To Find Christ is to Find the Meaning of Life

When Pope Benedict was asked if people of other religions should be given the opportunity to know Christ, he responded:

There are those who say that non-Christians should be "left in peace" out of respect for their own "authentic" beliefs, whatever that may be. But how can this be the case if the true authenticity of every person is found in communion with Christ and not without him? Isn't it our duty to offer them this essential reality?

There is a popular notion going around (among some theologians and those who should know better) that there is no need to teach about Christ in lands where he is not known because he is already there and his spirit is working among all peoples whether they know it or not. And if we do teach them about Christ, it is merely revealing him to people who already possess him.

Oh, is that so? I am reminded of a couple of young women from Texas who were working in Afghanistan a few years ago when the Taliban was still in control there. They were sentenced to death because they were attempting to teach about Jesus. Fortunately they were rescued by American soldiers who had moved in as the Taliban was being chased out. In most Moslem countries it is not only forbidden to proselytize, but also to worship publicly in any religion that is not Moslem. If these people possess Christ, they certainly don't show it. Jesus said that we should love one another as he has loved us and that no one has greater love than to give up ones life for others. This is a far cry from those going around killing others for the glory of and in the name of Allah. Pope Benedict wrote his first encyclical, "God is Love" for that very reason, that to do such things is contrary to the very nature of God.

Many years ago St. Augustine said that ignorance of the gospels is ignorance of Christ. How can we love someone whom we don't know or have never heard of? Jesus is not an abstraction. He, although God, is a real live human being. No non-Christian religion accepts the fact that Jesus is God or the son of God. At most he was a good man and a good teacher, but in no way a redeemer and a Savior who is the only way to eternal life and happiness.

We see in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 4, that when Peter and John were told by the Sanhedrin that they should no longer teach about Jesus, Peter responded that we must speak about him because there is no other name under heaven given to us by which we might be saved. St. Paul states in 1 Timothy 2:4-6 that it is God's will that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; and the truth is that there is but one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said that I am the way, the truth and the life and that no one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14) Jesus also said, "He who finds his life will loose it and he who losses his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will find it."(Matt. 10:39). In other words that person will discover who he is and will come to know the meaning of life.

And so should the gospel be made known to every person in the world? Even though in our present age, teaching about him is forbidden in many parts of the world, we must continually pray for the time when this will be possible. After all, it is for everyone's supreme good. No one can achieve eternal life without Jesus and in the next life everyone who is saved and in God's kingdom will know and love Christ for who his is - the universal Savior of all mankind. And so, if true and necessary in the future, why not now?

Fr. Marvin Deutsch, M.M.