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Skriven 2006-11-23 08:56:48 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                               VIS-Press releases

PAUL, THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, NOV 22, 2006 (VIS) - The Church in the life and thought of St.
Paul, the last in a series of lessons focussing on the figure of the Apostle,
was the theme of Benedict XVI's catechesis during the general audience, held
this morning in a rain-swept St. Peter's Square.

The Pope recalled how St. Paul's "first contact with the person of Jesus came
about through the witness of the Christian community of Jerusalem. ... This
gives us the opportunity to make a first important observation: normally we
come to Jesus, either to accept Him or refuse Him, through the mediation of the
community of believers."

"In a certain way this also happened to St. Paul," said the Pope, although in
Paul's case "adherence to the Church was facilitated by a direct intervention
of Christ, Who, revealing Himself on the road to Damascus, identified Himself
with the Church and made Paul understand that to persecute the Church was to
persecute Him. ... From this we can understand why the Church was so present in
the thoughts, heart and activity of St. Paul."

He "founded many Churches in the various cities he visited as an evangelizer."
And "in his Letters, Paul also explains his doctrine on the Church. ...
Particularly well-known is his definition of the Church as the 'body of
Christ,' which is not to be found in other first-century Christian writers."

"The deepest roots of this surprising definition of the Church," the Holy
Father went on, "are to be found in the Sacrament of the body of Christ. ... In
the Eucharist, Christ gives us His Body and makes us His Body. ... In this way,
Paul brings us to understand that not only does the Church belong to Christ,
but that there is also some form of equivalence and identification between the
Church and Christ. Thence springs the greatness and nobility of the Church, in
other words, of all of us who, as limbs of Christ, are part of the Church,
almost an extension of His personal presence in the world."

"Thence also derive Paul's exhortations regarding the various charisms that
animate and give structure to the Christian community," the Holy Father
affirmed. "However, it is important that all such charisms work together to
build the community and do not become a cause of its break-up."

"Of course, underscoring the need for unity does not mean that ecclesial life
must be rendered uniform and dull. ... However, if there is one criterion that
Paul holds dear it is that of mutual edification. ... One of the Pauline
Letters even goes so far as to present the Church as the bride of Christ, ...
both in the sense that love must be exchanged," and that "we must be
passionately faithful to Him."

Benedict XVI concluded: "In the final analysis, what is involved is a
relationship of communion: vertically between Jesus Christ and all of us, but
also horizontally among all those who identify themselves in the world by
calling 'on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ'."
AG/ST. PAUL/... VIS 061122 (520)

SUMMARY

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