Seeds of truth and love

In this time when we live in the light of the risen Christ, let us remember his promise: he will not leave us orphans, but he will send us the Holy Spirit, the second Paraclete, the Comforter-Defender-Friend who will stay with us and remind us of his words. The Second Vatican Council spoke a lot about the Holy Spirit and I would like to recall some affirmations which are not new in the theology of the Church, but which bring to light consoling truths which have not always been announced, preached and which therefore have not been able to enlighten the people Christian.
Often, in fact, one wonders how those who do not know and do not follow Jesus, do not belong to the Church, have not received baptism, and so many similar questions can be saved. Today, in which we no longer live in a compact Christian society and in which, instead, we are in contact with and love people of different faiths, certain questions can be painful. Hence the importance of knowing well the theology and teaching of the Second Vatican Council, a true gift of God to humanity.

The most important document of the Council, the dogmatic constitution on the Church called Lumen Gentium, from its first words, already gives us a very important insight.
All are called to salvation, because Christ died for all and not just for his disciples. Naturally in the first place we must think of his brothers according to the flesh, who are the people of God, even if they did not recognize him as the Son of God and Savior and later the Muslims "who, professing to have the faith of Abraham, they worship with us a single, merciful God who will judge men on the final day". But the Council also recalls that God is not even far from the others who seek the unknown God in the shadows and under images, since he gives life and breath and everything to all (see Acts 1:7,25-26), and as a Savior he wants all men to be saved (see 1 Tim 2:4).

The fact that salvation is offered to all men and that the Holy Spirit works with seeds of truth and love in all human persons makes us understand what the duty of the Church is: to proclaim salvation to all, without forcing anyone ("The Church strictly forbids forcing or inducing and luring anyone to embrace the faith with inopportune deceit, in the same way that she vigorously claims the right that no one be turned away from the faith by unjust vexations", says the decree Ad Gentes of the same Council), so that everyone may have the joy of hope and knowledge of God's love, so great that he gave his Son so that everyone may be saved. In this light we understand the commandment of the Lord which closes the Gospel of Mark: "Preach the gospel to every creature".

We are all children of Adam, united in a single nature, which God himself wanted to assume in order to be close to us and save us: believers and non-believers; everyone is therefore given the possibility of freely accepting God's gift. Christ is the new Adam and he has revealed to us the mystery of the Father's merciful love and also what our vocation is. Everyone is also left free to refuse this infinite love: this fact remains a painful mystery for us: however we will never be able to say that such a refusal has taken place or is taking place. The constitution Gaudium et Spes says that we must believe that the Holy Spirit gives everyone the possibility of coming into contact, in a way known to God, with the paschal mystery. We must confidently believe that God works on behalf of all men, even if we may not always understand how.
Even if the Council does not name the Church, the Lord works through it which is the body of Christ the Redeemer given to humanity.

Cesare Falletti
NP May 2023