Co-Workers of the Truth 7/23

Posted By reynor | Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI Whenever we encounter Christ, there takes place what theology would call a “dialogic communication”, a mutual inner exchange in the great new I into which I am introduced and assimilated by the transformation of faith. The other, consequently, is no longer a stranger for me; he, too, belongs to this great I.

Christ wants to use my capabilities in his behalf, even if, humanly speaking, we are not naturally drawn to one another. Even, and even particularly, when there is no mutual attraction between us, I can now pass on to him as my own Yes the Yes of Christ that penetrated my whole being yet is still his Yes. My own private sympathies and antipathies have been replaced by the sympathy of Christ, by his sharing of our sufferings and love. By virtue of this sharing in the sympathy of Christ that is mine in the life of faith, I can pass on a sympathy, a Yes, that is greater than my own Yes and allows the other to experience that deepest Yes that alone gives meaning and stability to every human Yes.

It is not possible to examine more closely here the human process of such an agape. It requires practice, patience, and a realization that there will always be setbacks. It presumes that, in the life of faith, I have arrived at the inner exchange of my I with that of Christ so that his Yes really penetrates me and becomes my own. It also presumes practice: the risk of accomplishing in a concrete instance that for which Christ needs me- the passing on of this Yes from him to the other. For it is only in such an initially unaccustomed and even mysterious risk that the strength to do so grows and becomes more and more recognizable in the Easter context: this frustration of self (”self-abnegation”) leads to a great inner joy - to “ressurection”.