Pope speaks on living Advent in the Year of Faith
December 05, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI devoted his weekly public audience on December 5 to the opening of St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, saying that the Apostle’s words serve as an appropriate introduction to “living in the time of Advent, in the context of the Year of Faith.”
At the outset of his message to the Ephesians, the Pope reminded his audience, St. Paul tells them that “the celestial Father chose us, even before the foundation of the world, to become his adoptive children, in his only Son, Jesus Christ.” This is “God’s plan for mankind, defined in terms of joy, stupefaction, and thankfulness.”
“The initiative precedes any human response,” the Pope pointed out. God’s gift to mankind is part of “the great design of creation and history.” In this design, the Holy Father continued, “Christ is placed at the center of the world’s entire path.”
The extent of God’s generosity, the Pope said, is evidence in the fact that “he did not simply communicate a series of truths, but instead He communicated Himself to us, He showed Himself as one of us, to the extent of taking on human flesh.”
"In view of this, what is, then, the act of faith? It is man's response to God's self-revelation,” the Pope said. Faith means “allowing oneself to be seized by God's Truth, a Truth that is Love.”
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