Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale298

resolve, and find the source of our ultimate happiness in him who is infinite

love, infinite freedom, infinite life. ''In his will is our peace''.

Real freedom, then, is God's gracious gift, the fruit of conversion to his

truth, the truth which makes us free.5 And this freedom in truth brings in its

wake a new and liberating way of seeing reality. When we put on ''the mind

of Christ'',6 new horizons open before us! In the light of faith, within the

communion of the Church, we also find the inspiration and strength to be-

come a leaven of the Gospel in the world. We become the light of the world,

the salt of the earth,7 entrusted with the ''apostolate'' of making our own

lives, and the world in which we live, conform ever more fully to God's saving

plan.

This magnificent vision of a world being transformed by the liberating

truth of the Gospel is reflected in the description of the Church found in

today's second reading. The Apostle tells us that Christ, risen from the dead,

is the keystone of a great temple which is even now rising in the Spirit. And

we, the members of his body, through Baptism have become ''living stones''

in that temple, sharing in the life of God by grace, blessed with the freedom of

the sons of God, and empowered to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to him.8

And what is this offering which we are called to make, if not to direct our

every thought, word and action to the truth of the Gospel and to harness all

our energies in the service of God's Kingdom? Only in this way can we build

with God, on the one foundation which is Christ.9 Only in this way can we

build something that will truly endure. Only in this way can our lives find

ultimate meaning and bear lasting fruit.

Today we recall the bicentennial of a watershed in the history of the

Church in the United States: its first great chapter of growth. In these two

hundred years, the face of the Catholic community in your country has

changed greatly. We think of the successive waves of immigrants whose

traditions have so enriched the Church in America. We think of the strong

faith which built up the network of churches, educational, healthcare and

social institutions which have long been the hallmark of the Church in this

5 Cf. Jn 8:32. 6 Cf. Phil 2:5. 7 Cf. Mt 5:13-14. 8 Cf. 1 Pet 2:5. 9 Cf. 1 Cor 3:11.