Monday, January 17, 2011

"when the world in its entirety will have become liturgy of God, adoration, and so will be safe and sound."

The preaching of the Word in the context of the Christian liturgy, which is the union of heaven and earth in the eschatonic cosmic liturgy, is the focus of the current Pope:
...The homilies for Mass and vespers are a cornerstone of this pontificate, not yet understood by all. Joseph Ratzinger writes them to a large extent by hand, and improvises some of them with the immediacy of the spoken word. But he always thinks them through and prepares them with extreme care, because for him they have unique value, distinct from all his other written or spoken words. The homilies, in fact, are part of the liturgical action, or rather they are themselves liturgy, that "cosmic liturgy" which he has called the "ultimate goal" of his apostolic mission, "when the world in its entirety will have become liturgy of God, adoration, and so will be safe and sound." There is a great deal of Augustine in this vision of Ratzinger's, there is the city of God in heaven and on earth, there are time and the eternal. In the Mass, the pope sees "the image and the shadow of the heavenly realities" (Hebrews 8:5). His homilies are intended to life the veil.

And in effect, in rereading them, they disclose a vision of the world and of history full of new meanings, which are the heart of the Christian good news, because "if Jesus is present, there no longer exists any time devoid of meaning and empty." Advent is "presence," "arrival," "coming," the pope said in the inaugural homily of this liturgical year. "God is here, he has not withdrawn from the world, he has not left us alone," and so time becomes "kairĂ³s," the unique, favorable occasion of eternal salvation, and all creation changes its appearance "if behind it is him and not the mist of an uncertain origin and an uncertain future..."

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