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THE GOSPEL OF HOPE
FOR A NEW EUROPE
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven” (Rev 21:2)
106. The Gospel of hope resounding throughout the Book of Revelation opens our hearts to the contemplation of the newness brought about by God: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev 21:1). God himself says as much, in the words explaining the vision which has just taken place: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5).
The newness of God which can only be fully understood against the backdrop of the old things, made up of tears, mourning, lamentation, travail and death (cf. Rev 21:4) – consists in leaving behind the state of sin and its consequences in which humanity finds itself; it is the new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem, in contrast to the old heaven and earth, an obsolete order of things and an old Jerusalem, tormented by its rivalries.
The image of the new Jerusalem coming down “out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2) is a direct reference to the mystery of the Church and is not irrelevant for building the city of man. It is an image which speaks of an eschatological reality which transcends human possibilities and is a gift of God which will appear in the last days. Yet it is not a utopia: it is a reality already in our midst. This can be seen by the present tense of the verbs which God uses: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5), and, as a further clarification: “It is done!” (Rev 21:6). God is already at work renewing the world; the newness of God is already found in Jesus' Pasch. It is this which brings the Church to birth, inspires her life, and renews and transforms her history.
107. This newness begins to take shape first of all in the Christian community, which is even now “the dwelling of God with men” (Rev 21:3), in whose midst God is already at work, renewing the life of all who yield to the Spirit's breath. The Church is for the world a sign and instrument of the Kingdom which comes about first in human hearts. A reflection of this newness can also be seen in every form of human coexistence inspired by the Gospel. It is a newness that speaks to society at every moment of history and in every place on earth, and in particular to European society, which for so many centuries has heard the Gospel of the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus.