Benedict XVI reflects on God's benevolent plan and living in Advent

From Vatican Information Service:

Vatican City,  (VIS) - God's "benevolent plan" for mankind, which begins
St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, was the theme of the Holy Father's
catechesis at today's general audience. The great hymn that the apostle
Paul raised to God "introduces us to living in the time of Advent, in
the context of the Year of Faith. The theme of this hymn of praise is
God's plan for mankind, defined in terms of joy, stupefaction and
thankfulness, ... of mercy and love", said the Pope.

The Apostle
elevated this blessing to God because he "looked upon his actions
throughout the history of salvation, culminating in the incarnation,
death and resurrection of Jesus, and contemplated how the celestial
Father chose us, even before the foundation of the world, to become His
adoptive children, in his only Son, Jesus Christ. ... God's 'benevolent
plan', which the Apostle also describes as a 'plan of love', is defined
as 'the mystery' of divine will, hidden and then disclosed in the Person
and work of Christ. The initiative precedes any human response; it is
the freely given gift of his love, which envelops and transforms us.

"What
is the ultimate aim of this mysterious plan? It is to recapitulate all
things in Christ; "this means that in the great design of creation and
history, Christ is placed at the centre of the world's entire path, as
the axis upon which everything turns, drawing all of reality to Him, in
order to overcome dispersion and limits, and to lead all to fullness in
God".

However, "this benevolent plan", explained Benedict XVI,
"did not remain concealed in God's silence, in the heights of His
Heaven; instead, He brought it to our knowledge by entering into a
relationship with man, to whom He revealed His very being. He did not
simply communicate a series of truths, but instead He communicated
Himself to us, He showed Himself as one of us, to the extent of taking
on human flesh. ... This communion in Christ, through the work of the
Holy Spirit, offered by God to all mankind in the light of His self-
revelation, does not merely correspond to our humanity, but is instead
the fulfilment of its deepest aspirations, and introduces it to a joy
which is neither temporal nor limited, but  eternal".

"In view of
this, what is, then, the act of faith? It is man's response to God's
self-revelation, by which He shows His 'benevolent plan' for humanity.
... it is allowing oneself to be seized by God's Truth, a Truth that is
Love. ... All this leads to a ... true 'conversion', a 'change of
mentality', because the God Who has revealed Himself to us in Christ and
has shown us His plan captures us and draws us to Him, becoming the
meaning that sustains our life and the rock on which it finds
stability".

The Holy Father concluded by recalling that Advent
"places us before the luminous mystery of the coming of the Son of God
and the great 'benevolent plan'  by which He sought to draw us to Him,
to allow us to live in full communion of joy and peace with Him. Advent
invites us, in spite of the many difficulties we encounter, to renew our
certainty of the presence of God: He came into the world, in human
flesh like ours, to fully realise his plan of love. And God asks that we
too become signs of His action in the world. Through our faith, hope
and charity, He wishes us to make His light shine anew in our night".