Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Without the coming of Christ, the world will not be just or renewed, Pope teaches

Pope Benedict XVI / St. Paul

Vatican City, Nov 12, 2008 / 11:30 am (CNA).- In the presence of thousands at St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI continued his weekly teachings on St. Paul, speaking about the apostle's teaching on the Lord's second coming. The Holy Father stressed that without Christ's presence, there will never be a truly just and renewed world.

"Every Christian discourse on the last things, called eschatology, always begins with the resurrection,” Pope Benedict began as he turned to Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians.

“Probably in the year 52 St. Paul wrote the first of his letters, the First Letter to the Thessalonians, where he speaks of the return of Jesus. The Apostle writes, ‘For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord’.”

The essential message, Pope Benedict summarized, is to "be with the Lord."
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 4:12 PM