Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - October 20, 2020
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
The first Christians, mostly Jews like Jesus, were surprised at how the Spirit came upon Gentiles, non-Jews. After seeing evidence of the gift of the Holy Spirit to these people, the early disciples said: "God has granted life-giving repentance even to the Gentiles" (Acts 11:18). Later in the same book we hear of Christian missionaries announcing the good news of Christ, as Acts says, "even to the Greeks" (11:20). These chosen people were a bit surprised apparently that the message of the Messiah was to go to these non-Jews.
Today, faced with huge masses of humanity who do not believe in Christ and Christians becoming a smaller percentage of the world's population, we have a new scene with some similarities to this one. It seems less and less likely that all human beings will accept Christ. The Second Vatican Council saw that and urged Christians to recognize that God is able to work outside the Christian faith for the salvation of human beings.
Many of us have neighbors who are not Christians but Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists. We might be surprised to see how generous and loving our non-Christian neighbors can be. More familiarity with them, their religions and ideals will show us people interested, as we are, in peace, the good and safety of children, respect for the elderly; people who have many of the same ideals we have for human life. Instead of stressing differences, why not look for areas and issues on which we agree and where we can cooperate. We do most to make Christ and his message attractive by behavior rooted in love and respect.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
