July 7 2005 General Audience

Many, therefore, are the saving events that succeeded one another in the unfolding of the canticle. They involve the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity: beginning with the Father, who is the initiator and supreme author of the plan of salvation; fixing the gaze on the Son who realizes the plan in history; coming to the Holy Spirit who imprints his "seal" on the whole work of salvation. Let us now reflect briefly on the two first stages, that of holiness and of filiation (see verses 4-6).

The first divine gesture, revealed and acted in Christ, is the election of believers, fruit of a free and gratuitous initiative of God. In the beginning, therefore, "before the foundation of the world" (verse 4), in the eternity of God, divine grace was disposed to enter into action. I am moved meditating on this truth: From eternity we are before the eyes of God and he has decided to save us. This call has our "holiness" -- a great word -- as content. Holiness is participation in the transcendent purity of the divine Being. And we know that God is charity. Therefore, to participate in divine purity means to participate in the "charity" of God, conforming ourselves with God who is "charity."

"God is love" (1 John 4:8,16). This is the consoling truth that enables us also to understand that "holiness" is not a reality removed from our life, but instead, in the measure in which we can become persons who love God, we enter into the mystery of "holiness." Thus the agape becomes our daily reality. We are led, therefore, to the sacred and vital horizon of God himself.