2013 58:1-4

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58

same anguished cry—and still, few are those who

have

ears to hear the response of Jesus of Nazareth, their brother and friend: “1have come from my Father ... and 1am returning to my Father” (John 16:28). Fosing this question is enough to make us realize that it takes us beyond the limits o f this world. By meditating on it and go ing deep er, we are faced with the enigma o f the origin o fth e world and of mank ind, t he fi na l end oft he evolu tion of the cosm os, the mea ning ofh um an his tor y, each of o u r fates , and the f ina l orientation o ft h e “ humanization” o f our planet , taking place before our eyes through the concerted efforts of all mankind. The world cannot be explained with itself as the reference point. Its meaning and its supreme goal are hidden in the his tory o f manki nd, not in th e evolution of th e cosm os. The positivist idea o f historical p r o g r e s s ^ r ie n te d toward some ambiguous “brighter tomorrow”—is nothing but a deformed transposition ofthe conscious and creative €hristian aspira- tion for the final end ofthe world: the kingdom of God. We should also not forget that the whole natural world

(

natura naturans')

has received at its creation its task, its dynamic teleological energy, its ontological seeds (the

logoi sperma-

tikoi2

ofthe Stoics), which is what St. John speaks about in the prologue to his Gospel when he says, “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.” Thus, this same intuition that has taught man that the world is alive, that it is in a perpetual state of be- coming, that it evolves-since “my Father is working right until the present” (John 5:17)—this intuition is right, but that does not mean that evolutionary theories, which express this intuition, are correct and sufficient. In

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universe, which undoubtedly has a soul, man alone possesses freedom and spirit. The spirit of man is the meeting point of two worlds, the divine world and the

human

world.

Mankind