Universal Salvation through the Presence of Christ

Recap: 26 February 2022  Discipleship is a Journey in Imitating Christ

To be his disciples, we must understand the role of Christ; come closer to Christ so that we are moulded to be Christ-like. There are many models in the world but the disciple of Christ has only Jesus as a model to imitate.

Discipleship is a personal call to follow Christ – to align our mission with His mission. The call of Levi (Lk5:27) ‘follow me” in the Greek language “ akoloutheō” means giving up and sacrificing yourself for Christ.

Discipleship is a journey-therefore sometimes we may drift away and may misunderstand. Thus we need to turn back and imitate by hearing and acting on the word- listen and then act.

On 26 March, Fr. Ryan continued the formation on the theme Universal Salvation

Universal salvation means Salvation for all, not just the Jews but also the Gentiles. Salvation became available to all through the presence of Jesus.

Acts 28:28“Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

Salvation in Greek is soterion, which means delivering from darkness to new life; slavery of sin to freedom. Soter means an agent of salvation –God used Jesus as an agent to bring deliverance to mankind. Thus, Christ delivers all those who cry out to him and put confidence in him.

Christ is the center of universal salvation and he reaches out to all kinds of people- Sidon and Naaman (Lk4:16-18), Centurion (lk7:5), demonic (Lk 8: 26-39), Zacchaeus (Lk 19: 1-10) and the likes of in the parables of the Vineyard(Lk 20:9-19) and Good Samaritan (Lk 10: 25-27).  

How do we experience Salvation?

God brings salvation through Jesus. Salvation is in the presence of Christ. Christ’s presence is seen in the sacraments, the word of God, the church and in us when we express the ‘agape’ love.

Salvation comes from repentance and encountering Christ.  Luke 3:6 explains that John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’ public ministry through the baptism of repentance that paved the way to encounter Christ.

Salvation is also listening to the voice of God- the word of God. The gospel is the fulfillment of the promises- read, meditate, and you will be able to experience salvation. Most of the time we avoid the voice of God because we are afraid. The plan of God for salvation continues in us and thus we must first listen to His voice and experience salvation. The work of Jesus continues through his apostles and us his disciples.

The fulfillment of Salvation continues through the apostles and disciples. Thus, the question is are you the church and disciple or are you just a Catholic by name? If we are truly a disciple then there must be true repentance like the tax collector. We need to humble ourselves and recognise our failures to experience salvation.  Our being must reflect salvation and the presence of Christ. Whoever accepts Christ and repents- experiences salvation.

We have encountered the risen Lord as St Paul and salvation continues through the church. After Jesus’s passion, death and resurrection, apostles continued through Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we will not be able to reach out. We are anointed through baptism to a common priesthood and have the same role to play which is to receive the Holy Spirit and to reach out to everyone.

Jesus was the saviour of the ‘Anawim’- a Hebrew word that describes those who are poor, weak, neglected, marginalised- those who own nothing and therefore mean nothing to the others. Therefore we too need to reach out to the ‘anawim’.

Reflection:

How do you experience this universal salvation in your daily life?

What is the role of Christ in the universal salvation?

Who is ‘anawim’ for you? Are you reaching out to them?