GENERAL AUDIENCE 26 NOVEMBER 2014
The
Church on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
St. Peter's Square
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning.
Today’s weather is a bit unpleasant but you are all brave, my
compliments! Let’s hope to be able to pray together today.
In presenting the Church to the men and women of our time, the
Second Vatican Council kept well in mind a fundamental truth, one we should
never forget: the Church is not a static reality, inert, an end in herself, but
is on a continual journey through history, towards that ultimate and marvelous
end that is the Kingdom of Heaven, of which the Church on earth is the seed and
the beginning (cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, n. 5). When we turn to this
horizon, we discover that our imagination falls short, hardly able to intuit
the splendour of a mystery which surpasses our senses. And several questions
spontaneously rise up in us: when will that final step happen? What will the
new dimension which the Church enters be like? What will become of humanity
then? And of Creation around us? But these questions are not new, the disciples
had already asked Jesus about them at that time: “When will this come to pass?
When will the Spirit triumph over creation, over creatures, over
everything...”. These are human questions, time-old questions. And we too are
asking these questions.
1. The Conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes, faced with these questions
that forever resonate in the hearts of men and women, states: “We do not know
the time for the consummation of the earth and of humanity, nor do we know how
all things will be transformed. As deformed by sin, the shape of this world
will pass away; but we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place
and a new earth where justice will abide, and whose blessedness will answer and
surpass all the longings for peace which spring up in the human heart” (n. 39).
This is the Church’s destination: it is, as the Bible says, the “new
Jerusalem”, “Paradise”. More than a place, it is a “state” of soul in which our
deepest hopes are fulfilled in superabundance and our being, as creatures and
as children of God, reach their full maturity. We will finally be clothed in the
joy, peace and love of God, completely, without any limit, and we will come
face to face with Him! (cf. 1 Cor 13:12). It is beautiful to think of this, to
think of Heaven. We will all be there together. It is beautiful, it gives
strength to the soul.
2. In this perspective, it is good to grasp the kind of continuity
and deep communion there is between the Church in Heaven and that which is
still a pilgrim on earth. Those who already live in the sight of God can indeed
sustain us and intercede for us, pray for us. On the other hand, we too are
always invited to offer up good works, prayer and the Eucharist itself in order
to alleviate the tribulation of souls still awaiting never-ending beatitude.
Yes, because in the Christian perspective the distinction is not between who is
dead and who is not, but between who is in Christ and who is not! This is the
point of determination, what is truly decisive for our salvation and for our
happiness.
3. At the same time, Sacred Scripture teaches us that the
fulfillment of this marvellous plan cannot but involve everything that
surrounds us and came from the heart and mind of God. The Apostle Paul says it
explicitly, when he says that “Creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom
8:21). Other texts utilize the image of a “new heaven” and a “new earth” (cf. 2
Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), in the sense that the whole universe will be renewed and
will be freed once and for all from every trace of evil and from death itself.
What lies ahead is the fulfillment of a transformation that in reality is
already happening, beginning with the death and resurrection of Christ. Hence,
it is the new creation; it is not, therefore, the annihilation of the cosmos
and of everything around us, but the bringing of all things into the fullness
of being, of truth and of beauty. This is the design that God, the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, willed from eternity to realize and is realizing.
Dear friends, when we think of this magnificent reality awaiting
us, we become aware of how marvellous a gift it is to belong to the Church
which bears in writing the highest of vocations! So, let us ask the Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Church, to keep constant watch over our journey and to help
us to be, as she is, a joyful sign of trust and of hope among our brothers and
sisters.
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