If Christ had become incarnate now and were a thirty-year-old man today, he would be here in the cathedral and we wouldn’t know him from the rest of you – a thirty-year-old man, a peasant from Nazareth, here in the cathedral like any peasant from our countryside. The Son of God made flesh would be here and we wouldn’t know him – one completely like us.
How shameful to think that perhaps pagans, people with no faith in Christ, may be better than we and nearer to God’s reign. Remember how Christ received the pagan centurion and told him, “I’ll go and cure your servant”? The centurion, full of humility and confidence, said, “No. Lord, I am not worthy that you go there. Just say the word and my servant will be cured.” Christ marveled, says the gospel, and he said, “Truly, I have not found such faith in Israel.”
I say: Christ will also say of this church: outside the limits of Catholicism perhaps there is more faith, more holiness. So we must not extinguish the Spirit. The Spirit is not the monopoly of a movement, of a hierarchy, or priesthood, or religious congregation. The Spirit is free, and he wants men and women, wherever they are, to realize their vocation to find Christ, who became flesh to save all human flesh. Yes, to save all, dear brothers and sisters. I know that some people come to the cathedral who have even lost the faith and are non-Christians. Let them be welcome! And if this message is saying something to them, I ask them to reflect in their inner consciousness, for, like Christ, I can tell them: the kingdom of God is not far from you, God’s kingdom is within your heart. Seek it, and you will find it.
The Bible has a very meaningful expression: The Spirit makes all things new. We are those who grow old. And we want everyone made to our aged pattern. The Spirit is never old, the Spirit is always young.
Goodness and Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, pp. 246-248.
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