VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI continues his general audience teaching on Origen and his ever valid teaching on prayer and the Church

Thursday, 3 May 2007

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Pope Benedict XVI chose the teachings of Origen on prayer and the Church as the subject of his weekly teaching during the general audience on Wednesday 2 May in St Peter's Square where despite heavy rain thousands of visitors had gathered. Resuming last week's reflection on “the great Teacher of Alexandria”, the Pope said Origen “continually interweaves his exegetic and theological production with experience relative to prayer. Notwithstanding a theological depth of thought, his treatise is never a purely academic; it is always based on the experience of prayer, of contact with God. In his opinion, in fact, intelligence of the Scriptures demands, even more than study, closeness with Christ and prayer. He is convinced that the best path to learn about God is love, and that there can be no authentic ‘scientia Christi’ unless one is in love with Him”.
Origin played a " primordial role" in the development of lectio divina. “Bishop Ambrose of Milan - who learned from the works of Origen how to read the Scriptures - introduces it to the West and consigns it to Augustine and successive monastic tradition”. The highest level of knowledge of God, according to Origen, is the fruit of love. “And so it is among people - the Pontiff continued -: one only truly knows the other if there is love, if their hearts are open. To demonstrate this he takes as his basis a meaning sometimes given to the verb to know in Hebrew, that is when it is used to express the human act of love: ‘Adam knew Eve, his wife, who conceived (Gen. 4,1). Hence the suggestion that union in love produces the most authentic knowledge. Just as the man and wife are "two in one flesh", so too God and the believer become "two in one spirit". In this way Origin's prayer reaches the highest levels of mystics”.
The Holy Father then returned to Origen's teaching on the Church and more precisely on the common priesthood of the faithful. Purity and honesty of life, the faith and the science of the Scriptures are indispensable conditions for the exercise of the universal priesthood. “All the more these conditions are indispensable, evidently, for the ministerial priesthood. These conditions - integral conduct in life, but above all study and acceptance of the Word - establish a "hierarchy of holiness" in the common priesthood of all Christians. At the summit of this path to perfection Origen places martyrdom”. Pope Benedict XVI concluded his teaching recalling that this “never ending path to perfection” outlined by Origen, "is for all of us ", as long as "the eyes of our heart" are turned to contemplate Jesus Christ, the Wisdom and the Truth. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 3/5/2007)


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