Pope's general audience Jan. 30 - Father Almighty

January 30, 2013 - Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called the general audience, during which pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of seeing and hearing him speak in several languages and also receive his blessing. The general audience of Jan. 30th was held indoors in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall. It began with aides reading a passage from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians in several languages. After an aide greeted the Pope on behalf of the English speaking pilgrims, Pope Benedict delivered a brief summary of his catechesis in English.

Listen:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis during this Year of Faith, we now reflect on the Creed’s description of God as “the Father Almighty”. Despite the crisis of fatherhood in many societies, the Scriptures show us clearly what it means to call God “Father”. God is infinitely generous, faithful, and forgiving; he so loves the world that he has given us his only Son for our salvation. As “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), Jesus reveals God as a merciful Father who never abandons his children and whose loving concern for us embraces even the Cross. In Christ, God has made us his adopted sons and daughters. The Cross shows also us how God our Father is “almighty”. His omnipotence transcends our limited human concepts of power; his might is that of a patient love expressed in the ultimate victory of goodness over evil, life over death, and freedom over the bondage of sin. As we contemplate the Cross of Christ, let us turn to God the almighty Father and implore the grace to abandon ourselves with confidence and trust to his merciful love and his saving power.
I offer a warm welcome to the priests taking part in the Institute for Continuing Theological Education at the Pontifical North American College. Upon all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from the Republic of Korea, Canada and the United States of America, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.