God of All
Behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”
EPIPHANY Cycle A
When Jose Rizal was imprisoned at Fort San Santiago and just before his execution, he was visited by a Jesuit priest since was an alumnus of Ateneo de Manila. He was still a free mason then thus the priest told him “Outside the Church there is no salvation” in order to convince to confess and return to the Catholic fold.
But is it true that outside the Church there is no salvation? It depends on how one understands the Church. Lumen Gentium 16 of Vatican II gives a much wider description of the Church. The Church includes not only the Catholics who are ruled by the pope. It also includes the Christians like the Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants because they also all believe in Christ. It embraces all others like the Jews, Moslems since they too believe in God although they call Him with another name like Yahweh or Allah. Even the atheists could be considered part as long as they do good and not harm their neighbors which is an important teaching of Christ. Only those who do evil under the bidding of the devil could not be part of the Church.
Today the Baby Jesus was visited at home by the Magi coming from the east three years after the Shepherds have left. They were not Jews and thus foreigners but were received nonetheless in the presence of the Savior. This shows that the Messiah has come for all peoples of all times and places. He discriminates no one of different color, race or even religion.
A man and his wife were picking up their son at a catholic school after class. On his side, the man saw another father, a moslem wearing a skull cap. Immediately he pulled his wife away whispering “terrorist” into her ears. Sometimes catholics forget that their name means universal or accepting all types of people.
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