This portion of his Epiphany homily:
At a superficial glance, God's faithfulness to Israel and his manifestation to the peoples could seem divergent aspects; they are actually two sides of the same coin. In fact, according to the Scriptures, it is precisely by remaining faithful to his Covenant of love with the people of Israel that God also reveals his glory to other peoples. Grace and fidelity (cf. Ps 89[88]: 2), "mercy and truth" (cf. Ps 85[84]: 11), are the content of God's glory, they are his "name", destined to be known and sanctified by people of every language and nation. However, this "content" is inseparable from the "method" that God chose to reveal himself, that is, absolute fidelity to the Covenant that reaches its culmination in Christ. The Lord Jesus, at the same time and inseparably, is "a light revealing to the Gentiles the glory of your people Israel" (Lk 2: 32), as the elderly Simeon was to exclaim, inspired by God, taking the Child in his arms when his parents presented him at the temple. The light that enlightens the peoples - the light of the Epiphany - shines out from the glory of Israel - the glory of the Messiah born, in accordance with the Scriptures, in Bethlehem, "the city of David" (cf. Lk 2: 4).
Seems relevant to his address to the Chief Rabbi of Rome yesterday, in which he said Christians & Jews have a shared duty to the moral law, but began with this:
The Catholic Church is close to you and is your friend. Yes, we love you and cannot but love you, "through the Fathers": Because of them you are very dear to us and favorite brothers (cf. Romans 11:28b). Following the Second Vatican Council the reciprocal esteem and trust between us has increased. Ever more fraternal and cordial contacts have developed, becoming even more intense during the pontificate of my venerated predecessor, John Paul II. In Christ we partake in your heritage of the Fathers, in order to serve the Almighty, "with one accord" (Zephaniah 3:9), grafted onto the one "holy tree" of the people of God.
It's a shame he's not warm like John Paul, isn't it? But nevertheless, here's the Italian for that and you can find the English under "documents" at Zenit.
Here's also the official translation of Benedict's off-the-cuff homily on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, at which he baptized several children. And wouldn't you have liked to hear this homily at your own child's baptism --it's charming. And it includes his succinct explanation of what it means at Baptism to profess one "renounces Satan, and all his pomps and works." What the heck is a pomp, you may ask:
Let us remember what was organized at the Colosseum or here, in Nero's gardens, where people were set on fire like living torches. Cruelty and violence had become a form of amusement, a true perversion of joy, of the true meaning of life. This "pompa diabuli", this "anticulture" of death was a corruption of joy, it was love of deceit and fraud and the abuse of the body as a commodity and a trade. And if we think about it now, we can say that also in our time we need to say "no" to the widely prevalent culture of death.
Plus, with this post, you also get two audiences: Jan 4 & 11.
But wait! That's not all! As a special bonus just for W&W readers, here are the texts of three Angelus messages. Epiphany. Baptism of the Lord. Jan 11 (Italian only, but seek the English later because it's a lovely brief meditation on the beauty of ordinary time, with the suggestion that we use the verbs "to seek" and "to find" as watchwords for our spiritual renewal this year.)
There. All caught up until the next audience tomorrow a.m.
