"We Must Change Our Concept of Realism"

Eagerly awaiting the Holy Father's new encyclical I offer a quote from his opening address for the recent Synod of Bishops on "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church" last October. In it he compares the infallible and foundational power of God's Word to the limits and weakness of human words and promises, evident in the collapsing banking systems.

"...At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord speaks to us about the two possible foundations for building the house of one's life: sand and rock. He who builds on sand only builds on visible and tangible things, on success, on career, on money. Apparently these are the true realities. But all this one day will vanish. We can see this now with the fall of two large banks: this money disappears, it is nothing. And thus all things, which seem to be the true realities we can count on, are only realities of a secondary order. Who builds his life on these realities, on matter, on success, on appearances, builds upon sand. Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, it is as stable as the heavens and more than the heavens, it is reality. Therefore, we must change our concept of realism. The realist is the who recognizes the Word of God, in this apparently weak reality, as the foundation of all things. Realist is he who builds his life on this foundation, which is permanent."