Friday, May 25, 2007

Discourses And Festivals

"All Jewish festivals....have a triple basis. The initial stratum is composed of feasts of nature religion, which connect with creation and with man's search for God through creation; this then develops into feasts of remembrance, of the recollection and making-present of God's saving deeds; finally, remembering increasingly takes on the form for the coming definitive saving deed that is still awaited. Clearly, then, Jesus' discourses in John's Gospel are not disputes occasioned by metaphysical questions, but they contain the whole dynamic of salvation history and, at the same time, they are rooted in creation. They are ultimately pointers to the One who can simply say of himself: 'I am.' It is evident that Jesus' discourses direct us toward worship and in this sense toward 'sacrament,' at the same time embracing the questioning and seeking of all peoples."

-Pope Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth.

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