"MANY DIFFERENT WAYS"

WHAT IS really remarkable is that God consented to Israel's desire for a king and even provided an opportunity for that kingship to be renewed and fulfilled. Jesus was himself the son of David, the king. God entered mankind in him and espoused the cause of mankind in him. If we look more closely at this question, we can see that it is the fundamental form of God's activity with mankind. He has no rigid plan that he has at all costs to carry out.

ON THE contrary, he has many different ways of seeking man out and finding him. He makes man's devious and wrong ways into ways leading to him. This is clear, for example, in the case of Adam, whose very sin was made a happy sin in the second Adam, Christ, and it is clear in all the twisted ways of human history.

THIS, THEN, is God's kingship--a rule of love that seeks and finds man in ways that are always new. For us, this means a trust that cannot be shaken. God rules as king over us still and, what is more, he rules over each one of us. None of us should be afraid and none should capitulate. God can always be found. The pattern of our own lives should also be like this--we should always be available, never write anyone off, and try again and again to find others in the openness of our hearts.

OUR MOST important task is not to assert ourselves, but always to be ready to set off on the way to God and to each other. The feast of Christ the King is therefore not a feast of those who are subjugated, but a feast of those who know that they are in the hands of the one who writes straight on crooked lines.

[Pope Benedict XVI, Seeking God's Face (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1982) 64-65. Reprinted in BENEDICTUS, Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006) 356. 

"IT IS GOD WHO GOVERNS THE WORLD" 

(ONE'S) DEEP personal sharing in the needs and sufferings of others becomes a sharing of (one’s) very self with them: If my gift is not to prove a source of humiliation, I must give to others not only something that is my own, but my very self; I must be personally present in my gift.

THIS PROPER way of serving others also leads to humility. The one who serves does not consider himself superior to the one served, however miserable his situation at the moment may be. Christ took the lowest place in the world—the Cross—and by this radical humility he redeemed us and constantly comes to our aid.

THOSE WHO are in a position to help others will realize that in doing so they themselves receive help; being able to help others is no merit or achievement of their own. This duty is a grace. The more we do for others, the more we understand and can appropriate the words of Christ: ‘We are useless servants’ (Lk 17:10).

WE RECOGNIZE that we are not acting on the basis of any superiority or greater personal efficiency, but because the Lord has graciously enabled us to do so. There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to become discouraged.

BUT PRECISELY then we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord.

IT IS God who governs the world, not we. We offer him our service only to the extent that we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength. To do all we can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: ‘The love of Christ urges us on’ (2 Cor 5:14).”

[Excerpt from Encyclical Letter DEUS CARITAS EST “God is love.” No. 35-36 2005]