Misja Kościoła nadzieją dla człowieka i świata

Abstract

The final section of Pope Benedict’s XVI Encyclical Spe Salvi contains this payer to Mary, the Star of Hope: When you hastened with holy joy across the mountains of Judea to see your cousin Elizabeth, you became the image of the Church to come, which carries the hope of the world in her womb across the mountains of history. This fragment can inspire a discussion on the Church’s attempt to demonstrate the true source of hope that flows from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The final document of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, reminds us of the Church’s role as a sign and a safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. That role stems from the Church’s awareness of its wealth designed to reach all people of all times. Furthermore, St Paul’s perception of Jesus Christ proclaimed in the Church as God’s grace bringing salvation to everyone is reflected in the Council’s concept of the Church in Christ as a sacrament or a sign and instrument of a very closely knit union with God or as the universal sacrament of salvation. The Church not only proclaims salvation, but also allows its full realization as it is the family home of truth, freedom, equality, remission of sins and unity. Moreover, salvation is manifested in the fundamental categories of human vocation, such as the concepts used in communicating Revelation: life, light, truth, glory, grace, mercy, forgiveness, peace, freedom, joy, justice, reconciliation, friendship, covenant or kingdom. As Pope John Paul II pointed out in his Encyclical Fides et ratio, they all have a typical character, having abandoned the temptations of elitism; they are necessarily good for each and every of us; and their goal is to protect and realize the transcendental dignity of the person.