VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – Love of enemies is the nucleus of the “Christian revolution” which is not subject to economic, political or media power, said Pope Benedict XVI.In an address delivered Feb. 18 before reciting the Angelus to an estimated 50,000 pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict stressed that the Jesus’ call to his disciples to “turn the other cheek” is not a “surrendering to evil” but a vigorous response to evil with good.
“Nonviolence, for Christians, is not mere tactical behavior, but a person’s way of being, the attitude of one who is convinced of God’s love and power, who is not afraid to confront evil with the weapons of love and truth alone,” the pope said.
The gospel admonition to “love your enemies” (Lk 6:27), the pope said, is “a manifesto” to which Jesus urges his followers to model their lives and thereby “breaking the chain of injustice.”
This “magna carta of Christian nonviolence,” while seeming to require “a love that exceeds human capacities,” is “realistic” through God’s loving presence in the lives of the faithful, the pope suggested.
“It takes into account that in the world there is too much violence, too much injustice, and that this situation cannot be overcome without positing more love, more kindness,” Pope Benedict said. “The ‘more’ comes from God: It is his mercy that has become flesh in Jesus and that alone can redress the balance of the world from evil to good, beginning from that small decisive world which is man’s heart.”
The Christian revolution is one of love, not based “definitively in human resources, but in the gift of God,” he added.
“The novelty of the gospel,” Benedict said, is that it “changes the world without making noise” and is found in the “heroism” of those “who believe in the love of God and spread it even at the cost of life.”
The pope asked the help of the Virgin Mary “to allow ourselves to be conquered without reservations by that love, to learn to love as he loved us, to be merciful as our heavenly father is merciful.”
In his remarks after the praying of the Angelus, the pope offered “wishes for serenity and prosperity” to those in Asian nations celebrating that’s day observance of the lunar new year.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce