Dives in Misericordia: “The Paschal Mystery” (8, continued)

Chapter 5 of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “The Paschal Mystery.” It continues as follows:

“8. . . . The cross is the most profound condescension of God to man and to what man-especially in difficult and painful moments-looks on as his unhappy destiny. The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence; it is the total fulfillment of the messianic program that Christ once formulated in the synagogue at Nazareth ⁸⁴ and then repeated to the messengers sent by John the Baptist.⁸⁵ According to the words once written in the prophecy of Isaiah,⁸⁶ this program consisted in the revelation of merciful love for the poor, the suffering and prisoners, for the blind, the oppressed and sinners. In the paschal mystery the limits of the many sided evil in which man becomes a sharer during his earthly existence are surpassed: the cross of Christ, in fact, makes us understand the deepest roots of evil, which are fixed in sin and death; thus the cross becomes an eschatological sign. Only in the eschatological fulfillment and definitive renewal of the world will love conquer, in all the elect, the deepest sources of evil, bringing as its fully mature fruit the kingdom of life and holiness and glorious immortality. The foundation of this eschatological fulfillment is already contained in the cross of Christ and in His death. The fact that Christ ‘was raised the third day’⁸⁷ constitutes the final sign of the messianic mission, a sign that perfects the entire revelation of merciful love in a world that is subject to evil. At the same time it constitutes the sign that foretells ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’⁸⁸ when God ‘will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there will be no more death, or mourning no crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away.’⁸⁹”

84. Cf. Luke 4:18-21.
85. Cf. Luke 7:20-23.
86. Cf. Isaiah 35:5; 61:1-3.
87. 1 Corinthians 15:4.
88. Revelation 21:1.
89. Revelation 21:4.

 

To access the complete document, please visit:

Pope John Paul II: “Dives in Misericordia”