Pope Benedict XVI in English - Weekly General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Saint John Damascene was a towering figure in the history
of Eastern theology. He was born into a wealthy Christian family at a time when his
native Syria was already under Arab rule. He left a promising career in government
in order to enter monastic life. His best-known works are his Discourses against
the Iconoclasts, which offer an important contribution to the proper theological understanding
of the veneration of sacred images. Saint John Damascene was among the first to distinguish
between adoration, which is due to God alone, and veneration, which can rightly be
given to an image in order to assist the Christian to contemplate him whom the image
represents. It is true that in the Old Testament, divine images were strictly forbidden.
But now that God has become incarnate and has assumed visible, material form in Jesus,
matter has received a new dignity. The wood of the Cross, the book of the Gospels,
the altar of sacrifice: all have been used by God to bring about our salvation.
Matter now serves as a sign and sacrament of our encounter with God. When we participate
in the sacraments, when we venerate icons, if we do so in faith and in the power of
the Holy Spirit, they truly become a means of grace. Despite human sinfulness, God
has chosen to dwell within men and women, making them holy, making them sharers in
his infinite goodness and holiness. Let us welcome him with joy into our hearts.
I
am pleased to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors here today, including
a group of Felician Sisters serving in health care administration. Upon all of you,
and upon your families and loved ones, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.
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My dear friends, this Friday I leave Rome for my Apostolic
Visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. I wish this morning to take
the opportunity through this radio and television broadcast to greet all the peoples
of those lands. I am eagerly looking forward to being with you and to sharing with
you your aspirations and hopes as well as your pains and struggles. I will be coming
among you as a pilgrim of peace. My primary intention is to visit the places made
holy by the life of Jesus, and, to pray at them for the gift of peace and unity for
your families, and all those for whom the Holy Land and the Middle East is home.
Among the many religious and civic gatherings which will take place over the course
of the week, will be meetings with representatives from the Muslim and Jewish communities
with whom great strides have been made in dialogue and cultural exchange. In a special
way I warmly greet the Catholics of the region and ask you to join me in praying that
the visit will bear much fruit for the spiritual and civic life of all who dwell in
the Holy Land. May we all praise God for his goodness. May we all be people of hope.
May we all be steadfast in our desire and efforts for peace.