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POPE-AUDIENCE Sep-6-2006 (650 words) With photos. xxxi
Being Christian means knowing Jesus personally as a friend, pope says
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Being Christian is not just about listening to God's word and understanding his teachings, it is also about getting to know Jesus as a friend and personally discovering who he really is, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Jesus "in fact is not only a teacher but is a friend, indeed, a brother. How can we know him from afar? Intimacy, familiarity, routine" are what help people discover who Jesus really is, the pope said.
The pope's remarks came during his Sept. 6 weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. The large number of people requesting tickets to the audience prompted organizers to move the venue from the smaller air-conditioned Paul VI hall to the spacious square in front of St. Peter's Basilica.
To shade himself from Rome's intense sunlight, Pope Benedict wore for the first time in public a Roman "galero," the wide-brimmed red hat often worn by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. The last time a pope wore the shady, lightweight, ecclesiastical hat was when Pope John Paul II visited Mexico in 1979.
Pope Benedict's "galero" was adorned with a red ribbon and decorated with gold-thread trim; it marked another revival of traditional attire in this papacy. In December, the pope reintroduced the "camauro," a red velvet cap trimmed with ermine.
In his address, the pope continued a series of talks on the apostles, this time focusing on the life and example of Philip.
Even though Jesus had told the apostles, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father," Philip still asked Jesus to show them God the Father so as to know and see him, the pope said. Jesus assured Philip that "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," adding his surprise that "you still do not know me, Philip?" Pope Benedict said.
Jesus, in fact, invited all the apostles not just to listen to him, but to be with him, to take part in his life and become his friends so that they would know God, said the pope.
The pope said, "The important thing is to learn Christ, not only and not just by listening to his teachings, but even more so by knowing him in person, that is, his humanity and divinity, his mystery, his beauty."
This friendship with Jesus and truly getting to know him is like any real friendship in that "it necessitates closeness, it even exists in part" on being close to each other, the pope said.
But Christians are also called to share with others and show the way that leads to Jesus, he said.
When bystanders asked Philip to show them Christ, he did not just "announce the Gospel like a theory," the pope said, but he invited the others to experience Jesus in person.
"This teaches us to also always be ready both in welcoming questions and requests from wherever they come and in directing (people) toward the Lord, the only one who can fully satisfy" people's needs, said the pope.
The faithful must be "an open road" that leads others to Christ, he said, adding that living without the "indispensable fellowship" of Jesus is living a life of solitude, of being "ever more alone."
In greetings to pilgrims in Italian, the pope said he hoped his upcoming visit to Germany would help the German people experience "a renewed springtime of faith and civil progress."
He thanked God for the opportunity to visit his homeland in Bavaria for the first time since he was elected pope more than a year ago.
Among the 25,000 pilgrims present in the audience was a group of Tendai Buddhists from Japan. After the audience, the pope personally greeted the monks who had attended the Sept. 4-5 Interreligious Prayer Meeting for Peace in Assisi, Italy.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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