BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience HallWednesday, 7 March 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our catechesis on the early Church, we now turn to the Apostolic Fathers. Saint Clement, Bishop of Rome and third successor of Peter, lived in the last years of the first century. He had met the Apostles personally. Clement wrote an important letter to the Church in Corinth at a time when the Christian community was deeply divided. He encourages them to renew their faith in the message received from the Apostles and to be reconciled with one another. In this way, he shows the essential connection between the content of the Gospel and the way we live. This connection is essential to Clement’s ideal for the Church, in which the hierarchical structure is intrinsically ordered to the service of charity. Laity and hierarchy are not opposed, but organically connected in the mystery of the one Body. According to Clement, not only the Church, but also the entire cosmos reflects God’s providential love and mercy. Clement concludes his letter by praising God for this marvellous order. Let us join him as we beg the Lord to “make his face shine upon us in goodness and peace. Amen.”
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience HallWednesday, 7 March 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our catechesis on the early Church, we now turn to the Apostolic Fathers. Saint Clement, Bishop of Rome and third successor of Peter, lived in the last years of the first century. He had met the Apostles personally. Clement wrote an important letter to the Church in Corinth at a time when the Christian community was deeply divided. He encourages them to renew their faith in the message received from the Apostles and to be reconciled with one another. In this way, he shows the essential connection between the content of the Gospel and the way we live. This connection is essential to Clement’s ideal for the Church, in which the hierarchical structure is intrinsically ordered to the service of charity. Laity and hierarchy are not opposed, but organically connected in the mystery of the one Body. According to Clement, not only the Church, but also the entire cosmos reflects God’s providential love and mercy. Clement concludes his letter by praising God for this marvellous order. Let us join him as we beg the Lord to “make his face shine upon us in goodness and peace. Amen.”
