The supposition that the aim of Christianity was to impose on the race, or any individuals of the race, a human personality, arises from a false view of the purpose of Christianity; the aim of the Incarnation was to elevate our human personality to the capacity of receiving in a higher degree the Divine Personality, man's Archetype. "God became man that man might become God."
Let us remember also that God gave man intelligence to seek the truth and it naturally seeks after it, and inclination of our will, when the truth is seen, to embrace, love and follow the truth. All life, strength and salvation to souls, to society, and to nations lies in that direction. Would not more be gained by relying more on the positive side of religion, in making known the beatitudes, than on its woes? It is from this source that renewal of the life of the soul and regeneration of society will follow.
The Holy Spirit is at work among Chinese, Moslems, and all nations, people and tribes, in every rational soul. The love of God, so to speak, compels this. We may not see or understand its secret operations, but the truth of this is none the less true for that. We may be nearer to the conversion of these races, & the unity of the race, & the triumph of Christianity, than any one of us is aware of ... (Diary in Egypt, 1873)
2 comments:
Interesting to compare this with Fr. Phan's writings on non-Christians. They both point out that God is working among non-Christians, but they come to pretty different conclusions about what that means.
Yeah -- that other perspective tends to be: "God is present among non-Christians." End of story. So, dialogue is JUST about discovering what the Holy Spirit is saying to others. Sharing what Christ is about, as revealed to the Church is arrogance/spiritual violence etc.
All dialogue, no proclamation.
I think the CDF's actions (which asked the USCCB to investigate Fr. Phan) is about clarifying this, and drawing some lines in the sand a little deeper.
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