The Shroud of Turin
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
During the Christmas season we celebrated the mystery of the Incarnation as the culmination of God’s gradual self-revelation to Israel, a revelation mediated by those great figures such as Moses and the Prophets who kept alive the expectation of God’s fulfilment of his promises. Jesus, the Word made flesh, is truly God among us, “the mediator and the fullness of all revelation” (Dei Verbum, 2). In him, the ancient blessing is fulfilled: God has made his face to shine upon us (cf.Num 6:25). As the Incarnate Son, the one mediator between God and man (cf. 1 Tim 2:5), Jesus does not simply speak to us about God; he shows us the very face of God and enables us to call him our Father. As he says to the apostle Philip, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn14:9). May our desire to see the Lord’s face grow through our daily encounter with him in prayer, in meditation on his word and in the Eucharist, and thus prepare us to contemplate for ever the light of his countenance in the fullness of his eternal Kingdom.
Never have I been prouder of my faith as I see the response of the Archdiocese of Boston to the needs of these challenging times. And never have I been prouder of our faithful priests, sisters and laity who put it “on the line” every day. We are so blessed with our Holy Father, Benedict.