La Vendetta di Dio

If I'd been feeling better, I would have watched the pre-Conclave Mass. Apparently I missed a nifty homily by Cardinal Ratzinger. Check out this text and translation via and from Zadok the Roman (UPDATE: There's a full-length translation at Inside the Vatican):

Cristo porta nel suo corpo e sulla sua anima tutto il peso del male, tutta la sua forza distruttiva. Egli brucia e trasforma il male nella sofferenza, nel fuoco del suo amore sofferente. Il giorno della vendetta e l’anno della misericordia coincidono nel mistero pasquale, nel Cristo morto e risorto. Questa è la vendetta di Dio: egli stesso, nella persona del Figlio, soffre per noi. Quanto più siamo toccati dalla misericordia del Signore, tanto più entriamo in solidarietà con la sua sofferenza – diveniamo disponibili a completare nella nostra carne "quello che manca ai patimenti di Cristo" (Col 1, 24).

The mercy of Christ is not cheap grace and does not suppose the trivialization of evil. Christ carries in His body and soul all the weight of evil, all its destructive force. He burns and transforms evil in suffering, in the fire of his suffering love. The day of vindication and the year of mercy meet in the Paschal Mystery, in the dead and risen Christ. This is the vindication of God: He Himself, in the person of the Son, suffers for us. The more we are touched by the mercy of God, the more we enter into solidarity with His suffering - we become available to complete in our bodies 'that which is lacking in the suffering of Christ'. (Col 1:24)

Oh, yes, Cardinal Ratzinger is such a cruel hard man. *roll eyes*

It's too bad "the vendetta of God" doesn't mean what it sounds like, though.

"Now at last, I will get my revenge on the children of Adam! Mwahaha! Watch me die for you! Take that! Watch me give you eternal life! Mwahaha, the perfect revenge!"

Sounds like something out of the Gospel of Ninja or Paul's letter to the Mad Scientists....