Pope's General Audience: Reflect and follow God's plan

December 5, 2012. (Romereports.com) During the general audience, Benedict XVI urged faithful to reflect and adhere to God's plan for humanity during this first week of Advent. That plan, he added, will lead them to Christ. He also emphasized the important role faith plays in finding God and adhering to his plan.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"In this Year of Faith, we begin the Advent season by reflecting on the grandeur of God’s plan for our salvation. The great hymn which begins Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians praises the merciful love with which God “chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) to become his adopted sons and daughters. God’s plan is to unite all things in Christ, bringing all creation to fullness in him (v. 10).

He has made this plan known to us through an economy of revelation which culminates in the incarnation of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God’s self-revelation in Christ corresponds to our deepest human hopes and aspirations, and it invites us to respond by offering God the obedience of faith.

As our free assent of mind and will to divine revelation, faith calls us to conversion and brings a new way of seeing the reality of our lives and the world around us. During this Advent, may we contemplate ever more fully the beauty of God’s loving plan, and strive to be living signs of his saving presence in our world.

I offer a cordial welcome to the pilgrimage group from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. My greeting also goes to the Anglican visitors from Ardingly College. I thank the choir for their praise of God in song. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims, including the groups from Australia and the United States of America, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace."