WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE CONDEMNED

At 5,17-26; Ps 33; Jn 3,16-21
11 APRIL
In Jesus, the only Son of God, the salvation of the world has been placed, that is, of every man who has been, is and will be on earth, from the day of its creation until the last, before the advent of the new heavens and new earth. There are no other people given by God, nor other ways. He is the universal, perennial, eternal way, without any change or variation. This truth must be shouted to every man for the sake of his salvation. If faith in this truth falls, faith in the mission also falls. In fact, it would be useless to preach, to announce and to remember Christ and his Word if it were possible to reach true salvation through other paths or other people. Since Jesus is the one, the only one, for every time, every man and every place, who loves man and wants him to come to the knowledge of salvation, he must commit all of himself in the work of evangelization and teaching of the Word of Jesus. This truth was Paul’s own life. He lived and died preaching the Word, his Gospel.

First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our saviour, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth (1Tm 2,1-7).

Faith in Christ Jesus and mission are inseparable, one is the truth of the other. If faith in Christ is pure, the mission is pure too. However, if faith in Christ is impure, even the mission will become impure. If faith in Christ is altered or cancelled, the mission is also altered and cancelled. If I say that all the ways are good to go to God, instantly Jesus is no longer the way. He becomes a way like the others. But if Jesus is a way like the others, there is no longer any need to preach the Gospel. Even the Word of God, in its entirety and globality, of Old and New Testaments is relativized. The Gospel is of a unique clarity: Jesus is the gift of the Father to the world, that is to every man. Life is in faith in his name. One believes in Him, one is saved. We do not believe in Him we have already been condemned. Note well: we have already been condemned.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

It is right then to ask oneself: why has who does not believe in the Only Begotten Son of God already been condemned? With the first sin of humanity at its origins, we are all in the state of spiritual death and we walk from death to death. Jesus said it in the previous verses. He is the serpent of God for the life of the world. In the desert, the snake was not looked at in order not to be bitten by the burning snakes. One looked when the poison of death was already in the blood. He had already been condemned to death. He looked at the snake, healed. The same is true for us. We have already been bitten. We are already with the poison in the blood of the body, the spirit and the soul. If we reject Christ Crucified and do not believe in his Word, death will consume us. If instead we clothe ourselves with great humility and believe in the Word of Jesus, choosing it as our only home in which to live, then from death we pass to life. Of this the Christian must be convinced: if He does not give Christ, as the Father has given him, he becomes responsible for every death.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us of true faith in Christ.