The New Encyclical of Benedict XVI Spe Salvi--Saved by Hope

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html

It's a beautiful document. There is a lot to say about it.

One thing to note as we all prepare to start saying things about the encyclical: Benedict XVI refers to Henri de Lubac in the text of the encyclical and quotes his book, Catholicism.

Honestly, we never asked him for a product placement plug in the encyclical.

Comments

[Bernard]

It's online now!

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html

[Mark Brumley]

so I see.

[Carl Olson]

Another fabulous, stunning reflection into the heart of the Christian faith:

Yet now the question arises: are we not in this way falling back once again into an individualistic understanding of salvation, into hope for myself alone, which is not true hope since it forgets and overlooks others? Indeed we are not! Our relationship with God is established through communion with Jesus—we cannot achieve it alone or from our own resources alone. The relationship with Jesus, however, is a relationship with the one who gave himself as a ransom for all (cf. 1 Tim 2:6). Being in communion with Jesus Christ draws us into his “being for all”; it makes it our own way of being. He commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others, for the whole.

We are blessed to have such a Holy Father.

[Tom]

I wish I weren't in the midst of writing final papers right now. I'd like little better than to curl up with the encyclical this evening.

[Jackson]

I've just finished it. Epochal, Dostoevskian, bursts of the sublime... all these things could be said of it, but superlatives ultimately fail. "I wish I would have been alive when X was alive," people sometimes say. Now is such a time. While reading, I couldn't help thinking what a shame it is that so relatively few people will actually read his words, the words we most need to hear today. I feel tremendously blessed.

[Jackson]

P.S. It'll be interesting to see if there's any jump in sales of Nguyen's Prayer's of Hope book.

[LJ]

I wonder if the MSM will notice it, and if they do, how they will spin it.

[Nick Milne]

I wonder if the MSM will notice it, and if they do, how they will spin it.

The Curt Jester has the score on that one.

Note: Those are not "projected" or "plausible" titles, but actual links.

[Jackson]

Overnight that Nguyen book jumped from ~63,000 to ~48,000 on the amazon bestseller list.

[Jackson]

The Nguyen book has jumped up to 12,591. So it's moved up about 36,000 places in the last 4 hours or so. Nuts. I guess people are indeed reading Spe Salvi.