Dear Brothers and Sisters, At the beginning of this New Year, I offer all of you
my cordial good wishes! In the coming months, may our minds and hearts be opened
ever more fully to Christ, following the example of Saint Paul, whose life and doctrine
we have been considering during this Pauline Year. Today we turn to the meaning of
“true worship” as highlighted in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. In uniting us to himself,
Christ, a temple “not made with human hands”, has made us a “living sacrifice”. Paul
thus exhorts us to offer our own “bodies” – meaning our entire selves – as a “spiritual
worship”: not in the abstract, but in our concrete daily life. At the same time,
this true worship does not come about merely through human effort. Rather, through
baptism, we have become “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28), who took upon himself
our human nature and has thus “assumed” us into himself. Only he has the power, by
joining us to his body, to unite all people. Thus, the goal of the Church’s missionary
activity is to call everyone into this “cosmic liturgy”, in which the world becomes
the glory of God: “a pleasing sacrifice, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”.
I
am pleased to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s
Audience, including the groups from Finland and the United States of America. Upon
you and your families I willingly invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace throughout
the new year!