Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On St. Paul and the Second Coming
"Come, Lord! Come Where You Are Not Known"
H.H. Benedict XVI
November 12, 2008
www.zenit.org
Dear brothers and sisters:
The theme of the Resurrection, which we considered last week, opens a
new perspective -- that of awaiting the return of the Lord. And
therefore it brings us to reflect on the relationship between the
present time, the time of the Church and the Kingdom of Christ, and the
future (éschaton) that awaits us, when Christ will hand over the Kingdom
to the Father (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24). Every Christian discourse on
the last things, called eschatology, always starts from the event of the
Resurrection: In this event the last things have already begun, and in a
certain sense, are already present.
St. Paul probably wrote his first letter in the year 52, the First
Letter to the Thessalonians, where he speaks of this return of Jesus,
called the parousía, the advent, the new and definitive and manifest
presence (cf. 4:13-18). To the Thessalonians, who have their doubts and
problems, the Apostle writes thus: "If we believe that Jesus died and
rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have
fallen asleep" (4:14).
And he continues: "The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are
alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air" (4:16-17). Paul describes the parousía of
Christ with very living tones and symbolic images, but transmitting a
simple and profound message: At the end, we will be always with the
Lord. That is, beyond the images, the essential message: Our future is
"to be with the Lord." As believers, in our lives we already are with
the Lord -- our future, eternal life, has already begun.
In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul changes the perspective:
He speaks of negative events that must precede that conclusive end. Do
not let yourselves be deceived, he says, as if the day of the Lord were
truly imminent, according to a chronological calculation. "We ask you,
brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to
be alarmed either by a 'spirit,' or by an oral statement, or by a letter
allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let
no one deceive you in any way" (2:1-3).
The rest of this text announces that before the arrival of the Lord,
there will be the apostasy and the revelation of the no better defined
"wicked one," the "son of perdition" (2:3), which tradition will later
call the Antichrist. But the intention of this letter of St. Paul is
above all practical. He writes: "In fact, when we were with you, we
instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that
one eat. We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a
disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.
Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work
quietly and to eat their own food" (3:10-12).
In other words, the awaiting of the parousía of Jesus does not dispense
with the work of this world, but on the contrary, brings
responsibilities before the divine Judge regarding our way of acting in
this world. Precisely thus, our responsibility to work in and for this
world arises. We will see the same thing next Sunday in the Gospel of
the talents, where the Lord tells us that he has entrusted talents to
everyone and the Judge will ask us to account for them, saying: Have you
given fruits? Therefore, the awaiting of his coming implies a
responsibility toward this world.
The same thing and the same nexus between parousía -- the return of the
Judge-Savior -- and our commitment in life appears in another context
and with new aspects in the Letter to the Philippians. Paul is in jail
and awaiting his sentence, which might be death. In this situation, he
thinks of his future being with the Lord, but he also thinks of the
community of Philippi, which needs its father, Paul, and he writes: "For
to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall
choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be
with Christ, (for) that is far better. Yet that I remain (in) the flesh
is more necessary for your benefit. And this I know with confidence,
that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your
progress and joy in the faith, so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may
abound on account of me when I come to you again" (1:21-26).
Paul is not afraid of death, on the contrary, it means in fact the
complete being with Christ. But Paul also participates in the sentiments
of Christ, who has not lived for himself, but for us. Living for others
becomes the program of his life and because of that, he shows his
perfect readiness to do the will of God, [readiness] for what God
decides. He is ready above all, also in the future, to live on earth for
the others, to live for Christ, to live for his living presence and thus
for the renewal of the world. We see that this being yours with Christ
creates a great interior freedom: freedom before the threat of death,
but freedom also before all the tasks and sufferings of life. He was
simply available to God and truly free.
And we turn now, after having examined the various aspects of the
waiting for the parousía of Christ, to ask ourselves: What are the
fundamental attitudes of a Christian toward the last things -- death and
the end of the world? The first attitude is the certainty that Jesus has
risen, is with the Father, and because of that, is with us forever. And
no one is stronger that Christ, because he is with the Father, is with
us. Because of this, we are secure and free of fear. This was an
essential effect of Christian preaching. Fear of spirits and gods was
spread throughout the entire ancient world. And today as well,
missionaries find -- together with so many good elements in natural
religions -- the fear of spirits and the ill-fated powers that threaten
us. Christ is alive; he has overcome death and has overcome all these
powers. With this certainty, with this freedom, with this joy, we live.
This is the first element of our living directed to the future.
In second place, the certainty that Christ is with me. And that in
Christ the future world has already begun -- this also gives the
certainty of hope. The future is not a darkness in which no one gets
one's bearings. It is not like that. Without Christ, also for the world
today, the future is dark; there is fear of the future -- a lot of fear
of the future. The Christian knows that the light of Christ is stronger
and because of this, lives in a hope that is not vague, in a hope that
gives certainty and courage to face the future.
Finally, the third attitude: The Judge who returns -- who is Judge and
Savior at the same time -- has left us the task of living in this world
according to his way of living. He has given us his talents. Because of
this, our third attitude is responsibility toward the world, toward our
brothers before Christ, and at the same time, also certainty of his
mercy. Both things are important. We don't live as if good and evil were
the same, because God only can be merciful. This would be a deceit. In
truth, we live with a great responsibility. We have talents, we have to
work so this world opens itself to Christ, so that it is renewed. But
even working and knowing in our responsibility that God is a true judge,
we are also sure that he is a good judge. We know his face -- the face
of the risen Christ, of Christ crucified for us. Therefore we can we
sure of his goodness and continue forward with great courage.
Following the Pauline teaching on eschatology is the fact of the
universality of the call to faith, which unites Jews and Gentiles, that
is, the pagans, as a sign and anticipation of the future reality, by
which we can say that we are already seated in heaven with Christ, but
to show to future centuries the richness of grace (cf. Ephesians 2:6ff):
The "after" becomes a "before" to make evident the state of incipient
fulfillment in which we live. This makes tolerable the sufferings of the
present moment, which are not comparable to future glory (cf. Romans
8:18). We walk by faith and not by sight, and though it would be
preferable to leave the body and live with the Lord, what matters
definitively, whether dwelling in the body or leaving it, is being
pleasing to God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7-9).
Finally, a last point that perhaps seems a little difficult for us. St.
Paul in the conclusion of his Second Letter to the Corinthians repeats
and also puts on the lips of the Corinthians, a prayer originating in
the first Christian communities of the area of Palestine: Maranà, thà!,
which literally means, "Our Lord, come!" (16:22). It was the prayer of
the first Christian community and the last book of the New Testament,
Revelation, also closes with this prayer: "Come Lord!"
Can we also pray like this? It seems to me that for us today, in our
lives, in our world, it is difficult to sincerely pray so that this
world perishes, so that the new Jerusalem comes, so that the final
judgment and Christ the judge come. I think that if we don't dare to
sincerely pray like this for many reasons, nevertheless in a just and
correct way we can also say with the first Christians: "Come, Lord
Jesus."
Certainly, we don't want the end of the world to come now. But, on the
other hand, we want this unjust world to end. We also want the world to
be deeply changed, the civilization of love to begin, [we want] a world
of justice and peace, without violence, without hunger, to arrive. We
all want this -- and how can it happen without the presence of Christ?
Without the presence of Christ, a just and renewed world will never
really arrive. And though in another way, totally and deeply, we too can
and should say, with great urgency and in the circumstances of our time,
Come, Lord! Come to your world, in the way that you know. Come where
there is injustice and violence. Come to the refugee camps, in Darfur
and in North Kivu, in so many places in the world. Come where drugs
dominate. Come, too, among those rich people who have forgotten you and
who live only for themselves. Come where you are not known. Come to your
world and renew the world of today. Come also to our hearts. Come and
renew our lives. Come to our hearts so that we ourselves can be light of
God, your presence.
In this sense, we pray with St. Paul: Maranà, thà! Come, Lord Jesus! And
we pray so that Christ is really present today in our world, and that he
renews it.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then addressed the crowds in various languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now turn from his
proclamation of Christ’s death and resurrection to his teaching on the
Lord’s second coming. For Paul, the Lord’s return at the end of time
will be accompanied by the resurrection of the dead and the consummation
of his Kingdom, when all those who believed in him and trusted in his
promises "will be with him for ever" in glory (cf. 1 Thess 4:17).
Christ’s victorious reign has in fact already begun. Yet we, who have
received the Spirit as the first fruits of our redemption, patiently
await the fulfilment of that plan in our lives. Our life in this world,
marked by trials and tribulations, must be inspired by the hope of
heaven and the expectation of our resurrection to glory. Paul’s rich
eschatology, linking the "already" of Christ’s resurrection to the "not
yet" of our life in this world, is reflected in his statement that "in
hope we were saved" (Rom 8:24). This same joyful expectation of the
Lord’s return and the fulfilment of the Father’s saving plan is seen in
the ancient Christian prayer with which he concludes his first Letter to
the Corinthians: Maranà, thà! Come, Lord Jesus!
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking visitors present at
today’s Audience, particularly priests from the Missionary Society of
Saint Paul the Apostle, members of the Corpus Christi Movement for
Priests, participants in the International Catholic Conference of
Scouting, and pilgrims from the Philippines, England, Nigeria, and the
United States of America. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke
God’s blessings of joy and peace.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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