Dives in Misericordia: “He Who Sees Me Sees the Father” (1, continued)

Chapter I of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “He Who Sees Me Sees the Father (cf. John 14:9).” It continues as follows:

“1. . . .  Following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and paying close attention to the special needs of our times, I devoted the encyclical Redemptor hominis to the truth about man, a truth that is revealed to us in its fullness and depth in Christ. A no less important need in these critical and difficult times impels me to draw attention once again in Christ to the countenance of the ‘Father of mercies and God of all comfort.’⁵ We read in the Constitution Gaudium et spes: ‘Christ the new Adam...fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his lofty calling,’ and does it ‘in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love.’⁶ The words that I have quoted are clear testimony to the fact that man cannot be manifested in the full dignity of his nature without reference - not only on the level of concepts but also in an integrally existential way - to God. Man and man’s lofty calling are revealed in Christ through the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love.

“For this reason it is now fitting to reflect on this mystery. It is called for by the varied experiences of the Church and of contemporary man. It is also demanded by the pleas of many human hearts, their sufferings and hopes, their anxieties and expectations. While it is true that every individual human being is, as I said in my encyclical Redemptor hominis, the way for the Church, at the same time the Gospel and the whole of Tradition constantly show us that we must travel this day with every individual just as Christ traced it out by revealing in Himself the Father and His love.⁷ In Jesus Christ, every path to man, as it has been assigned once and for all to the Church in the changing context of the times, is simultaneously an approach to the Father and His love. The Second Vatican Council has confirmed this truth for our time.”

[5] 2 Corinthians 1:3.

[6] Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, no. 22: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1042.

[7] Cf. ibid.

 

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Pope John Paul II: "Dives in Misericordia"