RESTORING GOD'S GLORY

BY POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI, CO-WORKERS OF THE TRUTH, IGNATIUS PRESS, SAN FRANCISCO, 1992

"The biblical shalom (peace) which is usually so translated, implies much more the absence of armed conflict, it means the right order of human affairs, well-being - a world where trust and friendship prevail, where neither fear nor want nor treachery nor dishonesty is found.

 

Yet the son of the angels first lays down a precondition , without which there can be no lasting peace: God's glory. This is the message of peace at Bethlehem: peace among men resulting from God's glory. ...

 

It is a public affair. It is a common good, and wherever God is not honored among men, there man as well will not remain honorable. The reason why Christmas affects the peace of man lies in this:because it has restored God's glory among men."  Meditation December 29th.

 

"This Child is God's Son", as one of our old Christmas carols has it... He has established a union with man so inseparable that this man truly is God from God, light from light, and yet always true man as well.

 

The meaning of the world has come to us in such a real way that it can be touched and seen... This meaning is a message, addressed us. This meaning is not some general principle, in which we might play a certain part. No, it addresses each one of us personally. It is itself a Person: the living God's own son, born in stable in Bethlehem."  Meditation December 30th.

 

O Lord, my chosen portion and my cup:

You hold my lot in your hands (Ps 16:5)

 

"The pagan world view was also familiar with the image of the lots, but with entirely different premises: the world is a game of luck governed by one rule - blind chance. Time,  altogether blind, spews out the lots, of this kind and that.

 

The Bible has fundamentally transformed this frightening image. Indeed, there is a cup with the lots, containing winners and losers. But this cup with the lots is held "in your hands", in the hands of eternal Wisdom and eternal Love. This is the indispensable premise that alone can provide for man any hope at all.

 

Because the cup is in his hands, the only losing lot would be the refusal to accept at all the lot from His hands.  ... In your hands, there rest my temples. Thus an image arises of ourselves entrusting our head, our temples, to God's good hands.  ... - into the hands of eternal Wisdom, which is eternal Love and so our only true Hope. And so, we put this new year, the new time and our future, into the hands of God: Lord, do accept us, and grant us your blessing!" ... December 31st

 

Happy New Year,

GEORGE H. KUBECK,

IT WAS THE END OF THE YEAR, 1812, WHEN JOHN QUINCY ADAMS PENNED THESE WORDS IN HIS DIARY. HIS ENTRY CAN STAND FOR ALL OF US. "I OFFER TO A MERCIFUL GOD AT THE CLOSE OF THIS YEARS MY HUMBLE TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE FOR THE BLESSINGS WITH WHICH HE HAS, IN THE COURSE OF IT, FAVORED ME AND THOSE DEAR TO ME. ADAMS, DIARY, 103