I told you that you will die in your sins

TUESDAY 31 MARCH (Jn 8,21-30)

Salvation is in the purest faith in the Person of Christ Jesus, who is the Eternal Word through whom the Lord not only worked creation, but also daily works the redemption and the salvation of every man. Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of the Father, generated by him before all ages, who became flesh and came to live among us full of grace and truth. Since when does this Word of Jesus apply that says “If you do not believe that I Am, you will die in your sins”? It is valid from the moment of his glorious resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit over the Apostles. Here is the command that he will give them: “And that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24,47). Faith in Christ the Lord starts producing its fruit one the very day of the descent of the Holy Spirit: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” Peter (said) to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day” (At 2,37-41).  

Christ Jesus is the only name given by the Father in which it is established that we are saved. This truth is attested by Peter in the Sanhedrin: “Then Peter, filled with the holy Spirit, answered them, “Leaders of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.’ There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved”” (At 4,8-12). If salvation is in the confession of the truth of the name of Christ Jesus, why do Christians say today that He is not necessary for our eternal redemption? Why do they say that every way is good to go to the Father? Indeed, that even one path is no longer necessary, because salvation is for every man, without any difference or distinction between good and evil?

He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said (to them), “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

Faith in the Person of Christ and in his mission as Redeemer, Saviour, universal Mediator between the Father and the whole humanity, Mediator of grace, truth, light, eternal life and glorious resurrection, today is strongly in crisis. However, it is not in crisis because of the world or those who do not know Jesus the Lord. It is in crisis because the Christians submitted to the world and fell into the infernal traps of Satan who suggested that they teach that Jesus is not a necessary way to salvation. Faith in an unknown one God is enough and salvation is acquired. Even the Church is no longer a sacrament of salvation, in Christ, with Christ and through Christ. Every belief, even atheism, nihilism, fetishism, superstition, idolatry and immorality are ways of salvation. Horribilis dictu. A horrible saying.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that everyone returns to the purity of faith in Jesus.