What We Must Do

"I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28: 20).  This assurance, dear brothers and sisters, has accompanied the Church for two thousand years.  From it we must gain a new impetus in Christian Living, making it the force which inspires our journey of faith.  Conscious of the Risen Lord's presence among us, we ask ourselves today the same question put to Peter in Jerusalem immediately after his Pentecost speech:  "What must we do?"  (Acts 2: 37)

We put the question with trusting optimism, but without underestimating the problems we face.  We are certainly not seduced by the naive expectation that, faced with the great challenges of our time, we shall find some magic formula.  No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person, and the assurance which he gives us:  I am with you!

It is not therefore a matter of inventing a "new program."  The program already exists:  it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever.  Ultimately, it has its center in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem.  This is a program which does not change with shifts of times and cultures, even though it takes account of time and culture for the sake of true dialogue and effective communication.

Pope John Paul II

-Pope John Paul II (2005) reigned from 1978 until 2005.