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A Reflection by Pope Benedict XVI

The following is a reflection written by Pope Benedict XVI on the "New Man". Enjoy!

The breakthrough to the new man takes place in Jesus Christ. In him the real future of man, what he can be and should be, has in fact begun. The inner self of Jesus, as it is portrayed throughout the whole of his life and finally in his self-sacrifice on the cross, offers a measure and prototype of future humanity. It's not for nothing that we talk of following Christ, of entering upon his way. It is a matter of inner identification with Christ - just as he identified himself with us. That is really what man is moving toward. It is in the great stories of discipleship, which extend across the centuries, that we see unfolding what is hidden in the figure of Jesus. It is not the case, then, that a schematic pattern is imposed, but that every potential development of true human existence is contained therein. We see how Therese of Lisieux or Saint Don Bosco, how Edith Stein, the apostle Paul, or Thomas Aquinas, has learned from Jesus how to go about being human. All these people have become truly like Jesus - and they are nonetheless different and original... The salvation that is offered us is no mechanical process or exterior matter. It has been entrusted to our freedom and has thereby also been rendered vulnerable to the fragility of human freedom and of the human character. Salvation begins anew in every man; it is not simply there. You cannot just cement it on externally or control it by the use of power, but always only enter into the freedom that opens up. But above all and in all is the One who comes to meet us and who gives us a hope that is stronger than all the devastation that men can bring to pass. - Taken from Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI

In Christ,
Joe