Vatican City, Feb 17, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II called on the world this morning to summarize all things in Christ in order to fulfill God’s plan for humanity.
During this Wednesday’s general audience, which took place in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope spoke about the canticle, “God the Savior,” which opens the Letter to the Ephesians and is recited on Mondays in the Liturgy of the Hours.
John Paul II said, “In his infinite goodness God planned before the creation of the world to bring all things into one through his beloved Son.”
“The supremacy of Christ extends, therefore, to the world as well as to that more specific horizon which is the Church. Christ fulfills the function of ‘fullness’,” he added.
The Holy Father also quoted Ephesians 1:9 and said that “for He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to his purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
The Pope explained that this canticle exalts “the marvelous work of God, carried out for us through Christ” and emphasizes “the exaltation of the ‘redemption through the blood’ of the cross, the ‘forgiveness of sins,’ the abundant effusion ‘of the riches of His grace’.”
It also highlights the divine sonship of every Christian and “the ‘knowledge of the mystery of God’s will’ through which one enters into the intimacy of the same trinitarian life,” he said.