archives

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Pope Benedict XVI told a group of priests yesterday that he was once “more severe” in terms of administering baptism and confirmation to ill-prepared or lukewarm candidates, but today he’s inclined to be generous wherever there is even “a flicker of desire for communion in the faith.”

The pope also conceded that, over the centuries, Christianity’s commitment to environmental protection may not always have been sufficiently clear. He argued, however, that belief in God is essential to sound ecology, because ultimately a materialist philosophy places no limits on humanity’s exploitation of nature.

Over the last four or five Sundays, our liturgy of the word has focused on the reign of God. We were reminded how, when Jesus first began his public life, his first declaration was, "The reign of God is at hand. Change your lives."

Then we began to reflect on passages where Jesus told short stories, parables, in which he tried to say, "The reign of God is like this." We remember maybe the weeds and the wheat in the field, the yeast, the pearl of great price, or the treasure hidden in the field. All of these stories helped us to understand what the reign of God is, what it's like.