Jesus is the Only Savior and Mediator
Saint Pope John Paul II
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all,” the Holy Father said, quoting St. Paul’s First Letter to Timothy, as he continued his catechesis on Christ’s saving mission at the General Audience of Wednesday, 4 February. The Pope stressed that all the blessings of salvation and eternal lite come through Christ alone. Here is an excerpt from a translation of his catechesis, which was the seventh in the series on the Great Jubilee and was given in Italian.
A s universal Saviour, Christ is the only Savior. Peter affirms this clearly: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
At the same time, he is also proclaimed the only mediator between God and men, as the First Letter to Timothy affirms: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tm 2:5-6). As the God-man, Jesus is the perfect mediator who unites men with God, obtaining for them the goods of salvation and divine life. This is a unique mediation which excludes any competing or parallel mediation, although it is compatible with participated forms of mediation (cf. Redemptoris missio, n. 5).
Consequently, any other autonomous sources or ways of salvation cannot be admitted apart from Christ. Thus in the great religions, which the Church considers with respect and esteem in the way indicated by the Second Vatican Council, Christians recognize the presence of saving elements, which nevertheless operate in dependence on the influence of Christ’s grace. Therefore these religions can contribute, by virtue of the mysterious action of the Holy Spirit who “blows where he wills” (Jn 3:8), to helping men on their way to eternal happiness, but this role is also the fruit of Christ’s redemptive activity. Thus with regard to other religions, Christ the Saviour is also mysteriously at work. In this task he unites to himself the Church, which is in a way the “sacrament of communion with God and of unity among all men” ! (Lumen gentium, n. 1).
Christ alone can satisfy all our desires
I would like to conclude with a wonderful passage from the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, by St. Louis de Montfort, which proclaims the Christological faith of the Church: “Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of everything.
He is the only teacher from whom we must learn; the only Lord on whom we should depend; the only Head to whom we should be united and the only model that we should imitate. He is the only Physician that can heal us; the only Shepherd that can feed us; the only Way that can lead us; the only Truth that we can believe; the only Life that can animate us. He alone is everything to us and he alone can satisfy all our desires. . . Each one of the faithful who is not united to him is like a branch broken from the stem of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only to be burnt. If we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need not fear damnation. Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nor devils in hell, no creature whatever can harm us, for no creature can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Through him, with him and in him, we can do all things and render all honor and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit; we can become perfect and be for our neighbor a fragrance of eternal life” (n. 61). O.R. 2/11/98
Jesus..from the Painting: Sermon on the Mount: Carl Bloch (1834 -1890)
I would like to conclude with a wonderful passage from the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, by St. Louis de Montfort, which proclaims the Christological faith of the Church: “Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of everything.”
Vol. #010 September 2021
