is heaven.
Sustained with this hope, let us continue with courage and joy.
[The Holy Father then greeted the people in several languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on the teaching of Saint Paul, we now turn
to his proclamation of the resurrection. In preaching Jesus Christ
risen from the dead, Paul was concerned to "hand on" what he himself
had "received" from the Apostles (cf. 1 Cor 15:3). He proclaims not
only the fact of the resurrection, but its vital significance: in
Christ, who died and rose for us, we have been saved, made righteous in
the sight of God. The resurrection reveals Jesus’ true identity as the
eternal Son of God and Lord of the living and the dead. We, for our
part, are called to become fully configured to him in the mystery of
his passover from death to life. Our present sufferings thus become a
sharing in Christ’s own suffering and death, while the hope of the
resurrection even now draws us toward the fullness of life with all the
saints in his Kingdom. Salvation, Paul tells us, comes from confessing
with our lips that Jesus is Lord, and believing in our hearts that God
raised him from the dead (cf. Rom 10:9). With the Apostle, then, let us
strive ever more fully, in faith and hope, "to know Jesus Christ and
the power of his resurrection" (cf. Phil 3:10).
I am pleased to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
present at today’s Audience. In a particular way I greet the Patrons of
the Arts in the Vatican Museums from Florida. I also extend a warm
welcome to the group from the Bunri Sato Educational Institute in
Saitama, Japan. I greet especially the groups from England, Denmark,
Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, the Philippines and the United States. Upon
all of you and your families I cordially invoke God’s abundant
blessings of joy and peace.
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On
St. Paul and the Second Coming
"Come, Lord! Come Where You Are Not Known"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 12, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters:
The theme of the Resurrection, which we considered last week, opens a
new perspective -- that of awaiting the return of the Lord. And
therefore it brings us to reflect on the relationship between the
present time, the time of the Church and the Kingdom of Christ, and the
future (éschaton) that awaits us, when Christ will hand over the
Kingdom to the Father (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24). Every Christian
discourse on the last things, called eschatology, always starts from
the event of the Resurrection: In this event the last things have
already begun, and in a certain sense, are already present.
St. Paul probably wrote his first letter in the year 52, the First
Letter to the Thessalonians, where he speaks of this return of Jesus,
called the parousía, the advent, the new and definitive and
manifest
presence (cf. 4:13-18). To the Thessalonians, who have their doubts and
problems, the Apostle writes thus: "If we believe that Jesus died and
rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have
fallen asleep" (4:14).
And he continues: "The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are
alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air" (4:16-17). Paul describes the
parousía of
Christ with very living tones and symbolic images, but transmitting a
simple and profound message: At the end, we will be always with the
Lord. That is, beyond the images, the essential message: Our future is
"to be with the Lord." As believers, in our lives we already are with
the Lord -- our future, eternal life, has already begun.
In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul changes the
perspective: He speaks of negative events that must precede that
conclusive end. Do not let yourselves be deceived, he says, as if the
day of the Lord were truly imminent, according to a chronological
calculation. "We ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of
your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a 'spirit,' or by an
oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the
day of the Lord is at hand. Let no one deceive you in any way" (2:1-3).
The rest of this text announces that before the arrival of the Lord,
there will be the apostasy and the revelation of the no better defined
"wicked one," the "son of perdition" (2:3), which tradition will later
call the Antichrist. But the intention of this letter of St. Paul is
above all practical. He writes: "In fact, when we were with you, we
instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should
that one eat. We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in
a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of
others. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to
work quietly and to eat their own food" (3:10-12).
In other words, the awaiting of the parousía of Jesus does not
dispense
with the work of this world, but on the contrary, brings
responsibilities before the divine Judge regarding our way of acting in
this world. Precisely thus, our responsibility to work in and for this
world arises. We will see the same thing next Sunday in the Gospel of
the talents, where the Lord tells us that he has entrusted talents to
everyone and the Judge will ask us to account for them, saying: Have
you given fruits? Therefore, the awaiting of his coming implies a
responsibility toward this world.
The same thing and the same nexus between parousía -- the return
of the
Judge-Savior -- and our commitment in life appears in another context
and with new aspects in the Letter to the Philippians. Paul is in jail
and awaiting his sentence, which might be death. In this situation, he
thinks of his future being with the Lord, but he also thinks of the
community of Philippi, which needs its father, Paul, and he writes:
"For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the
flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I
shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life
and be with Christ, (for) that is far better. Yet that I remain (in)
the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. And this I know with
confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of
you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your boasting in
Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again"
(1:21-26).
Paul is not afraid of death, on the contrary, it means in fact the
complete being with Christ. But Paul also participates in the
sentiments of Christ, who has not lived for himself, but for us. Living
for others becomes the program of his life and because of that, he
shows his perfect readiness to do the will of God, [readiness] for what
God decides. He is ready above all, also in the future, to live on
earth for the others, to live for Christ, to live for his living
presence and thus for the renewal of the world. We see that this being
yours with Christ creates a great interior freedom: freedom before the
threat of death, but freedom also before all the tasks and sufferings
of life. He was simply available to God and truly free.
And we turn now, after having examined the various aspects of the
waiting for the parousía of Christ, to ask ourselves: What are
the
fundamental attitudes of a Christian toward the last things -- death
and the end of the world? The first attitude is the certainty that
Jesus has risen, is with the Father, and because of that, is with us
forever. And no one is stronger that Christ, because he is with the
Father, is with us. Because of this, we are secure and free of fear.
This was an essential effect of Christian preaching. Fear of spirits
and gods was spread throughout the entire ancient world. And today as
well, missionaries find -- together with so many good elements in
natural religions -- the fear of spirits and the ill-fated powers that
threaten us. Christ is alive; he has overcome death and has overcome
all these powers. With this certainty, with this freedom, with this
joy, we live. This is the first element of our living directed to the
future.
In second place, the certainty that Christ is with me. And that in
Christ the future world has already begun -- this also gives the
certainty of hope. The future is not a darkness in which no one gets
one's bearings. It is not like that. Without Christ, also for the world
today, the future is dark; there is fear of the future -- a lot of fear
of the future. The Christian knows that the light of Christ is stronger
and because of this, lives in a hope that is not vague, in a hope that
gives certainty and courage to face the future.
Finally, the third attitude: The Judge who returns -- who is Judge and
Savior at the same time -- has left us the task of living in this world
according to his way of living. He has given us his talents. Because of
this, our third attitude is responsibility toward the world, toward our
brothers before Christ, and at the same time, also certainty of his
mercy. Both things are important. We don't live as if good and evil
were the same, because God only can be merciful. This would be a
deceit. In truth, we live with a great responsibility. We have talents,
we have to work so this world opens itself to Christ, so that it is
renewed. But even working and knowing in our responsibility that God is
a true judge, we are also sure that he is a good judge. We know his
face -- the face of the risen Christ, of Christ crucified for us.
Therefore we can we sure of his goodness and continue forward with
great courage.
Following the Pauline teaching on eschatology is the fact of the
universality of the call to faith, which unites Jews and Gentiles, that
is, the pagans, as a sign and anticipation of the future reality, by
which we can say that we are already seated in heaven with Christ, but
to show to future centuries the richness of grace (cf. Ephesians
2:6ff): The "after" becomes a "before" to make evident the state of
incipient fulfillment in which we live. This makes tolerable the
sufferings of the present moment, which are not comparable to future
glory (cf. Romans 8:18). We walk by faith and not by sight, and though
it would be preferable to leave the body and live with the Lord, what
matters definitively, whether dwelling in the body or leaving it, is
being pleasing to God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7-9).
Finally, a last point that perhaps seems a little difficult for us. St.
Paul in the conclusion of his Second Letter to the Corinthians repeats
and also puts on the lips of the Corinthians, a prayer originating in
the first Christian communities of the area of Palestine:
Maranà, thà!,
which literally means, "Our Lord, come!" (16:22). It was the prayer of
the first Christian community and the last book of the New Testament,
Revelation, also closes with this prayer: "Come Lord!"
Can we also pray like this? It seems to me that for us today, in our
lives, in our world, it is difficult to sincerely pray so that this
world perishes, so that the new Jerusalem comes, so that the final
judgment and Christ the judge come. I think that if we don't dare to
sincerely pray like this for many reasons, nevertheless in a just and
correct way we can also say with the first Christians: "Come, Lord
Jesus."
Certainly, we don't want the end of the world to come now. But, on the
other hand, we want this unjust world to end. We also want the world to
be deeply changed, the civilization of love to begin, [we want] a world
of justice and peace, without violence, without hunger, to arrive. We
all want this -- and how can it happen without the presence of Christ?
Without the presence of Christ, a just and renewed world will never
really arrive. And though in another way, totally and deeply, we too
can and should say, with great urgency and in the circumstances of our
time, Come, Lord! Come to your world, in the way that you know. Come
where there is injustice and violence. Come to the refugee camps, in
Darfur and in North Kivu, in so many places in the world. Come where
drugs dominate. Come, too, among those rich people who have forgotten
you and who live only for themselves. Come where you are not known.
Come to your world and renew the world of today. Come also to our
hearts. Come and renew our lives. Come to our hearts so that we
ourselves can be light of God, your presence.
In this sense, we pray with St. Paul: Maranà, thà! Come,
Lord Jesus!
And we pray so that Christ is really present today in our world, and
that he renews it.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then addressed the crowds in various languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now turn from his
proclamation of Christ’s death and resurrection to his teaching on the
Lord’s second coming. For Paul, the Lord’s return at the end of time
will be accompanied by the resurrection of the dead and the
consummation of his Kingdom, when all those who believed in him and
trusted in his promises "will be with him for ever" in glory (cf. 1
Thess 4:17). Christ’s victorious reign has in fact already begun. Yet
we, who have received the Spirit as the first fruits of our redemption,
patiently await the fulfilment of that plan in our lives. Our life in
this world, marked by trials and tribulations, must be inspired by the
hope of heaven and the expectation of our resurrection to glory. Paul’s
rich eschatology, linking the "already" of Christ’s resurrection to the
"not yet" of our life in this world, is reflected in his statement that
"in hope we were saved" (Rom 8:24). This same joyful expectation of the
Lord’s return and the fulfilment of the Father’s saving plan is seen in
the ancient Christian prayer with which he concludes his first Letter
to the Corinthians: Maranà, thà! Come, Lord Jesus!
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking visitors present at
today’s Audience, particularly priests from the Missionary Society of
Saint Paul the Apostle, members of the Corpus Christi Movement for
Priests, participants in the International Catholic Conference of
Scouting, and pilgrims from the Philippines, England, Nigeria, and the
United States of America. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke
God’s blessings of joy and peace.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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On St. Paul and Justification
"To Be Just Means Simply to Be With Christ and in Christ"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 19, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the journey we have undertaken under the guidance of St. Paul, we
now wish to reflect on a topic that is at the center of the
controversies of the century of the Reformation: the issue of
justification. How is a man just in the eyes of God? When Paul met the
Risen One on the road to Damascus he was a fulfilled man:
irreproachable in regard to justice derived from the law (cf.
Philippians 3:6); he surpassed many of his contemporaries in the
observance of the Mosaic prescriptions and was zealous in upholding the
traditions of his forefathers (cf. Galatians 1:14).
The illumination of Damascus changed his life radically: He began to
regard all his merits, achievements of a most honest religious career,
as "loss" in face of the sublimity of knowledge of Jesus Christ (cf.
Philippians 3:8). The Letter to the Philippians gives us a moving
testimony of Paul's turning from a justice based on the law and
achieved by observance of the prescribed works, to a justice based on
faith in Christ: He understood all that up to now had seemed a gain to
him was in fact a loss before God, and because of this decided to
dedicate his whole life to Jesus Christ (cf. Philippians 3:7). The
treasure hidden in the field, and the precious pearl in whose
possession he invests everything, were no longer the works of the law,
but Jesus Christ, his Lord.
The relationship between Paul and the Risen One is so profound that it
impels him to affirm that Christ was not only his life, but his living,
to the point that to be able to reach him, even death was a gain (cf.
Philippians 1:21). It was not because he did not appreciate life, but
because he understood that for him, living no longer had another
objective; therefore, he no longer had a desire other than to reach
Christ, as in an athletic competition, to be with him always. The Risen
One had become the beginning and end of his existence, the reason and
goal of his running. Only concern for the growth in faith of those he
had evangelized and solicitude for all the Churches he had founded (cf.
2 Corinthians 11:28), induced him to slow down the run toward his only
Lord, to wait for his disciples, so that they would be able to run to
the goal with him. If in the previous observance of the law he had
nothing to reproach himself from the point of view of moral integrity,
once overtaken by Christ he preferred not to judge himself (cf. 1
Corinthians 4:3-4), but limited himself to run to conquer the one who
had conquered him (cf. Philippians 3:12).
It is precisely because of this personal experience of the relationship
with Jesus that Paul places at the center of his Gospel an irreducible
opposition between two alternative paths to justice: one based on the
works of the law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ.
The alternative between justice through the works of the law and
justice through faith in Christ thus becomes one of the dominant themes
that runs through his letters: "We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and
not Gentile sinners, yet who know that a man is not justified by works
of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by
works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be
justified" (Galatians 2:15-16).
And, he reaffirms to the Christians of Rome that "all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a
gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans
3:23-24). And he adds: "For we hold that a man is justified by faith
apart from works of law" (Ibid. 28). Luther translated this point as
"justified by faith alone." I will return to this at the end of the
catechesis.
First, we must clarify what is the "law" from which we have been freed
and what are those "works of the law" that do not justify. Already in
the community of Corinth there was the opinion, which will return many
times in history, which consisted in thinking that it was a question of
the moral law, and that Christian freedom consisted therefore in being
free from ethics. So, the words "panta mou estin" (everything is licit
for me) circulated in Corinth. It is obvious that this interpretation
is erroneous: Christian liberty is not libertinism; the freedom of
which St. Paul speaks is not freedom from doing good.
Therefore, what is the meaning of the law from which we have been freed
and that does not save? For St. Paul, as well as for all his
contemporaries, the word law meant the Torah in its totality, namely,
the five books of Moses. In the Pharisaic interpretation, the Torah
implied what Paul had studied and made his own, a collection of
behaviors extending from an ethical foundation to the ritual and
cultural observances that substantially determined the identity of the
just man -- particularly circumcision, the observance regarding pure
food and general ritual purity, the rules regarding observance of the
Sabbath, etc. These behaviors often appear in the debates between Jesus
and his contemporaries. All these observances that express a social,
cultural and religious identity had come to be singularly important at
the time of Hellenistic culture, beginning in the 3rd century B.C.
This culture, which had become the universal culture of the time, was a
seemingly rational culture, an apparently tolerant polytheist culture,
which constituted a strong pressure toward cultural uniformity and thus
threatened the identity of Israel, which was politically obliged to
enter into this common identity of Hellenistic culture with the
consequent loss of its own identity, loss hence also of the precious
inheritance of the faith of their Fathers, of faith in the one God and
in God's promises.
Against this cultural pressure, which not only threatened Jewish
identity but also faith in the one God and his promises, it was
necessary to create a wall of distinction, a defense shield that would
protect the precious inheritance of the faith; this wall would consist
precisely of the Jewish observances and prescriptions. Paul, who had
learned these observances precisely in their defensive function of the
gift of God, of the inheritance of the faith in only one God, saw this
identity threatened by the freedom of Christians: That is why he
persecuted them. At the moment of his encounter with the Risen One he
understood that with Christ's resurrection the situation had changed
radically. With Christ, the God of Israel, the only true God became the
God of all peoples.
The wall -- so says the Letter to the Ephesians -- between Israel and
the pagans was no longer necessary: It is Christ who protects us
against polytheism and all its deviations; it is Christ who unites us
with and in the one God; it is Christ who guarantees our true identity
in the diversity of cultures; and it is he who makes us just. To be
just means simply to be with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices.
Other observances are no longer necessary.
That is why Luther's expression "sola fide" is true if faith is not
opposed to charity, to love. Faith is to look at Christ, to entrust
oneself to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be conformed to Christ,
to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence, to
believe is to be conformed to Christ and to enter into his love. That
is why, in the Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul develops above all his
doctrine on justification; he speaks of faith that operates through
charity (cf. Galatians 5:14).
Paul knows that in the double love of God and neighbor the whole law is
fulfilled. Thus the whole law is observed in communion with Christ, in
faith that creates charity. We are just when we enter into communion
with Christ, who is love. We will see the same in next Sunday's Gospel
for the solemnity of Christ the King. It is the Gospel of the judge
whose sole criterion is love. What I ask is only this: Did you visit me
when I was sick? When I was in prison? Did you feed me when I was
hungry, clothe me when I was naked? So justice is decided in charity.
Thus, at the end of this Gospel, we can say: love alone, charity alone.
However, there is no contradiction between this Gospel and St. Paul. It
is the same vision, the one according to which communion with Christ,
faith in Christ, creates charity. And charity is the realization of
communion with Christ. Thus, being united to him we are just, and in no
other way.
At the end, we can only pray to the Lord so that he will help us to
believe. To really believe; belief thus becomes life, unity with
Christ, the transformation of our life. And thus, transformed by his
love, by love of God and neighbor, we can really be just in the eyes of
God.
[At the end of the Audience, Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims in several
languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on St. Paul, we now consider his teaching
on our justification. Paul’s experience of the Risen Lord on the road
to Damascus led him to see that it is only by faith in Christ, and not
by any merit of our own, that we are made righteous before God. Our
justification in Christ is thus God’s gracious gift, revealed in the
mystery of the Cross. Christ died in order to become our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption (cf. 1 Cor 1:30), and we
in turn, justified by faith, have become in him the very righteousness
of God (cf. 2 Cor 5:21). In the light of the Cross and its gifts of
reconciliation and new life in the Spirit, Paul rejected a
righteousness based on the Law and its works.
For the Apostle, the Mosaic Law, as an irrevocable gift of God to
Israel, is not abrogated but relativized, since it is only by faith in
God’s promises to Abraham, now fulfilled in Christ, that we receive the
grace of justification and new life. The Law finds its end in Christ
(cf. Rom 10:4) and its fulfilment in the new commandment of love. With
Paul, then, let us make the Cross of Christ our only boast (cf. Gal
6:14), and give thanks for the grace which has made us members of
Christ’s Body, which is the Church.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
On Signs of a Living
Faith
"Christian Ethics … Is the Consequence of our Friendship With Christ"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 26, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's
Square.
Before the Holy Father continued with the cycle of catecheses dedicated
to the figure and thought of St. Paul, he addressed Aram I, catholicos
of Cilicia of the Armenians.
* * *
[Pope's English-language address to Aram I:]
This morning I greet with great joy His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of
Cilicia of the Armenians, together with the distinguished delegation
accompanying him, and the Armenian pilgrims from various countries.
This fraternal visit is a significant occasion for strengthening the
bonds of unity already existing between us, as we journey towards that
full communion which is both the goal set before all Christ's followers
and a gift to be implored daily from the Lord.
For this reason, Your Holiness, I invoke the grace of the Holy Spirit
on your pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and I
invite all present to pray fervently to the Lord that your visit, and
our meetings, will mark a further step along the path towards full
unity.
Your Holiness, I wish to express my particular gratitude for your
constant personal involvement in the field of ecumenism, especially in
the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the
Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and in the World
Council of Churches.
On the exterior façade of the Vatican Basilica is a statue of
Saint
Gregory the Illuminator, founder of the Armenian Church, whom one of
your historians has called "our progenitor and father in the Gospel".
The presence of this statue evokes the sufferings he endured in
bringing the Armenian people to Christianity, but it also recalls the
many martyrs and confessors of the faith whose witness bore rich fruit
in the history of your people. Armenian culture and spirituality are
pervaded by pride in this witness of their forefathers, who suffered
with fidelity and courage in communion with the Lamb slain for the
salvation of the world.
Welcome, Your Holiness, dear Bishops and dear friends! Together let us
invoke the intercession of Saint Gregory the Illuminator and above all
the Virgin Mother of God, so that they will enlighten our way and guide
it towards the fullness of that unity which we all desire.
[Catechesis in Italian:]
Dear brothers and sisters,
In last Wednesday's catechesis, I spoke of the question of how man is
justified before God. Following St. Paul, we have seen that man is not
capable of making himself "just" with his own actions, but rather that
he can truly become "just" before God only because God confers on him
his "justice," uniting him to Christ, his Son. And man obtains this
union with Christ through faith.
In this sense, St. Paul tells us: It is not our works, but our faith
that makes us "just." This faith, nevertheless, is not a thought,
opinion or idea. This faith is communion with Christ, which the Lord
entrusts to us and that because of this, becomes life in conformity
with him. Or in other words, faith, if it is true and real, becomes
love, charity -- is expressed in charity. Faith without charity,
without this fruit, would not be true faith. It would be a dead faith.
We have therefore discovered two levels in the last catechesis: that of
the insufficiency of our works for achieving salvation, and that of
"justification" through faith that produces the fruit of the Spirit.
The confusion between these two levels down through the centuries has
caused not a few misunderstandings in Christianity.
In this context it is important that St. Paul, in the Letter to the
Galatians, puts emphasis on one hand, and in a radical way, on the
gratuitousness of justification not by our efforts, and, at the same
time, he emphasizes as well the relationship between faith and charity,
between faith and works. "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through
love" (Galatians 5:6). Consequently, there are on one hand the "works
of the flesh," which are fornication, impurity, debauchery, idolatry,
etc. (Galatians 5:19-21), all of which are contrary to the faith. On
the other hand is the action of the Holy Spirit, which nourishes
Christian life stirring up "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22):
These are the fruits of the Spirit that arise from faith.
At the beginning of this list of virtues is cited ágape, love,
and at
the end, self-control. In reality, the Spirit, who is the Love of the
Father and the Son, infuses his first gift, ágape, into our
hearts (cf.
Romans 5:5); and ágape, love, to be fully expressed, demands
self-control. Regarding the love of the Father and the Son, which comes
to us and profoundly transforms our existence, I dedicated my first
encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est." Believers know that in mutual love the
love of God and of Christ is incarnated by means of the Spirit.
Let us return to the Letter of the Galatians. Here, St. Paul says that
believers complete the command of love by bearing each other's burdens
(cf. Galatians 6:2). Justified by the gift of faith in Christ, we are
called to live in the love of Christ toward others, because it is by
this criterion that we will be judged at the end of our existence. In
reality, Paul does nothing more than repeat what Jesus himself had
said, and which we recalled in the Gospel of last Sunday, in the
parable of the Final Judgment.
In the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul becomes expansive with
his famous praise of love. It is the so-called hymn to charity: "If I
speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a
resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. … Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not
rude, it does not seek its own interests …" (1 Corinthians 13:1,4-5).
Christian love is so demanding because it springs from the total love
of Christ for us: this love that demands from us, welcomes us, embraces
us, sustains us, even torments us, because it obliges us to live no
longer for ourselves, closed in on our egotism, but for "him who has
died and risen for us" (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:15). The love of Christ
makes us be in him this new creature (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17), who
enters to form part of his mystical body that is the Church.
From this perspective, the centrality of justification without works,
primary object of Paul's preaching, is not in contradiction with the
faith that operates in love. On the contrary, it demands that our very
faith is expressed in a life according to the Spirit. Often, an
unfounded contraposition has been seen between the theology of Paul and
James, who says in his letter: "For just as a body without a spirit is
dead, so also faith without works is dead" (2:26).
In reality, while Paul concerns himself above all with demonstrating
that faith in Christ is necessary and sufficient, James highlights the
consequent relationship between faith and works (cf. James 2:2-4).
Therefore, for Paul and for James, faith operative in love witnesses to
the gratuitous gift of justification in Christ. Salvation, received in
Christ, needs to be protected and witnessed "with fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to
desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning … as
you hold on to the word of life," even St. Paul would say to the
Christians of Philippi (cf. Philippians 2:12-14,16).
Often we tend to fall into the same misunderstandings that have
characterized the community of Corinth: Those Christians thought that,
having been gratuitously justified in Christ by faith, "everything was
licit." And they thought, and often it seems that the Christians of
today think, that it is licit to create divisions in the Church, the
body of Christ, to celebrate the Eucharist without concerning oneself
with the brothers who are most needy, to aspire to the best charisms
without realizing that they are members of each other, etc.
The consequences of a faith that is not incarnated in love are
disastrous, because it is reduced to a most dangerous abuse and
subjectivism for us and for our brothers. On the contrary, following
St. Paul, we should renew our awareness of the fact that, precisely
because we have been justified in Christ, we don't belong to ourselves,
but have been made into the temple of the Spirit and are called,
therefore, to glorify God in our bodies and with the whole of our
existence (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19). It would be to scorn the
inestimable value of justification if, having been bought at the high
price of the blood of Christ, we didn't glorify him with our body. In
reality, this is precisely our "reasonable" and at the same time
"spiritual" worship, for which Paul exhorts us to "offer your bodies as
a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1).
To what would be reduced a liturgy directed only to the Lord but that
doesn't become, at the same time, service of the brethren, a faith that
is not expressed in charity? And the Apostle often puts his communities
before the Final Judgment, on which occasion "we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense,
according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil" (2
Corinthians 5:10; and cf. Romans 2:16).
If the ethics that St. Paul proposes to believers does not lapse into
forms of moralism, and if it shows itself to be current for us, it is
because, each time, it always recommences from the personal and
communitarian relationship with Christ, to verify itself in life
according to the Spirit. This is essential: Christian ethics is not
born from a system of commandments, but rather is the consequence of
our friendship with Christ. This friendship influences life: If it is
true, it incarnates and fulfills itself in love for neighbor. Hence,
any ethical decline is not limited to the individual sphere, but at the
same time, devalues personal and communitarian faith: From this it is
derived and on this, it has a determinant effect.
Let us, therefore, be overtaken by the reconciliation that God has
given us in Christ, by God's "crazy" love for us: No one and nothing
could ever separate us from his love (cf. Romans 8:39). With this
certainty we live. And this certainty gives us the strength to live
concretely the faith that works in love.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After the audience, the Holy Father greeted the people in several
languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider his
teaching on faith and works in the process of our justification. Paul
insists that we are justified by faith in Christ, and not by any merit
of our own. Yet he also emphasizes the relationship between faith and
those works which are the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence and
action within us. The first gift of the Spirit is love, the love of the
Father and the Son poured into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5). Our sharing in
the love of Christ leads us to live no longer for ourselves, but for
him (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-15); it makes us a new creation (cf. 2 Cor 5:17)
and members of his Body, the Church. Faith thus works through love (cf.
Gal 5:6). Consequently, there is no contradiction between what Saint
Paul teaches and what Saint James teaches regarding the relationship
between justifying faith and the fruit which it bears in good works.
Rather, there is a different emphasis. Redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ, we are called to glorify him in our bodies (cf. 1 Cor 6:20),
offering ourselves as a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God. Justified
by the gift of faith in Christ, we are called, as individuals and as a
community, to treasure that gift and to let it bear rich fruit in the
Spirit.
I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
present at today’s Audience, especially those from England and the
United States of America. I pray that your stay in Rome will renew your
love for the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen you in his service. Upon
all of you I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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On Christ, the New Adam
"God Himself Has Entered History As New Source of Goodness"
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 3, 2008 - Here is a translation of the address
Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in Paul VI Hall.
The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to
the figure and thought of St. Paul.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In today's catechesis we reflect on the relationship between Adam and
Christ, delineated by St. Paul in the well-known page of the Letter to
the Romans (5:12-21), in which he instructs the Church on the essential
lines of the doctrine of original sin. In fact, already in the First
Letter to the Corinthians, referring to faith in the resurrection, Paul
introduced the encounter between our forefather and Christ: "For as in
Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive ... The first
man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving
spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:22.45). With Romans 5:12-21, the encounter
between Christ and Adam is more articulated and illuminating: Paul
reviews the history of salvation from Adam to the Law and from the
latter to Christ. Adam is not at the center of the scene with the
consequences of sin on humanity, but Jesus Christ and grace that,
through him, was poured in abundance on humanity. The repetition of
"all the more" in regard to Christ underlines how the gift received in
Him surpasses by far Adam's sin and the consequences brought on
mankind, so that Paul can add at the end: "But where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:20). Hence, the encounter Paul
traces between Adam and Christ brings to light the inferiority of the
first man vis-à-vis the prevalence of the second.
On the other hand, it is appropriate to make evident the
incommensurable gift of grace in Christ that Paul attributes to Adam's
sin: It could be said that if it were not to demonstrate the centrality
of grace, he would not have hesitated to discuss sin that "came into
the world through one man and death through sin" (Romans 5:12). Because
of this if, in the faith of the Church the awareness matured of the
dogma of original sin it is because it is indissolubly connected with
the other dogma, that of salvation and freedom in Christ. The
consequence of this is that we must never treat the sin of Adam and of
humanity in a way that is detached from the salvific context, namely,
without understanding it on the horizon of justification in Christ.
However, as men of today we must ask ourselves: What is this original
sin? What does St. Paul teach, what does the Church teach? Is this
doctrine still tenable today? Many think that, in the light of the
history of evolution, there is no longer a place for the doctrine of a
first sin, which then spread to the whole history of humanity. And,
consequently, the question of the Resurrection and of the Redeemer
would also lose its foundation. So, does original sin exist or not? To
be able to respond we must distinguish two aspects of the doctrine on
original sin. There is an empirical aspect, namely, a concrete,
visible, I would say tangible reality for all, and a mysterious aspect,
regarding the ontological foundation of this fact. The empirical fact
is that there is a contradiction in our being. On one hand, every man
knows that he must do good and he profoundly wants to do so. However,
at the same time, he also feels the other impulse to do the contrary,
to follow the path of egoism, violence, of doing only what pleases him
even while knowing that he is acting against the good, against God and
against his neighbor. In his Letter to the Romans Saint Paul expressed
this contradiction in our being thus: "I can will what is right, but I
cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not
want is what I do" (7:18-19). This interior contradiction of our being
is not a theory. Each one of us experiences it every day. And above all
we always see around us the prevalence of this second will. Suffice it
to think of the daily news on injustice, violence, falsehood, lust. We
see it every day: It is a fact.
As a consequence of this power of evil in our souls, a filthy river has
developed in history, which poisons the geography of human history. The
great French thinker Blaise Pascal spoke of a "second nature," which is
superimposed on our original good nature. This "second nature" makes
evil appear as normal for man. Thus even the usual expression: ":this
is human" has a double meaning. "This is human" might mean: This man is
good, he really acts as a man should act. However, "this is human"
might also mean falsehood: Evil is normal, it is human. Evil seems to
have become a second nature. This contradiction of the human being, of
our history should provoke, and provokes even today, the desire for
redemption. And, in fact, the desire that the world be changed and the
promise that a world be created of justice, peace, goodness is present
everywhere: In politics, for example, all speak of this need to change
the world, to create a more just world. It is precisely this expression
of the desire that there be a liberation from the contradiction we
experience in ourselves.
Hence, the fact of the power of evil in the human heart and in human
history is undeniable. The question is: How is this evil explained? In
the history of thought, except for the Christian faith, there is a
principal model of explanation, with several variations. This model
says: being itself is contradictory, it bears within it good and evil.
In ancient times this idea implied the opinion that two equally
original principles existed: a good principle and an evil principle.
This dualism was insurmountable; the two principles are on the same
level, hence there will always be, from the origin of being, this
contradiction. The contradiction of our being, therefore, reflects only
the contrariety of two divine principles, so to speak. In the
evolutionist, atheist version of the world the same vision returns in a
new way. Even if, in such a concession, the vision of being is
monistic, it is implied that being as such from the beginning bears in
itself evil and good. Being itself is not simply good, but open to good
and evil. Evil is equally original as good, and human history would
develop only the model already present in the whole of the preceding
evolution. That which we Christians call original sin is in reality
only the mixed character of being, a mixture of good and evil,
according to this theory, it belonged to the very fabric of being. Deep
down, it is a despairing vision: If it is so, evil is invincible. In
the end, only self-interest matters. And every progress would
necessarily have to be paid for with a river of evil and whoever wishes
to serve progress must accept to pay this price. Politics, deep down,
is based precisely on these premises: And we see the effects. This
modern thought can, in the end, only create sadness and cynicism.
And so we ask again: What does faith say, as witnessed by St. Paul? As
a first point, it confirms the fact of the competition between the two
natures, the fact of this evil whose shadow weighs on the whole of
creation. We heard Chapter 7 of the Letter to the Romans, we can add
Chapter 8. Evil simply exists. As explanation, in contrast with the
dualisms and monisms that we considered briefly and found desolating,
faith tells us: There are two mysteries of light and one mystery of
night, which is, however, shrouded by the mysteries of light. The first
mystery of light is this: Faith tells us that there are not two
principles, one good and one evil, but only one principle, the creator
God, and this principle is good, only good, without a shadow of evil.
As well, being is not a mixture of good and evil; being as such is good
and because of this it is good to be, it is good to live. This is the
happy proclamation of faith: there is only one good source, the
Creator. And because of this, to live is good, it is a good thing to be
a man, a woman, life is good. Then a mystery of darkness, of night
follows. Evil does not come from the source of being itself, it is not
equally original. Evil comes from a created liberty, from an abused
liberty.
How was this possible, how did it happen? This remains obscure. Evil is
not logical. Only God and the good are logical, are light. Evil remains
mysterious. It has been presented in great images, as does chapter 3 of
Genesis, with the vision of two trees, of the serpent, of sinful man. A
great image that makes us guess, but it cannot explain how much in
itself is illogical. We can guess, not explain; nor can we recount it
as a fact next to another, because it is a more profound reality. It
remains a mystery of darkness, of night. However, a mystery of light is
immediately added. Evil comes from a subordinate source. With his
light, God is stronger and, because of this, evil can be overcome.
Therefore, the creature, man, is curable.; but if evil comes only from
a subordinate source, it remains true that man is curable. And the Book
of Wisdom says: "the creatures of the world are wholesome" (1:14).
And finally, the last point, man is not only curable, he is in fact
cured. God has introduced healing. He entered in person into history.
To the permanent source of evil he has opposed a source of pure good.
Christ crucified and risen, the new Adam, opposed the filthy river of
evil with a river of light. And this river is present in history: We
see the saints, the great saints but also the humble saints, the simple
faithful. We see that the river of light that comes from Christ is
present, is strong.
Brothers and sisters, it is the time of Advent. In the language of the
Church the word Advent has two meanings: presence and expectation.
Presence: The light is present, Christ is the new Adam, he is with us
and in our midst. The light already shines and we must open the eyes of
the heart to see the light and to enter the river of light. Above all
to be grateful for the fact that God himself has entered history as new
source of goodness. But Advent also means expectation. The dark night
of evil is still strong. And that is why we pray in Advent with the
ancient people of God: "Rorate caeli desuper." And we pray with
insistence: Come Jesus; come, give force to light and goodness; come
where falsehood, ignorance of God, violence and injustice dominate;
come, Lord Jesus, give force to the good of the world and help us to be
bearers of your light, agents of peace, witnesses of truth. Come Lord
Jesus!
[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider the
Apostle's teaching on the relation between Adam, the first man, and
Christ, the second Adam (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:22.45; Romans 5:12-21).
Paul's teaching on the sin of Adam and its disastrous consequences for
the human family is meant to emphasize the surpassing gift of grace
bestowed on humanity by Jesus Christ. Seen in this light, the doctrine
of original sin explains the misery of our human condition, yet Paul
also underlines the moral responsibility of each man and woman for this
tragic reality. "All have sinned," the Apostle tells us, "and all fall
short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Yet now, by faith in Christ,
we have been justified and are at peace with God (cf. Romans 5:1).
Christ, the new Adam, by his obedience to the Father's will, has set
mankind free from the ancient burden of sin and death. In Baptism, he
has given us a share in his saving death and resurrection, and made us
adoptive children of the Father.
The new life and freedom which we have received by the grace of Christ
impels us to bear witness to the sure hope that all creation will be
freed from its bondage to corruption, and share in the glorious freedom
of the children of God (cf. Romans 8:19ff.).
I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
present in today's Audience, especially those from Malta, Australia,
South Korea and the United States of America. Upon you and your
families I cordially invoke an abundance of joy and peace in our Lord
Jesus Christ.
[In Italian, he said:]
Finally I direct an affectionate thought to young people, the sick and
newlyweds. Dear young people, I invite you to rediscover, in the
spiritual climate of Advent, intimacy with Christ, placing yourselves
in the school of the Virgin Mary. I recommend to you, dear sick people,
to spend this period of waiting and incessant prayer, offering to the
Lord who is coming your sufferings for the salvation of the world.
Finally, I exhort you, dear newlyweds, to be builders of genuine
Christian families, being inspired in the model of the Holy Family of
Nazareth, whom you should look to particularly in this time of
preparation for Christmas.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On
St. Paul and the Sacraments
"No One Makes Himself a Christian. We Become Christians"
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 12, 2008 - Here is a translation of the
address Benedict XVI delivered Wednesday at the general audience, held
in Paul VI Hall.
Because the Holy Father improvised portions of the
address, the complete text was transcribed and published Thursday by
the Vatican press office.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Following St. Paul, we saw two things in last Wednesday's
catechesis. The first is that our human history is contaminated from
the beginning by the abuse of created freedom, which attempts to
emancipate itself from the Divine Will. And true freedom is not found
like this, but is opposed to truth and, consequently, falsifies our
human realities. Above all it falsifies fundamental relationships: the
relationship with God, the relationship between man and woman, and the
relationship between man and the earth. We have said that this
contamination of our history is spread throughout its fabric, and that
this inherited defect has increased and is now visible everywhere. This
is the first thing. The second is this: from St. Paul we have learned
that there is a new beginning in history and of history in Jesus
Christ, he who is man and God. With Jesus, who comes from God, a new
history begins formed by his "yes" to the Father, and because of this,
no longer founded on the pride of a false emancipation, but on love and
truth.
However, the question now arises: How can we enter into
this new beginning, into this new history? How does this history touch
me? With the first contaminated history we are inevitably united by our
biological descent, all of us belonging to the one body of humanity.
But how is communion with Jesus, the new birth to become part of the
new humanity, realized? How does Jesus come into my life, my being? St.
Paul's fundamental response, and that of the whole New Testament, is:
He comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. If the first history got
under way, so to speak, with biology, the second does so in the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of the Risen Christ. In Pentecost, this Spirit
created the beginning of a new humanity, of the new community, the
Church, the Body of Christ.
However, we must be even more concrete: How can this
Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, become my Spirit? The answer is that
this happens in three ways, profoundly connected with one another. The
first is this: The Spirit of Christ calls at the door of my heart,
touches me interiorly. However, given that the new humanity must be a
real body, given that the Spirit must bring us together and truly
create a community, given that the characteristic of the new beginning
is the overcoming of divisions and the creation of the aggregation of
those who are dispersed, this Spirit of Christ makes use of two visible
elements of aggregation: the Word and the sacraments, particularly
baptism and the Eucharist. In the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul says:
"If you confess with your lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved"
(10:9), thus you will enter into the new history of life and not of
death. Then St. Paul continues: "But how are men to call upon him in
whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom
they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And
how can men preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14-15). In a
subsequent verse he says again: "faith comes from preaching" (Romans
10:17). Faith is not a product of our thought, our reflection; it is
something new that we cannot invent but only receive as a gift, as a
novelty brought about by God. And faith does not come from reading, but
from hearing. It is not something that is only interior, but a
relationship with Someone. It implies an encounter with the
proclamation, it implies the existence of the other that proclaims and
creates communion.
And finally the proclamation: He who proclaims does not
speak on his own, but as someone sent. He is within a structure of
mission that begins with Jesus sent by the Father, passes to the
Apostles -- the word "apostle" means "sent" -- and continues in the
ministry, in the missions transmitted by the Apostles. The new fabric
of history appears in this structure of the missions, in which we hear,
in ultimate term, God himself speak, his personal word, the Son who
speaks with us, comes to us. The Word has been made flesh, Jesus, to
really create a new humanity. Because of this the word of proclamation
becomes the sacrament of baptism, which is a rebirth by water and the
Spirit, as St. John will say. In the sixth chapter of the Letter to the
Romans, St. Paul speaks in a very profound way of baptism. We have
heard the text, but perhaps it would be useful to repeat it: "Do you
not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism
into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (6:3-4).
In this catechesis, of course, I cannot go into a detailed
interpretation of this difficult text. I would like to point out
briefly only three things. The first: "We have been baptized" is
passive. No one can baptize himself, he needs the other. No one can
become a Christian by himself. To be Christian is a passive process. We
can only become Christians through another. And this "other" that makes
us Christians, that gives us the gift of faith, is in the first
instance the community of believers, the Church. We receive the faith,
the baptism of the Church. If we do not let ourselves be formed by this
community we cannot be Christians. An autonomous Christianity,
self-produced, is a contradiction in itself. In the first instance,
this "other" is the community of believers, the Church, but in the
second instance, neither does this community act by itself, according
to its own ideas or desires. The community also lives in the same
passive sense: Only Christ can constitute the Church. Christ is the
real giver of the sacraments. This is the first point: No one baptizes
himself, no one makes himself a Christian. We become Christians.
The second is this: Baptism is more than a cleansing. It
is death and resurrection. Paul himself, speaking in the Letter to the
Galatians of the change in his life through the encounter with the
Risen Christ, describes it thus: I have died. He really begins, at this
moment, a new life. To be a Christian is more than and aesthetic
operation, which would add something nice to an existence that is more
or less complete. It is a new beginning, it is a rebirth: death and
resurrection. Obviously, in the resurrection what was good in the
previous existence re-emerges.
The third element is this: Matter forms part of the
sacrament. Christianity is not a purely spiritual reality. It involves
the body. It involves the cosmos. It extends to the new earth and the
new heavens. Let us return to the last word of St. Paul's text: In this
way, he says, we can "live a new life." Element of an examination of
conscience for all of us: to live a new life. This through baptism.
We now turn to the sacrament of the Eucharist. I have
already shown in other catecheses with what profound respect St. Paul
transmits verbally the tradition on the Eucharist received from the
witnesses themselves of the last night. He transmits these words with a
precious treasure entrusted to his fidelity. And so we really hear in
these words the witnesses of the last night. We hear the words of the
Apostle: "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you,
that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and
when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which
is for you. Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). It
is an inexhaustible text. Also here, in this catechesis, I will only
make two brief observations. Paul transmits the Lord's words on the
chalice thus: this chalice is "the new covenant in my blood." Hidden in
these words is a reference to two fundamental texts of the Old
Testament. The first reference is to the promise of a new covenant in
the book of the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus says to the disciples and says
to us: now, in this hour, with me and with my death the new covenant is
realized; with my blood this new history of humanity begins in the
world. However, present in these words also is a reference to the
moment of the covenant on Sinai, where Moses said: "Behold the blood of
the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all
these words" (Exodus 24:8). There it was a question of the blood of
animals. The blood of animals could only be expression of a desire, the
hope of the new sacrifice, of true worship. With the gift of the
chalice the Lord gives us the true sacrifice. The only true sacrifice
is the love of the Son. With the gift of this love, eternal love, the
Word enters into the new covenant. To celebrate the Eucharist means
that Christ gives himself to us, his love, to conform us to himself and
thus create the new world.
The second important aspect of the doctrine on the
Eucharist appears in the same first Letter to the Corinthians, where
Saint Paul says: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a
participation in the blood of Christ? Because there is one bread , we
who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
(10:16-17). In these words the personal and social character of the
Eucharist also appears. Christ unites himself personally to each one of
us, one with the other. We receive Christ in communion, but Christ
unites himself also in my neighbor. Christ and neighbor are inseparable
in the Eucharist. And thus we are only one bread, only one body. A
Eucharist without solidarity with others is an abuse of the Eucharist.
And here we are at the root and at the same time at the center of the
doctrine of the Church as Body of Christ, of the Risen Christ.
We also see all the realism of this doctrine. Christ gives
us his body in the Eucharist, he gives himself in his body and so makes
us his body, he unites us to his risen body. If man eats normal bread,
this bread in the process of digestion becomes part of his body,
transformed in substance of human life. But in Holy Communion the
inverse process takes place. Christ, the Lord, assimilates us to
himself, introduces us into his glorious Body and so all together we
become his Body. Those who read only Chapter 12 of the First Letter to
the Corinthians and Chapter 12 of the Letter to the Romans might think
that the word on the Body of Christ as organism of the charisms is only
a kind of sociological-theological parable. In fact, in Roman political
science this word of the body with the different members that form a
unity was used by the state itself, to say that the state is an
organism in which each one has his function, the multiplicity and
diversity of the functions form a body and each one has its place.
Reading only Chapter 12 of the First Letter to the Corinthians one
might think that Paul limited himself to transfer this to the Church,
that this was only a sociology of the Church. But keeping this 10th
chapter in mind we see that the realism of the Church is very
different, much more profound and true than that of a state-organism.
Because Christ really gives us his body and makes us his body. We are
really united with the risen body of Christ, so we are united to one
another. The Church is not just a corporation as the state; it is a
body. It is not simply an organization but a real organism.
Finally, I will only address a very brief word on the
sacrament of marriage. In the Letter to the Corinthians there are only
some notes, while in the Letter to the Ephesians a profound theology of
marriage has been developed. Here Paul describes marriage as a "great
mystery." He says so "in reference to Christ and to his Church" (5:32).
Highlighted in this passage is a reciprocity that is configured in a
vertical dimension. The mutual submission must adopt the language of
love, which has its model in the love of Christ for his Church. This
Christ-Church relation makes the theological aspect of marital love
primary, it exalts the affective relation between spouses. A genuine
marriage will be well lived if in the constant human and affective
growth there is an effort to remain connected with the efficacy of the
Word and the meaning of baptism. Christ has sanctified the Church,
purifying it through the cleansing of water, accompanied by the Word.
Participation in the body and blood of the Lord does no more than
cement, in addition to making visible, an indissoluble union by grace.
And finally we hear St. Paul's word to the Philippians:
"The Lord is at hand" (Philippians 4:5). I think we have understood
that, through the Word and the sacraments, in all our life the Lord is
at hand. Let us ask him that we might be increasingly touched in our
innermost being by his closeness, so that joy will be born -- that joy
that is born when Jesus is really close.
[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several
languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we continue our catechesis on the writings of Saint
Paul, I wish today to consider some of the ways in which this great
Apostle contributes to our understanding of the Church’s sacramental
life. Baptism, he explains, is a sharing in the death and resurrection
of Christ. We die to sin, and we rise with Christ to a new life of
mystical union with him. Washed clean in the purifying waters, we
emerge sanctified and justified, and we "put on" Christ. Through
Baptism, the believer becomes a "new creature", renewed in the Holy
Spirit, and incorporated through the same Spirit into the one body of
Christ. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, the life of the Church is
nourished and built up. Following the teaching handed down by the
Apostles, the Christian community does what Jesus did at the Last
Supper, when he took bread and wine, blessed them, and gave them to his
disciples to eat and drink. In this way, the memory of the Passion is
recalled and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet is given to God’s
people as they await his coming again. The Eucharist seals the union
between Christ and his bride, the Church – and in the course of a
reflection on this mystical relationship, Saint Paul develops his
understanding of Christian marriage. By pondering the teaching of this
great Apostle, may we grow daily in our love for the Church and draw
deeply from the wells of living water that she opens up for us.
I am pleased to welcome the English-speaking pilgrims and
visitors here today, including groups from Australia and the United
States. I greet especially the newly professed Missionaries of Charity
from various countries. Upon all of you, and upon your families and
loved ones, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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