Vatican City, Aug 3, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Quoting St. Augustine during the first general audience held at Castelgandolfo this summer, Pope John Paul II said today that Christ's humanity is help for human weakness.
Commenting on the canticle of St Paul's letter to the Philippians "Christ Servant of God," which the Church recites every Sunday at Vespers, the Pontiff said "in these verses shines the original Christian faith, centered on the figure of Christ, recognized and proclaimed as our brother in humanity, but also as the Lord of the universe.”
“Christ chooses to lower Himself from glory to His death on the cross,” said the Pope. “This is the first movement of the canticle, to which we can return time and again to reveal other nuances.
“The second movement continues in the inverted sense: from the depths He is raised to the heavens, from humiliation He is raised and exalted,” he continued.