Local
theologian
explains encyclical
By Msgr. Michael K. Magee
Special to The CS&T
After his first encyclical on the virtue of charity, Pope Benedict XVI
now focuses on Christian hope. He treats the theme positively, while also
unmasking currents in the contemporary world that are contrary to Christian
hope or that distort it somehow.
Under a pagan mentality that still captivates some today, people consulted
the stars for a clue to their destinies. Pope Benedict points out that
our destiny is governed not by such phenomena, but by a personal God who
loves us.
Against a mistaken characterization of the Gospel merely as a worldly
force for social change, he shows how people’s lives and social
welfare truly are transformed, even in the present world, by the hope
of a destiny beyond this world. In so doing, he cites examples among the
saints.
Against the idea that a better world will emerge simply from the progress
of pure reason or technology, he shows that reason must be open to faith
in order to be truly itself, and that if technological progress is to
avoid destroying rather than perfecting human existence, it must be guided
by ethics and animated by hope.
Msgr. Michael K. Magee teaches Sacred Scripture and systematic theology
at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood.
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