The Kingdom of God must be received in a "responsible spirit", because Christianity basically means "being responsible to God and humanity". It was said by the Pope, who, during yesterday’s Angelus, lingered on the page from Matthew’s Gospel, telling of the famous parable of the talents, the focus of the liturgy on the last but one Sunday of this liturgical year. "This Sunday, God’s Word said Benedict XVI calls us to be vigilant and industrious, while waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back, at the end of time". Talent is a symbol of a "personal gift, which everyone is called to make bear fruit": the man of the parable "stands for Christ Himself, the servants are the disciples, and the talents are the gifts that God entrusts them with", not just as "natural qualities" but also as the "riches that the Lord Jesus bequeathed us, so that we may make them bear fruit: His Word, left in the Holy Gospel; Baptism, that renews us in the Holy Spirit; prayer the "Our Father" that we raise to God as children united in the Son; His forgiveness, that He ordered us to give anyone; the Sacrament of His immolated Body and His shed blood. In a word: the Kingdom of God, which is He Himself, present and alive amidst us". (continued)
