VATICAN CITY, DEC 6, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience, which was held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 30,000 people, the Pope spoke on: "Cooperation in the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world."
John Paul II said that the Kingdom is "the effective but mysterious action that God works in the universe and in the tangle of human affairs. He overcomes the resistance of evil with patience, not with clamor and arrogance. ... The Kingdom is grace and love of God for the world, our source of serenity and trust."
"Nonetheless," he went on, "man is not a passive witness of God's entrance into history. Jesus invites us to 'seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,' and to make this search our principal concern."
The Holy Father emphasized that we are all called to cooperate in the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world, especially those "who are called to the apostolate."
He added: "The people who have chosen the way of the evangelical Beatitudes - the 'poor in spirit' - enter the Kingdom." Those "who bear the suffering of life with love" also enter, as do "the pure of heart who select the path of justice, that is, of adherence to God's will. ... The just of the earth, even those who do not know Christ and His Church, but who under the influence of grace seek God with a sincere heart, are, then, called to build the Kingdom of God, collaborating with the Lord, Who is its first and supreme Architect."
John Paul II concluded by encouraging everyone to invoke "'Thy Kingdom come!' An invocation that in the history of humanity has been raised to heaven so many times as a great breath of hope."
AG;KINGDOM OF GOD;...;...;VIS;20001206;Word: 310;
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