AUDIENCE: THE VALUE OF COMMITMENT IN TEMPORAL REALITIES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 13, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience, which was held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 35,000 people, John Paul II spoke on "The value of commitment in temporal realities."

The Pope said that "biblical revelation and the finest philosophical wisdom agree in their emphasis that humanity is, on the one hand, drawn towards the infinite and the eternal and, on the other, firmly rooted on earth within the coordinates of time and space."

Genesis indicates that the alliance between the Creator and man comes about in the latter's commitment to stewardship over earthly realities and to the service of God. "Unfortunately," continued the Pope, "man often accomplishes the mission with which God has entrusted him, not as a wise architect but as an arrogant tyrant. In the end, he finds himself in a devastated and hostile world, in a shattered and wounded society. Genesis also shows us this ... in describing the rift in man's harmony with his fellows, with the earth and with the Creator Himself. This is the fruit of original sin."

"We must, then, with the grace of Christ the Redeemer, make ours once more the plan of peace and development, of justice and solidarity, of transformation and evaluation of earthly and temporal realities. ... By means of the economy, commerce and social life, we must cultivate well-being and knowledge and seek victory over misery and over all forms of humiliation of human dignity."

The Holy Father emphasized that "the work of creation is, in a certain sense, delegated by God to man in order that it may continue in the extraordinary feats of science and technology, ... with the aim of 'cultivating and protecting' the earth and making men and women more united."

"Christians," he concluded, "are called to collaborate with the Creator in order to build on earth a 'house for man' more in keeping with his dignity and the divine plan."

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