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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General Audience
"Christ and the Church"
H.H. Benedict
XVI
March 15, 2006
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Following the Catecheses on the Psalms and Canticles of Lauds and of
Vespers, I would like to dedicate the upcoming Wednesday Audiences
to the mystery of the relationship between Christ and the Church,
reflecting upon it from the experience of the Apostles, in light of
the duty entrusted to them.
The Church was built on the foundation of the Apostles as a
community of faith, hope and charity. Through the Apostles, we come
to Jesus himself. The Church begins to establish herself when some
fishermen of Galilee meet Jesus, allowing themselves to be won over
by his gaze, his voice, his warm and strong invitation: "Follow me,
and I will make you become fishers of men" (Mk 1: 17; Mt 4: 19).
At the start of
the third millennium, my beloved Predecessor John Paul II invited
the Church to contemplate the Face of Christ (cf.
Novo Millennio Ineunte,
n. 16 ff.).
Continuing in the same direction, I would like to show, in the
Catechesis that I begin today, how it is precisely the light of that
Face that is reflected on the face of the Church (cf.
Lumen Gentium,
n. 1),
notwithstanding the limits and shadows of our fragile and sinful
humanity.
After Mary, a pure reflection of the light of Christ, it is from the
Apostles, through their word and witness, that we receive the truth
of Christ. Their mission is not isolated, however, but is situated
within a mystery of communion that involves the entire People of God
and is carried out in stages from the Old to the New Covenant.
In this regard, it must be said that the message of Jesus is
completely misunderstood if it is separated from the context of the
faith and hope of the Chosen People: like John the Baptist, his
direct Precursor, Jesus above all addresses Israel (cf. Mt 15: 24)
in order to "gather" it together in the eschatological time that
arrived with him. And like that of John, the preaching of Jesus is
at the same time a call of grace and a sign of contradiction and of
justice for the entire People of God.
And so, from the first moment of his salvific activity, Jesus of
Nazareth strives to gather together the People of God. Even if his
preaching is always an appeal for personal conversion, in reality he
continually aims to build the People of God whom he came to bring
together, purify and save.
As a result, therefore, an individualistic interpretation of
Christ's proclamation of the Kingdom, specific to liberal theology,
is unilateral and without foundation, as a great liberal theologian
Adolf von Harnack summed it up in the year 1900 in his lessons on
The essence of Christianity: "The Kingdom of God, insofar as it
comes in single individuals, is able to enter their soul and
is welcomed by them. The Kingdom of God is the dominion of
God, certainly, but it is the dominion of the holy God in individual
hearts" (cf. Third Lesson, 100 ff.).
In reality, this individualism of liberal theology is a typically
modern accentuation: in the perspective of biblical tradition and
on the horizon of Judaism, where the work of Jesus is situated in
all its novelty, it is clear that the entire mission of the
Son-made-flesh has a communitarian finality. He truly came to unite
dispersed humanity; he truly came to unite the People of God.
An evident sign of the intention of the Nazarene to gather together
the community of the Covenant, to demonstrate in it the fulfilment
of the promises made to the Fathers who always speak of convocation,
unification, unity, is the institution of the Twelve. We
heard about this institution of the Twelve in the Gospel reading. I
shall read the central passage again: "And he went up into the
hills and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him.
And he appointed twelve to be with him, and to be sent out to preach
and have authority to cast out demons. The names of the twelve
Apostles are these..." (Mk 3: 13-16; cf. Mt 10: 1-4; Lk 6: 12-16).
On the site of the revelation, "the mount", taking initiative that
demonstrates absolute awareness and determination, Jesus establishes
the Twelve so that, together with him, they are witnesses and
heralds of the coming of the Kingdom of God.
There are no doubts about the historicity of this call, not only
because of the antiquity and multiplicity of witnesses, but also for
the simple reason that there is also the name of Judas, the Apostle
who betrayed him, notwithstanding the difficulties that this
presence could have caused the new community.
The number 12, which evidently refers to the 12 tribes of Israel,
already reveals the meaning of the prophetic-symbolic action
implicit in the new initiative to re-establish the holy people. As
the system of the 12 tribes had long since faded out, the hope of
Israel awaited their restoration as a sign of the eschatological
time (as referred to at the end of the Book of Ezekiel: 37: 15-19;
39: 23-29; 40-48).
In choosing the Twelve, introducing them into a communion of life
with himself and involving them in his mission of proclaiming the
Kingdom in words and works (cf. Mk 6: 7-13; Mt 10: 5-8; Lk 9: 1-6;
6: 13), Jesus wants to say that the definitive time has arrived in
which to constitute the new People of God, the people of the 12
tribes, which now becomes a universal people, his Church.
Appeal for Israel
With their very own existence, the Twelve - called from different
backgrounds - become an appeal for all of Israel to convert and
allow herself to be gathered into the new covenant, complete and
perfect fulfilment of the ancient one. The fact that he entrusted to
his Apostles, during the Last Supper and before his Passion, the
duty to celebrate his Pasch, demonstrates how Jesus wished to
transfer to the entire community, in the person of its heads, the
mandate to be a sign and instrument in history of the eschatological
gathering begun by him. In a certain sense we can say that the Last
Supper itself is the act of foundation of the Church, because he
gives himself and thus creates a new community, a community united
in communion with himself.
In this light, one understands how the Risen One confers upon them,
with the effusion of the Spirit, the power to forgive sins (cf. Jn
20: 23). Thus, the Twelve Apostles are the most evident sign of
Jesus' will regarding the existence and mission of his Church, the
guarantee that between Christ and the Church there is no
opposition: despite the sins of the people who make up the Church,
they are inseparable.
Therefore, a slogan that was popular some years back: "Jesus yes,
Church no", is totally inconceivable with the intention of Christ.
This individualistically chosen Jesus is an imaginary Jesus.
We cannot have Jesus without the reality he created and in which he
communicates himself. Between the Son of God-made-flesh and his
Church there is a profound, unbreakable and mysterious continuity by
which Christ is present today in his people. He is always
contemporary with us, he is always contemporary with the Church,
built on the foundation of the Apostles and alive in the succession
of the Apostles. And his very presence in the community, in which he
himself is always with us, is the reason for our joy. Yes, Christ is
with us, the Kingdom of God is coming.
To special groups
I welcome the English-speaking visitors present at today's Audience,
and in particular the pilgrims from England, Wales, Finland, Japan,
The Philippines, Canada and the United States of America. I thank
the choirs for their praise of God in song. Upon all of you I
cordially invoke God's abundant Blessings.
Lastly, I address an affectionate greeting to the young people,
the sick people and the newly-weds, encouraging
them to continue the Lenten journey with commitment. May the grace
of this unique liturgical period help you, dear friends, to imitate
the filial adhesion of Jesus to the will of the Father.
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