Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
Luke CHAP. 5
5:33–39
33. And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
34. And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
35. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
36. And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
37. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
38. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
39. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. As soon as they have received the first answer from Christ, they proceed from one thing to another, with the intent to shew that the holy disciples, and Jesus Himself with them, cared very little for the law. Hence it follows, Why do the disciples of John fast, but thine eat, &c. (Lev. 15, prævaricationis.) As if they said, Ye eat with publicans and sinners, whereas the law forbids to have any fellowship with the unclean, but compassion comes in as an excuse for your transgression; why then do ye not fast, as they are wont to do who wish to live according to the law? But holy men indeed fast, that by the mortification of their body they may quell its passions. Christ needed not fasting for the perfecting of virtue, since as God He was free from every yoke of passion. Nor again did His companions need fasting, but being made partakers of His grace without fasting they were strengthened in all holy and godly living. For when Christ fasted for forty days, it was not to mortify His passions, but to manifest to carnal men the rule of abstinence.
AUGUSTINE. (de Con. Ev. l. ii. c. 27.) Now Luke evidently relates that this was spoken not by men of themselves, but by others concerning them. How then does Matthew say, Then came unto him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast; unless that they themselves also came, and were all eager, as far as they were able, to put the question to Him?
AUGUSTINE. (de Qu. Ev. l. ii. q. 18.) Now there are two fasts, one is in tribulation, to propitiate God for our sins; another in joy, when as carnal things delight us less, we feed the more on things spiritual. The Lord therefore being asked why His disciples did not fast, answered as to each fast. And first of the fast of tribulation; for it follows, And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them?
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 30. in Matt.) As if He should say, The present time is one of joy and gladness, sorrow must not then be mixed up with it.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. For the shewing forth of our Saviour in this world was nothing else but a great festival, (πανήγυρις) spiritually uniting our nature to Him as His bride, that she who was formerly barren might become fruitful. The children of the Bridegroom then are found to be those who have been called by Him through a new and evangelical discipline, but not the Scribes and Pharisees, who observe only the shadow of the law.
AUGUSTINE. (de Con. Ev. ii. c. 27.) Now this which Luke alone mentions, Ye cannot make the children of the bridegroom fast, is understood to refer to those very men who said that they would make the children of the Bridegroom mourn and fast, since they were about to kill the Bridegroom.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Having granted to the children of the Bridegroom that it was not fitting that they should be troubled, as they were keeping a spiritual feast, but that fasting should be abolished among them, He adds as a direction, But the days shall come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
AUGUSTINE. (de Qu. Ev. ii. qu. 18.) As if He said, Then shall they be desolate, and in sorrow and lamentation, until the joy of consolation shall be restored to them by the Holy Spirit.
AMBROSE. Or, That fast is not given up whereby the flesh is mortified, and the desires of the body chastened. (For this fast commends us to God.) But we cannot fast who have Christ, and banquet on the flesh and blood of Christ.
BASIL. The children of the Bridegroom also cannot fast, i. e. refuse nourishment to the soul, but live on every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
AMBROSE. But when are those days, in which Christ shall be taken away from us, since He has said, I will be with you alway, even unto the end of the world? But no one can take Christ away from you, unless you take yourself away from Him.
BEDE. For as long as the Bridegroom is with us we both rejoice, and can neither fast nor mourn. But when He has gone away through our sins, then a fast must be declared and mourning be enjoined.
AMBROSE. Lastly, it is spoken of the fast of the soul, as the context shews, for it follows, But he said, No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old. He calleth fasting an old garment, which the Apostle thought should be taken off, saying, Put off the old man with his deeds. (Col. 3:9.) In the same manner we have a series of precepts not to mix up the actions of the old and new man.
AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Or else, The gift of the Holy Spirit being received, there is a kind of fast, which is of joy, which they who are already renewed to a spiritual life most seasonably celebrate. Before they receive this gift, He says they are as old garments, to which a new piece of cloth is most unsuitably sewed on, i. e. any part of the doctrine which relates to the soberness of the new life; for if this takes place, the very doctrine itself also is in a measure divided, for it teaches a general fast not from pleasant food only, but from all delight in temporal pleasures, the part of which that appertains to food He said ought not to be given to men still devoted to their old habits, for therein seems to be a rent, and it agreeth not with the old. He says also, that they are like to old skins, as it follows, And no one putteth wine into old skins.
AMBROSE. The weakness of man’s condition is exposed when our bodies arc compared to the skins of dead animals.
AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) But the Apostles are compared to old skins, who are more easily burst with new wine, i. e. with spiritual precepts, than contain them. Hence it follows, Else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will be spilled. But they were new skins at that time, when after the ascension of the Lord they received the Holy Spirit, when from desire of His consolation they were renewed by prayer and hope. Hence it follows, But the new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.
BEDE. Inasmuch as wine refreshes us within, but garments cover us without, the garments are the good works which we do abroad, by which we shine before men; wine, the fervour of faith, hope, and charity. Or, The old skins are the Scribes and Pharisees, the new piece and the new wine the precepts of the Gospel.
GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Orat. de Deit. Filii et SS.) For wine newly drawn forth, evaporates on account of the natural heat in the liquor, throwing off from itself the scum by natural action. Such wine is the new covenant, which the old skins because of their unbelief contain not, and are therefore burst by the excellence of the doctrine, and cause the grace of the Spirit to flow in vain; because into an evil soul wisdom will not enter. (Sap. 1:4.)
BEDE. But to every soul which is not yet renewed, but goes on still in the old way of wickedness, the sacraments of new mysteries ought not to be given. They also who wish to mix the precepts of the Law with the Gospel, as the Galatians did, put new wine into old bottles. It follows, No man also having drank old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the old is better. For the Jews, imbued with the taste of their old life, despised the precepts of the new grace, and being defiled with the traditions of their ancestors, were not able to perceive the sweetness of spiritual words.
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Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
Luke CHAP. 22
22:24–27
24. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
25. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
26. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
27. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
THEOPHYLACT. While they were enquiring among themselves who should betray the Lord, they would naturally go on to say to one another, “Thou art the traitor,” and so become impelled to say, “I am the best, I am the greatest.” Hence it is said, And there was also a strife among them which should be accounted the greatest.
GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Apollinarius in loc.) Or the strife seems to have arisen from this, that when our Lord was departing from the world, it was thought that some one must become their head, as taking our Lord’s place.
BEDE. As good men seek in the Scriptures the examples of their fathers, that they may thereby gain profit and be humbled, so the bad, if by chance they have discovered any thing blameable in the elect, most gladly seize upon it, to shelter their own iniquities thereby. Many therefore most eagerly read, that a strife arose among the disciples of Christ.
AMBROSE. If the disciples did contend, it is not alleged as any excuse, but held out as a warning. Let us then beware lest any contentions among us for precedence be our ruin.
BEDE. Rather let us look not what carnal disciples did, but what their spiritual Master commanded; for it follows, And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles, &c.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 65. in Matt.) He mentions the Gentiles, to shew thereby how faulty it was. For it is of the Gentiles to seek after precedence.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Soft words are also given them by their subjects, as it follows, And they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. Now they truly as alien from the sacred law are subject to these evils, but your preeminence is in humility, as it follows, But ye shall not be so.
BASIL. (in Reg. fus. dis. int. 30.) Let not him that is chief be puffed up by his dignity, lest he fall away from the blessedness of humility, but let him know that true humility is the ministering unto many. As then he who attends many wounded and wipes away the blood from their wounds, least of all men enters upon the service for his own exaltation, much more ought he to whom is committed the care of his sick brethren as the minister of all, about to render an account of all, to be thoughtful and anxious. And so let him that is greatest be as the younger. (ad int. 31.). Again, it is meet that those who are in the chief places should be ready to offer also bodily service, after our Lord’s example, who washed His disciples’ feet. Hence it follows, And he that is chief, as he that doth serve. But we need not fear that the spirit of humility will be weakened in the inferior, while he is being served by his superior, for by imitation humility is extended.
AMBROSE. But it must be observed, that not every kind of respect and deference to others betokens humility, for you may defer to a person for the world’s sake, for fear of his power, or regard to your own interest. In that case you seek to advance yourself, not to honour another. Therefore there is one form of the precept given to all men, namely, that they boast not about precedence, but strive earnestly for humility.
BEDE. In this rule however, given by our Lord, the great have need of no little judgment, that they do not indeed like the kings of the Gentiles delight to tyrannize over their subjects, and be puffed up with their praises, yet notwithstanding that they be provoked with a righteous zeal against the wickedness of offenders.
But to the words of the exhortation He subjoins His own example, as it follows, For which is greater, he who sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? But I am among you, &c.
CHRYSOSTOM. As if He says, Think not that thy disciple needs you, but that you do not need him. For I who need no one whom all things in heaven and earth need, have condescended to the degree of a servant.
THEOPHYLACT. He shews Himself to be their servant, when He distributes the bread and the cup, of which service He makes mention, reminding them that if they have eaten of the same bread, and drunk of the same cup, if Christ Himself served all, they ought all to think the same things.
BEDE. Or He speaks of that service wherewith, according to John, He their Lord and Master washed their feet. Although by the word itself serving, (John 13:5.) all that He did in the flesh may be implied, but by serving He also signifies that He poureth forth His blood for us.
22:28–30
28. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
29. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
30. That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
THEOPHYLACT. As the Lord had denounced woe to the traitor, so on the other hand to the rest of the disciples He promises blessings, saying, Ye are they which have continued with me, &c.
BEDE. For not the first effort of patience, but long-continued perseverance, is rewarded with the glory of the heavenly kingdom, for perseverance, (which is called constancy or fortitude of mind,) is, so to say, the pillar and prop of all virtues. The Son of God then conducts those who abide with Him in His temptations to the everlasting kingdom. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. (Rom. 6:5.) Hence it follows, And I give to you a kingdom, &c.
AMBROSE. The kingdom of God is not of this world, But it is not equality with God, but likeness to Him, unto which man must aspire. For Christ alone is the full image of God, on account of the unity of His Father’s glory expressed in Him. But the righteous man is after the image of God, if for the sake of imitating the likeness of the Divine conversation, He through the knowledge of God despises the world. Therefore also we eat the Body and Blood of Christ, that we may be partakers of eternal life. Whence it follows, That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. For the reward promised to us is not food and drink, but the communication of heavenly grace and life.
BEDE. Or the table offered to all saints richly to enjoy is the glory of a heavenly life, wherewith they who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled, resting in the long-desired enjoyment of the true God. (Matt. 5:6.)
THEOPHYLACT. He said this not as if they would have there bodily food, or as if His kingdom were to be a sensible one. For their life then shall be the life of angels, as He before told the Sadducees. (Mat. 22:30, Luke 20:36) But Paul also says that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. (Rom. 14:17.)
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. By means of the things of our present life He describes spiritual things. For they exercise a high privilege with earthly kings, who sit at their table as guests. So then by man’s estimation He shews who shall be rewarded by Him with the greatest honours.
BEDE. This then is the exchange to the right hand of the Most High, (Ps. 118:15.) that those who now in lowliness rejoice to minister to their fellow-servants, shall then at our Lord’s table on high be fed with the banquet of everlasting life, and they who here in temptations abide with the Lord being unjustly judged, shall then come with Him as just judges upon their tempters. Hence it follows, And sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
THEOPHYLACT. That is, the unbelievers condemned out of the twelve tribes.
AMBROSE. But the twelve thrones are not as it were any resting-places for the bodily posture, but because since Christ judges after the Divine likeness by knowledge of the hearts, not by examination of the actions, rewarding virtue, condemning iniquity; so the Apostles are appointed to a spiritual judgment, for the rewarding of faith, the condemnation of unbelief, repelling error with virtue, inflicting vengeance on the sacrilegious.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 64. in Matt.) What then will Judas also sit there? Observe what the law was which God gave by Jeremiah, If I have promised any good, and thou art counted unworthy of it, I will punish you. (Jerem. 18:10.) Therefore speaking to His disciples He did not make a general promise, but added, Ye who have continued with me in my temptations.
BEDE. From the high excellence of this promise Judas is excluded. For before the Lord said this, Judas must be supposed to have gone out. They also are excluded whoever having heard the words of the incomprehensible Sacrament, have gone backwards. (John 6:67.)
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NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Colossians 1:15-20
Hymn in Praise of Christ as Head of All Creation
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[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; [16] for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. [17] He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] He is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning; the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things.
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Commentary:
15-20. Now we come to a very beautiful hymn in praise of Christ's sublime dignity as God and as man. This was a truth deserving emphasis in view of the danger to the faith which the false apostles' teaching represented (cf. note on vv. 7-8). However, quite apart from the particular situation in Colossae, the sublime teaching contained in this canticle holds good for all times; it is one of the most important Christological texts in St Paul's writings.
The real protagonist of this passage is the Son of God made man, whose two natures, divine and human, are always linked in the divine person of the Word. However, at some points St Paul stresses his divinity (vv. 16, 17, 18b and 19) and at others his humanity (vv. 15, 18a, 18c and 20). The underlying theme of the hymn is Christ's total pre-eminence over all creation.
We can distinguish two stanzas in the hymn. In the first (vv. 15-17) Christ's dominion is stated to embrace the entire cosmos, stemming as it does from his action as Creator: "in him all things were created" (v. 16). This same statement is made in the prologue to the fourth Gospel (cf. Jn 1:3), and it is implied in the Book of Genesis, which tells us that creation was effected by God's word (cf. Gen 1:3, 6, 9, etc.). Since Christ is the Word of God, he is above all things, and therefore St Paul stresses that all angels--irrespective of their hierarchy or order--come under his sway.
Christ's pre-eminence over natural creation is followed by his primacy in the economy of supernatural salvation, a second creation worked by God through grace. The second stanza (vv. 18-20) refers to this further primacy of Christ: by his death on the cross, Christ has restored peace and has reconciled all things--the world and mankind--to God. Jews and Gentiles both are called to form part of one body, the Church, of which Christ is the head; and all the celestial powers are subject to his authority.
This passage is, then, a sublime canticle celebrating Christ, the head by virtue of his surpassing excellence and his salvific action. "The Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin", Pius XII teaches, "must be called the head of the Church for the special reason of his preeminence. For the head holds the highest place. But none holds a higher place than Christ as God for he is the Word of the Eternal Father and is therefore justly called 'the first-born of all creation'. None holds a higher place than Christ as man, for he, born of the immaculate Virgin, is the true and natural Son of God, and by reason of his miraculous and glorious resurrection by which he triumphed over death he is 'the first-born from the dead'. And none stands higher than he who, being the 'one mediator between God and man' (1 Tim 2:5), admirably unites earth with heaven; who, exalted on the Cross as on his throne of mercy, has drawn all things to himself" (Mystici Corporis, 15).
15. By the unaided use of reason man can work out that God exists, but he could never, on his own, have grasped the essence of God: in this sense God is said to be invisible (cf. St Thomas, Commentary on Col, ad loc.). This is why it is said in St John's Gospel that "no one has ever seen God" (Jn 1:18).
In Sacred Scripture we are told that man was created "in the image of God" (Gen 1:26). However, only the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son, is the perfect image and likeness of the Father. "The image [likeness] of a thing may be found in something else in two ways; in one way it is found in something of the same specific nature--as the image of the king is found in his son; in another way it is found in something of a different nature, as the king's image on the coin. In the first sense the Son is the image of the Father; in the second sense man is called the image of God; and therefore in order to express the imperfect character of the divine image in man, man is not simply called 'the image' but is referred to as being 'according to the image', whereby is expressed a certain movement or tendency to perfection. But it cannot be said that the Son of God is 'according to the image', because he is the perfect image of the Father" (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 35, a. 2 ad 3). And so, "for something to be truly an image, it has to proceed from another as similar to it in species, or at least in some aspect of the species" (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 35, a. 1, c.) To say that the Son is "image of the invisible God" means that the Father and the Son are one-in-substance--that is, both possess the same divine nature--, with the nuance that the Son proceeds from the Father. It also conveys the fact that they are two distinct persons, for no one is the image of himself.
The supreme revelation of God is that effected by the Son of God through his Incarnation. He is the only one who can say, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). His sacred humanity, therefore, reflects the perfections of God, which he possesses by virtue of the hypostatic union--the union of divine nature and human nature which occurs in his person, which is divine. The second Person of the Trinity restored man to his original dignity. The image of God, imperfect though it be, which there is in every man and woman, was blurred by Adam's sin; but it was restored in Christ: God's true self-image takes on a nature the same as ours, and thanks to the redemption wrought by his death, we obtain forgiveness of sins (v. 14).
Jesus Christ is the "first-born of all creation" by virtue of the hypostatic union. He is, of course, prior to all creation, for he proceeds eternally from the Father by generation. This the Church has always believed, and it proclaims it in the Creed: "born of the Father before time began ..., begotten, not made, of one being [consubstantial] with the Father" (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed).
In Jewish culture, the first-born was first in honor and in law. When the Apostle calls Jesus "the first-born of all creation", he is referring to the fact that Christ has pre-eminence and headship over all created things, because not only does he pre-date them but they were all created "through him" and "for him" (v. 16).
16-17. Jesus Christ is God; this is why he has pre-eminence over all created things. The relationships between Christ and creation are spelled out by three prepositions. "In him all things were created": in Christ: he is their source, their center and their model or exemplary cause. "All things were created through him and for him": through him, in other words, God the Father, through God the Son, creates all things; and for him, because he is the last end, the purpose or goal of everything.
St Paul goes on to say that "in him all things hold together"; "the Son of God has not only created everything: he conserves everything in being; thus, if his sovereign will were to cease to operate for even an instant, everything would return into the nothingness from which he drew everything that exists" (Chrysostom, Hom. on Col, ad loc.).
All created things, then, continue in existence because they share, albeit in a limited way, in Christ's infinite fullness of existence or perfection. His dominion extends not only over celestial things but also over all material things, however insignificant they may seem: it embraces everything in heaven and in the physical universe.
The sacred text also points to Christ's supremacy over invisible creation, that is, over the angels and celestial hierarchies (cf. Heb 1:5). If St Paul stresses this fact, it is to expose the errors of those who were depicting Jesus as a creature intermediary between corporeal beings and spiritual created beings, and, therefore, lower than the angels.
18. "He is the head of the body, the church": this image shows the relationship of Christ with the Church, to which he sends his grace in abundance, bearing life to all its members. 'The head," St Augustine says, "is our very Savior, who suffered under Pontius Pilate and now, after rising from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father. And his body is the Church [...] For the whole Church, made up of the assembly of the faithful--for all the faithful are Christ's members--has Christ, as its head, who rules his body from on high" (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 56, 1).
St Paul unequivocally teaches that the Church is a body. "Now if the Church is a body it must be something one and undivided, according to the statement of St Paul: 'We, though many, are one body in Christ' (Rom 12:5). And not only must it be one and undivided, it must also be something concrete and visible, as our Predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, says in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum: 'By the very fact of being a body the Church is visible.' It is therefore an aberration from divine truth to represent the Church as something intangible and invisible, as a mere 'pneumatic' entity joining together by an invisible link a number of communities of Christians in spite of their difference in faith.
"But a body requires a number of members so connected that they help one another. And, in fact, as in our mortal organism when one member suffers the others suffer with it, and the healthy members come to the assistance of those who are ailing, so in the Church individual members do not live only for themselves but also help one another, alleviating their suffering and helping to build up the entire body" (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 7).
"He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead": this can be said because he was the first man to rise from the dead, never again to die (cf. 1 Cor 15:20; Rev 1:5), and also because thanks to him it enabled men to experience resurrection in glory (cf. 1 Cor 15:22; Rom 8:11), because they are justified through him (cf. Rom 4:25).
So, just as the previous verses looked to Christ's pre-eminent role in creations the hymn now focuses on his primacy in a new creation—the rebirth of mankind, and all creation in its train, in the supernatural order of grace and glory. Christ rose from the dead to enable us also to walk in newness of life (cf. Rom 6:4). Therefore, in every way Jesus Christ is "pre-eminent."
19. The word "pleroma" translated here as "fullness", has two meanings in Greek: one, an active meaning, describes something that "fills" or "completes"; for example, a ship's full load can be referred to as its "pleroma". The other meaning is passive, "that which is filled" or "that which is complete", so that a ship can be said to be "pleroma" when it is fully loaded. In this passage St Paul is using the word in both senses: Christ is the fullness (passive sense) of the Godhead (cf. Col 2:9), because he is full of all the perfections of the divine essence; and he is the fullness (active sense), because he fills the Church and all creation.
St John Chrysostom suggests that "the word 'fullness' is to be taken to mean the divinity of Jesus Christ [...]. This term has been chosen the better to show that the very essence of the godhead resides in Jesus Christ" (Hom. on Col, ad loc.).
Since Christ possesses the divine nature, he also possesses the fullness of the supernatural gifts, for himself and for all mankind. Hence St Thomas' comment that pleroma "reveals the dignity of the head in so far as it has the fullness of all grace" (Commentary on Col, ad loc.). In this sense, Christ is the fullness of the Church, for as its head he vivifies his body with all kinds of unmerited gifts. Finally, the entire created universe can be termed the "fullness" ("pleroma") of Christ, because everything that exists in heaven and on earth has been created and is maintained in existence by him (cf. vv. 16-17); they are ever-present to him and are ruled by him (cf. Is 6:3; Ps 139:8; Wis 1:7; etc.). Thus, the world, which was created good (cf. Gen 1:31) tends towards its fulfillment insofar as it clearly reflects the imprint God gave it at the start of creation.
20. Since Christ is pre-eminent over all creation, the Father chose to reconcile all things to himself through him. Sin had cut man off from God, rupturing the perfect order which originally reigned in the created world. By shedding his blood on the cross, Christ obtained peace for us; nothing in the universe falls outside the scope of his peace-giving influence. He who in the beginning created all things in heaven and on earth has reestablished peace throughout creation.
This reconciliation of all things, ushered in by Christ, is fostered by the Holy Spirit who enables the Church to continue the process of reconciliation. However, we will not attain the fullness of this reconciliation until we reach heaven, when the entire created universe, along with mankind, will be perfectly renewed in Christ (cf. Lumen Gentium, 48).
"The history of salvation--the salvation of the whole of humanity, as well as of every human being of whatever period--is the wonderful history of a reconciliation; the reconciliation whereby God, as Father, in the Blood and the Cross of his Son made man, reconciles the world to himself and thus brings into being a new family of those who have been reconciled.
"Reconciliation becomes necessary because there has been the break of sin from which derive all the other forms of break within man and about him. Reconciliation therefore, in order to be complete, necessarily requires liberation from sin, which is to be rejected in its deepest roots. Thus a close internal link unites "conversion" and "reconciliation". It is impossible to split these two realities or to speak of one and say nothing of the other (John Paul II, Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia, 13).
Jesus Christ also counts on the cooperation of every individual Christian to apply his work of redemption and peace to all creation. The founder of Opus Dei says, in this connection: "We must love the world and work and all human things. For the world is good. Adam's sin destroyed the divine balance of creation; but God the Father sent his only Son to reestablish peace, so that we his children by adoption, might free creation from disorder and reconcile all things to God" (Christ Is Passing By, 112).
