After having visited the theme of prayer as a universal phenomenon in the past two
Wednesday catecheses, today the Pope began a new Biblical reflection on a theme "that
will guide us to deepen the dialogue of covenant between God and humanity that animates
the history of salvation until its fullness ... in Christ". Addressing the pilgrims
present in this Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's Square, Benedict XVI explained
that "Abraham, the great patriarch, father of all believers", offers us the first
example of a prayer of intercession when God told him of His plan to destroy the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah, "because of the wickedness of its inhabitants". The Patriarch,
the Pope said, "did not limit himself to asking for the salvation of the innocent
but also implored forgiveness for the entire city, appealing to God's justice", a
divine justice that "seeks the good and creates it by means of a forgiveness that
transforms the sinners, converting and saving them". "Abraham's thought, that seems
almost paradoxical, can be summarized thus: of course the innocent cannot be treated
like the guilty, that would be unjust; instead the guilty need to be treated as the
innocent, applying a 'higher' justice, offering them the possibility of salvation
because, if the evildoers accept God's forgiveness and confess their blame, letting
themselves be saved, they will not continue doing evil but will also become just,
no longer needing to be punished". Emphasizing that "forgiveness breaks the spiral
of sin", the Pope noted that "Abraham, in his dialogue with God, asks exactly for
that ... through his intercession, his prayer to God for the salvation of the others,
he demonstrates and expresses the desire for salvation that God always nurtures for
the sinner. Evil cannot be accepted. It must be pointed out and destroyed through
punishment. the destruction of Sodom had precisely this function. The Lord, however,
did not wish the death of the wicked but that they convert and live: His desire is
always to forgive, to save, to give life, and to transform evil into good". The
Pope stressed that "a transformation from within is necessary, a pretext for good,
a beginning of what sets in motion the transformation from evil into good, hatred
into love, and vengeance into forgiveness". "However, God's mercy in the history
of His people extends even further. ... The infinite and surprising love of God will
be made fully manifest when the Son of God becomes man, the definitive Just One, the
perfect Innocent who will bring salvation to the entire world with His death on the
cross, forgiving and interceding for those who 'know not what they do'. Then, each
person's daily prayer will find its answer, then all our intercessions will be fully
granted". Benedict XVI ended by asking that "the prayer of Abraham, our father
in the faith, teach us to open our hearts more and more to God's overabundant mercy,
so that in our daily prayer we might know how to desire the salvation of humanity
and to ask for it with perseverance and with confidence in the Lord who is great in
love". (VIS)