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POPE-AUDIENCE Nov-8-2006 (440 words) With photos. xxxi
Baptism, good works not enough for true Christian living, says pope
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Baptism and good works are not enough for true Christian living; it requires daily and total giving of oneself to Jesus with humility and adoration, Pope Benedict XVI said.
During his Nov. 8 weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict continued a series of talks about important personalities of the early Christian community by focusing on the life of St. Paul.
St. Paul had been a pious, even fanatical, observer of God's laws before his conversion from Judaism after meeting the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, the pope said.
But, he said, after meeting Christ, St. Paul suddenly realized his piousness had been marked by a search to improve and "build himself" into a righteous person. He had been living for himself and his own justification, the pope said.
But with Christ, the apostle Paul came to understand the importance of self-giving and that his life should be dedicated to living for Christ, not for an improved form of himself.
St. Paul said how people are made just in God's eyes and saved by Jesus is "pure grace, an unmerited gift of God's radical love" and is not dependent on performing good works, the pope said.
To be justified means to be embraced by "God's merciful justice and to enter in communion with him and, as a consequence, to be able to establish a much more authentic relationship with all our brothers and sisters," he said.
The pope said St. Paul's writings help define Christian identity as being about "receiving Christ and giving oneself to Christ," not about searching for oneself.
Pope Benedict recalled St. Paul's words, "It's not enough to say that Christians are baptized or believers" in Christ. The pope said it is also important that the faithful are in Jesus, bound up in a "mystical union" that does not erase the distinction between Christ and the faithful.
Christians are called to be a part of Christ's life daily, and one's "faith must be marked by a constant attitude of humility before God, indeed adoration and praise," said Pope Benedict.
Belonging to God ought to instill a spirit of "total trust and immense joy," he said.
He said St. Paul taught that nothing can separate the faithful from God's love and that Christian life "rests on the most stable and surest rock imaginable."
It is from God's unwavering love that "we draw all our energy" and strength and are able to face life with all its ups and downs, he said.
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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