{"id":26915,"date":"2012-03-25T21:45:10","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T01:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/03\/christ-alone-can-give-life-in\/"},"modified":"2012-03-25T21:45:10","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T01:45:10","slug":"christ-alone-can-give-life-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/03\/christ-alone-can-give-life-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ alone can give life in its fullness; what is needed is a pure heart, Pope tells us"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nAn excerpt of the Pope’s homily delivered early today in Mexico. What does it mean to be pure of heart? Why do I want a purity of heart?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n

\"B16<\/a><\/p>\n

“A pure heart, create for me, O
\nGod” (Ps 50:12) during the responsorial psalm. This exclamation shows us
\nhow profoundly we must prepare to celebrate next week the great mystery of the
\npassion, death and resurrection of the Lord. It also helps us to look deeply
\ninto the human heart<\/u>, especially in times of sorrow as well as hope, as are the
\npresent times for the people of Mexico and of Latin America.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The desire for a
\nheart that would be pure, sincere, humble, acceptable to God<\/b> was very much felt
\nby Israel as it became aware of the persistence in its midst of evil and sin as
\na power, practically implacable and impossible to overcome. There was nothing
\nleft but to trust in God’s mercy<\/b> and in the hope that he would change from
\nwithin, from the heart, an unbearable, dark and hopeless situation. In this way
\nrecourse gained ground to the infinite mercy of the Lord who does not wish the
\nsinner to die but to convert and live (cf. Ez 33:11). A pure heart, a new
\nheart<\/b>, is one which recognizes that, of itself, it is impotent and places
\nitself in God’s hands so as to continue hoping in his promises<\/b>. Then the
\npsalmist can say to the Lord with conviction: “Sinners will return to
\nyou” (Ps 50:15). And towards the end of the psalm he will give an
\nexplanation which is at the same time a firm conviction of faith: “A
\nhumble, contrite heart you will not spurn” (v. 19).<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The history of Israel relates some great events and battles, but when faced with its more authentic existence, its decisive destiny, its salvation, it places its hope not in its own efforts, but in God who can create a new heart, not insensitive or proud. This should remind each one of us and our peoples that, when addressing the deeper dimension of personal and community life, human strategies will not suffice to save us. We must have recourse to the One who alone can give life in its fullness<\/b>, because he is the essence of life and its author; he has made us sharers in the same through his Son Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Today’s Gospel takes up the topic and shows us how this ancient desire for the fullness of life has actually been achieved in Christ. Saint John explains it in a passage in which the wish of some Greeks to see Jesus coincides with the moment in which the Lord is about to be glorified. Jesus responds to the question of the Greeks, who represent the pagan world, saying: “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn 12:23). This is a strange response which seems inconsistent with the question asked by the Greeks. What has the glorification of Jesus to do with the request to meet him?<\/u> But there is a relation<\/u>. Someone might think – says Saint Augustine – that Jesus felt glorified because the Gentiles were coming to him. This would be similar to the applause of the multitudes who give “glory” to those who are grand in the world, as we would say today. But this is not so<\/u>. “It was convenient that, before the wonder of his glorification, should come the humility of his passion<\/b>” (In Joannis Ev<\/i>. 51:9: PL 35, 1766).<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An excerpt of the Pope’s homily delivered early today in Mexico. What does it mean to be pure of heart? Why do I want a purity of heart? “A pure heart, create for me, O God” (Ps 50:12) during the responsorial psalm. This exclamation shows us how profoundly we must prepare to celebrate next week … Continue reading Christ alone can give life in its fullness; what is needed is a pure heart, Pope tells us<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32081,2764],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}