Advent -1- Catechesis with Pope St John Paul II - Totus2us

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Catechesis with Pope St John Paul II

Religion & Spirituality


St John Paul II, 29 November 1978: "Advent — as a liturgical time of the ecclesial year — takes us back to the beginnings of Revelation. And precisely at the beginnings we encounter immediately the fundamental link between these two realities: God and man. Taking in hand the first book of Sacred Scripture, that is, Genesis, we begin by reading the words: "Beresit bara!: In the beginning He created ... " There then follows the name of God, which in this biblical text sounds "Elohim". In the beginning He created, and the one who created is God. These three words constitute as it were the threshold of Revelation. At the beginning of the book of Genesis God is not only defined with the name "Elohim"; other parts of this book also use the name "Yahweh". The verb "created" speaks even more clearly of him. This verb in fact reveals God, who God is. It expresses his substance not so much in itself as par rapport with the world, that is, with all of the creatures subject to the laws of time and space. The circumstantial complement "in the beginning" indicates God as the One who is before this beginning, who is not limited either by time or space, and who "creates", that is, who "gives beginning" to everything that is not God, that which constitutes the visible and invisible world (according to Genesis: the heaven and the earth). In this context the verb "created" says of God firstly that he himself exists, that he is, that he is the fullness of being, that such fullness manifests itself as Omnipotence, and that this Omnipotence is both Wisdom and Love. The first sentence of Sacred Scripture tells us all this about God. In this way the concept of "God" is formed in our intellect, if we refer to the beginnings of Revelation." (General Audience, 29 November 1978) Visit Totus2us.org for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, Mother Mary, it was inspired by our Holy Fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI.