Daily Retreat 04/17/09

2009 Apr 17 Fri: Easter Friday
Acts 4:1-12/ Ps 117(118):1-2 and 4. 22-24. 25-27a/ Jn 21:1-14

From today’s readings:   “There is no salvation through anyone else....  The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone....  This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to His disciples after being raised from the dead.”

Jesus, Savior, Source of Salvation

“There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we are to be saved!”  In Acts 4:12, Peter’s claim of the unique and universal vocation of Jesus (whose very Name means “God saves”, cf. Matt 1:21), in one of the boldest tenets of our Christian faith, and the urgency of this assertion has inspired the heroic sacrifices of missionaries and martyrs.

So without Christ, there is no salvation!  Does this preclude the salvation of those who, through no fault of their own, do not believe in Christ?  The answer is delicate in nuance, for Jesus Himself insists that acceptance of His Gospel is crucial (e.g., Mk 16:16), but He also allows for invincible earthly ignorance in His discourse on the Last Judgment (cf. Matt 25:31–46).   Pope John Paul the Great explained it this way in Redemptoris Missio §10:

 The universality of salvation means that it is granted NOT ONLY to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all! But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his free cooperation.

In other words, all salvation truly comes through Christ, but He can certainly save even those who have never heard of Him, provided that they cooperate with His grace, which “enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation.”  We might consider this analogy: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed all the Confederate slaves, including those who possibly had never heard of him!  However, if a slave obstinately rejected the authority of President Lincoln to free him, the slave would tragically condemn himself to bondage.  Similarly, Christ presents Himself as the means of salvation for all (overtly, in Christianity and covertly, in other ways), but He cannot save those who freely reject whatever means He gives for salvation.