VATICAN CITY, DEC 2, 2007 (VIS) - At midday today, the first Sunday of Advent, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square to pray the Angelus with the thousands of pilgrims gathered there.
The Holy Father began his remarks by recalling how during this liturgical time "the People of God resume their journey to experience the mystery of Christ in history. Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever; history however changes and needs to be constantly evangelized."
"This Sunday," he said, "is then an appropriate day to offer the entire Church and all men and women of good will my second Encyclical, which I have chosen to dedicate to the subject of Christian hope. It is entitled 'Spe salvi' because it begins with St. Paul's expression 'Spe salvi facti sumus (in hope we are saved). Here, as in other passages of the new Testament, the word 'hope' is closely linked to the word 'faith.' It is a gift that changes the life of the person who receives it."
"In what does this hope consist, this hope so great and so 'trustworthy' as to make us say that in it we have 'salvation?' It substantially consists in the knowledge of God, in the discovery of His good and merciful Father's heart. With His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus revealed His face to us, the face of a God so great in love as to transmit to us an unshakeable hope which not even death can break."
However, "the development of modern science has confined hope and faith ever more to the private and individual sphere, to the point that today it is clear, and at times dramatically clear, that mankind and the world have need of God, ... otherwise they remain without hope.
"Without doubt science contributes to the good of humanity, but it is not capable of redeeming it," the Pope added in conclusion. "Man is redeemed by love which makes personal and social life good and beautiful. For this reason the great hope, the full and definitive hope, is guaranteed by God, by the God Who is love, and Who in Jesus visited us and gave us life."
ANG/HOPE/... VIS 20071203 (380)
The Holy Father began his remarks by recalling how during this liturgical time "the People of God resume their journey to experience the mystery of Christ in history. Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever; history however changes and needs to be constantly evangelized."
"This Sunday," he said, "is then an appropriate day to offer the entire Church and all men and women of good will my second Encyclical, which I have chosen to dedicate to the subject of Christian hope. It is entitled 'Spe salvi' because it begins with St. Paul's expression 'Spe salvi facti sumus (in hope we are saved). Here, as in other passages of the new Testament, the word 'hope' is closely linked to the word 'faith.' It is a gift that changes the life of the person who receives it."
"In what does this hope consist, this hope so great and so 'trustworthy' as to make us say that in it we have 'salvation?' It substantially consists in the knowledge of God, in the discovery of His good and merciful Father's heart. With His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus revealed His face to us, the face of a God so great in love as to transmit to us an unshakeable hope which not even death can break."
However, "the development of modern science has confined hope and faith ever more to the private and individual sphere, to the point that today it is clear, and at times dramatically clear, that mankind and the world have need of God, ... otherwise they remain without hope.
"Without doubt science contributes to the good of humanity, but it is not capable of redeeming it," the Pope added in conclusion. "Man is redeemed by love which makes personal and social life good and beautiful. For this reason the great hope, the full and definitive hope, is guaranteed by God, by the God Who is love, and Who in Jesus visited us and gave us life."
ANG/HOPE/... VIS 20071203 (380)
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