Tametsi futura prospicientibus

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Tametsi futura prospicentibus is an encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. from November 1, 1900, at the end of the first year of the new century, which is soon to end , he dedicates himself to the topic “About Christ as Redeemer”.

About salvation

According to the Word, redemption reveals only part of what God has done to the world and to sinful people who were born with original sin. Salvation is an active action of God in Christ and in the Spirit for the salvation of man.

The real doer is God the Father, he has chosen man to be children of God through the gift of grace; In the totality of the divine salvation event, redemption is ascribed to the Father with his grace; through the prophets he related the education of the human race to Christ and passed it on to his son. As a result, let it be said, "Christ is the truth and the life".

Christ the Redeemer and charity

The entire life of Christ served salvation, the establishment of the kingdom of God. The unmixed and undivided unity of God and man in Christ is the origin of redemption. In his redeeming activity, Jesus Christ is best characterized by the biblical word "mediator": He brought people from God the message of salvation and salvation itself. Seen from God, redemption is to be equated with the reconciliation of man with God, furthermore belong to it the satisfaction that this says that God has given mankind the possibility to pay its debts before him.

God would have redeemed mankind even without the death of Christ; He could have accepted the other works of Christ as satisfaction. The Pope writes about charity:

“From this source, over this foundation, man regained consciousness of his own dignity. The discovery that social brotherhood (read charity) is necessary made hearts beat faster. As a result, rights and duties attained their perfection or became established therein. At the same time, virtue grew stronger in various areas to a degree that ancient philosophy could not have imagined. People's plans and behavior took a different direction. And as the knowledge of the Savior spread and his moral strength penetrated the innermost part of society, ignorance and vices of antiquity were driven away, thus bringing about that transformation which in the time of Christian culture completely renewed the face of the earth. "

And from this he concludes that "Christ is the way".

Salvation and sacraments

The acceptance of redemption through man takes place only on the way through the church , because redemption comes to man only from God through the sacraments . That is why man has to open himself to God in faith , hope and love and shape his life out of justification. Leo XIII. writes:

“After salvation was effected and the Church was organized, something appeared in the world like the awakening from a long, old, hopeless apathy. Man saw the light of truth for which he had sought and longed for in vain for many centuries. Above all, it became clear to him that he was born for much higher and more glorious goods than the ephemeral and unreliable goods that can be perceived with the senses and on which he had previously concentrated his thoughts and worries. He now understood that his whole life, the supreme law and goal to which everything must submit, comes from God, and that one day we must return to him. "

literature

  • Rudolf Fischer-Wollpert, do you know? Lexicon of religious and ideological questions. “Redemption” paragraph . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg, expanded edition 1982, ISBN 3-7917-0738-8

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