Pontiff reflects on Christian hope and the heavenly Jerusalem
August 23, 2017
Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on Christian hope, Pope Francis spoke about the heavenly Jerusalem in his August 23 address in Paul VI Audience Hall.
“We discover in the final pages of the Bible that the ultimate destination of our Christian pilgrimage will be the heavenly Jerusalem,” the Pope said. “And on this pilgrimage we encounter the God of surprises who treats us with infinite tenderness, like a father welcoming his children home after a long and difficult journey.”
“Even if many experience life as a prolonged period of suffering—think of the fearful faces of those haunted by violence and war—still there is a Father who weeps with infinite compassion for his children, and who waits to console them with a very different future,” Pope Francis continued. “We believe that neither death nor hatred has the last word, for we Christians see, with great hope, a larger horizon: the Kingdom of God, where all evil is banished forever.”
The Pope added:
It is Jesus himself who is the light of this new future, and who even now accompanies us on our way. Creation did not stop on the sixth day of Genesis, because God is continually looking after us, always ready to pronounce his blessing: “Behold, I make all things new!” (Rev. 21:5)
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