Vatican City, Mar 6, 2010 / 00:01 am
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa gave his first of three Friday Lenten meditations this morning in the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace. He emphasized the importance and meaning of grace within the Church and warned of a tendency in the Western world to reject it.
L'Osservatore Romano summarized the meditation of the preacher of the Pontifical Household in the simple sentence, "God is accepted as a gift, one does not conquer him."
"Every human religion or religious philosophy begins by telling man what he should do to save himself," said Fr. Cantalamessa. On the other hand, he explained, Christianity doesn't tell man what to do, but tells him what God has done for him.
Jesus didn't tell people to repent and believe so that Kingdom would come to us, rather he said, "The Kingdom of God is among you," which makes it a question not of "conversion first, then salvation, but first salvation and then conversion," Fr. Cantalamessa pointed out.