Friday 1 January 2010

From the Pope's sermon


The Holy Father preached an inspiring homily this morning. Here is a section from it, I made my own translation as the English version is not yet available.

Meditating on the mystery of the face of God and the human face is a privileged way that leads to peace. This starts from a respectful gaze that recognises in the face of the other a full person, whatever the colour, the nationality, the language or the faith. But who, if not God, can guarantee the true depth of the human face? Only if we have God in our hearts can we see in the face of the other a brother and sister in humanity, see them not as a means but as an end, not as a rival or an enemy but another me, a real presence of the infinite in the human being. Our perception of the world and in particular of other human beings depends essentially on the presence of the Spirit of God within us. This presence in our hearts enables us to see the true depth of reality. The more God inhabits our heart the more we are aware of his presence around us: in all creatures and especially in fellow human beings, even though at times the human face is so marked with the difficulties of life and from evil that it becomes hard to see the revelation of God in those faces. It is urgent, therefore, to recognise and respect who we really are, brothers and sisters, in reference to the face of a common Father, who loves us all in spite of our limitations and our mistakes.

2 comments:

Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, O.S.B. said...

Reverend Father, I translated the entire homily. You can find it at my blog, Vultus Christi.

Fr Ivan D Aquilina said...

Thank you!