Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger: from The Promise (3)


We publish here an extract from the book of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926-2007), Archbishop of Paris, prominent Jewish Catholic. The priests of the Saint James Vicariate meditated his thoughts during their annual retreat in October 2016.

promesse

This Church is “according to the whole”, since this “assembly of God” is formed from among both Jews and pagans. She can exist as a Church only within the mystery of the grace given to Israel. In this mystery, the pagans have to recognize a gift which is freely given to them, through no merit of their own. Reciprocally, by recognizing God’s gift to the pagans, Israel has to acknowledge that what it has received is not its due, but a grace of God.

In this mystery of reciprocal recognition of God’s freely given grace, each party bears witness to the other. Each attests that God’s gift is absolutely unmerited, and each enables the other to realize the universality of sin, since sin can only be fully perceived in light of God’s mercy. Because God has been completely merciful toward Israel, Israel can in turn discover that the same grace is given to the pagans; and if the pagans recognize the freely given gift they receive in being permitted to share God’s gift to Israel, the grace of God is made manifest in its full splendor.

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