COOPERATORES VERITATIS
BENEDICT
XVI
GENERAL
AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
INCARNATION:
GOD ASSUMES HUMAN CONDITION TO HEAL IT
Vatican City, 9
January 2013 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his Wednesday catechesis during today's
general audience to the meaning of the word Incarnation, "a term,"
the Pope said, "that has resounded many times in our Churches over these
past days, expressing the reality that we celebrate at Christmas: the Son of
God become man, as we say in the Creed."
The Holy Father began by explaining the
meaning of this word, which is central to the Christian faith, starting from
the Church Fathers, especially St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Irenaeus, who
used it when "reflecting on the Prologue of St. John's Gospel,
particularly in the expression, 'the Word became flesh'. Here the word
'flesh'," the Pope emphasized, "refers to the person in their
entirety, precisely in light of their transcience and temporality, their
poverty and contingency. This tells us that the salvation wrought by God made
flesh in Jesus of Nazareth reaches the human person in their concrete reality
and in whatever situation they may find themselves. God took on the human
condition in order to heal it of everything that separates it from Him, in
order to allow us to call Him, in his Only Begotten Son, by the name of 'Abba,
Father', and to truly be children of God."
Then the Pope recalled the Christmas
tradition of exchanging gifts with those closest to us. Sometimes this may be a
gesture undertaken out of convention but, generally, it "expresses
affection. It is a sign of love and esteem." This same idea of giving is
at the heart of the liturgy of these feastdays and "it reminds us of the
original gift of Christmas. On that holy night, God, becoming man, wanted to
make himself a gift for humanity ... he took on our humanity in order to give
us His divinity. This is the great gift. ... In this we find the model of our
giving because our relationships, especially those which are most important,
are guided by generosity and love."
The fact of the Incarnation, of God who
makes himself man like us, shows us "the unprecedented reality of divine
love. God's action, in fact, is not limited to words. Rather, we can say that
He is not satisfied with speaking but immerses himself in our history and takes
upon himself the worry and the weight of human life. ... God's way of acting is
a strong stimulus for us to ask ourselves about the reality of our faith, which
should not be limited to the arena of feeling, of the emotions, but must enter
into the concrete reality of our existence, must touch, that is, our everyday
life and orient it in a practical way. ... Faith has a fundamental aspect that
affects not only our mind and our heart but all of our life."
Citing the Church Fathers again, the
Pope observed that on numerous occasions Jesus was compared with Adam, even to
the point of calling Him the "second Adam", or the definitive Adam,
the perfect image of God. With the Incarnation of the Son of God a new creation
occurs, which gives a complete answer to the question 'who is man?' ... Only in
Jesus is God's plan for human being fully revealed: He is the definitive man
according to God."
"It is important, therefore, that
we rediscover our wonder at this mystery, that we let ourselves be enveloped by
the grandeur of this event: God walked our paths as man. He entered into human
history to give us His very life. And he did this not with the splendour of a
sovereign, subjugating the world with his power, but with the humility of a
child."
"In that child, the Son of God
whom we contemplate at Christmastime," Benedict XVI concluded, "we
can recognize the true face of the human being, and only in opening ourselves
to the action of His grace and seeking every day to follow Him do we carry out
God's plan for us."
Source: V.I.S.
-Vatican Information Service. www.vis.va
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