Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger: from The Promise (5)

Whatever the case, if the Church is faithful to her vocation, she will present to Israel’s eyes a recognizable figure of the Messiah. How will Israel be able to recognize some of the Messiah’s traits in the Church? At what cost? How much love for the unique and true God must be shown by Christians? How much forgiveness? How much recognition of God’s blessing and faithfulness? How much consciousness of the meaning of redemption? How can Israel, drawn to God and chosen by God, recognize the face of its own Messiah in the Church? How can Israel recognize the Christians from among the nations as a gift of grace that God has bestowed on it, an increase given to Israel by God? Obviously, the minimum condition would be that the Christian cease to appear as a vital threat, someone who wants to divest Israel of its own identity, to kill or persecute it, and instead becomes, for Israel, a sign of the superabundant blessing of God.