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September 2008 VOICE OF SHALOM |
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LOVE OF GOD LEADS TO FREEDOM Our relationship with God is established through communion with Jesus - we cannot achieve it alone or from our own resources alone. The relationship with Jesus, however, is a relationship with the one who gave himself as a ransom for all (cf. 1 Tim. 2:6). Being in communion with Jesus Christ draws us into his "being for all"; it makes it our own way of being. He commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others, for the whole. In this regard I would like to quote the great Greek Doctor of the Church, Maximus the Confessor (+662), who begins by exhorting us to prefer nothing to the knowledge and love of God, but then quickly moves on to practicalities: "The one who loves God cannot hold on to money but rather gives it out in God's fasion ... in the same manner in accordance with the measure of justice". Love of God leads to participation in the justice and generosity of God towards others. Loving God requires an interior freedom from all possessions and all material goods: the love of God is revealed in responsibility for others. This same connection between love of God and responsilitity for others can be seen in a striking way in the life of St Augustine. After his conversion to the Christian faith, he decided, together with some like-minded friends, to lead a life totally dedicated to the word of God and to things eternal. His intention was to practise a Christian version of the ideal of the contemplaltive life expressed in the great tradition of Greek philosophy, choosing in this way "better part" (cf. Lk. 10:42).
Pope Benedict XVI
Spe Salvi (#28) | |
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