Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Neither a Naive Joy nor a Vain Hope

Reading Jesus of Nazareth (which I just finished today!) and re-reading Spe Salvi recently have caused me to delve into some long neglected works of Pope John Paul II. I just started reading Crossing the Threshold of Hope and particularly enjoyed this succinct passage:

Because the Pope is a witness of Christ and a minister of the Good News, he is a man of joy and a man of hope, a man of the fundamental affirmation of the value of existence, the value of creation and of hope in the future life. Naturally, this is neither a naive joy, nor a vain hope. The joy of victory over evil does not obfuscate - it actually intensifies - the realistic awareness of the existence of evil in the world and in every man. The Gospel teaches us to call good and evil by name, but it also teaches: "Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good."

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