The middle section that treats the theme of life in Christ kicks off with a few quotes from the pope emeritus:
356. The new life of Jesus Christ touches the entire human being and develops human existence in fullness “in its personal, family, social and cultural dimensions.”(Introductory Address 4.) That requires entering into a process of change that transfigures the varied aspects of life itself. Only thus will it become possible to recognize that Jesus Christ is our savior in all senses of the word. Only thus will we manifest that life in Christ heals, strengthens, and humanizes. For “He is the Living One who walks alongside us, revealing to us the meaning of events, suffering and death, rejoicing and feasting.”(Ibid.)
It is not just the spiritual or supernatural events that reveal Christ and permit us to draw near, but his presence is there to be greeted and acknowledged during life’s most ordinary times. It would be a gnostic/heretical insistence to suggest that only the right words, the right places, the right actions are the only way to encounter Jesus:
Life in Christ includes the joy of eating together, enthusiasm for making progress, the pleasure of working and learning, the joy of serving whoever needs us, contact with nature, enthusiasm for communal projects, the pleasure of living sexuality in keeping with the gospel, and all the things that the Father gives us as signs of his sincere love. We can find the Lord in the midst of the joys of our limited existence, and that gives rise to sincere love. We can find the Lord in the midst of the joys of our limited existence, and that gives rise to sincere gratitude.
Remember to reference an English translation of the 2007 document from the Aparecida Conference here.
