Good morning Father Angelo,

I thank you for this important service of yours in the column ‘A Priest answers’, which has repeatedly given me the opportunity to resolve doubts and uncertainties about the Faith. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the relationship between Christianity and Judaism.

1.The first is a perplexity of mine that arose while I was reading one of your answers regarding the day when the Jewish People will accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and thus achieve Salvation.

Your answer is very interesting, you quoted St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (11, 25-32) where it is said: “a hardening has come upon Israel in part, until the full number of the Gentiles comes in and thus all Israel will be saved […] [The Jews] they are beloved, because of the patriarchs, for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable!” And you explained that God does not forget the promises of Salvation made to the People of Israel, therefore the time will come when they will recognise Jesus, the true and only Saviour.

At this point I was wondering if I understood correctly what you expressed in your answer. If the People of Israel deserve Salvation because of God’s promises and therefore one day there will be their conversion to Christianity, what is the status of a Jew who dies before the conversion of the Jewish People?

Does this Jew, provided he has followed a life of excellent faithfulness, deserve Eternal Life in the name of the above promises or does he not deserve it because in life he should have recognised Jesus as Saviour?

2.On TV or social media, I happen to see politicians, avowedly Catholic, on institutional trips to Israel praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem; I have also seen photos of Popes, such as John Paul II.

Is it permitted for a Catholic to pray, or at least have a moment of recollection, at the Western Wall? If so, why?

I hope I have expressed myself clearly and that you can understand my doubts, I wish you a good day and I pray for you and for the whole community.

Claudio

The priest’s answer

Dear Claudio,

1. the irrepressible condition for entering heaven is to be clothed with sanctifying grace.

Since God wants all men to be saved, it is certain that to all he offers his grace, which is a radiation of God’s life that penetrates the soul, purifies it, sanctifies it and brings the personal presence of God, who dwells there as in a temple.

2.God offers this grace to all, good and bad.

He declares this in the parable of the wedding guests. After the latter’s refusal, the master sent his servants to call as many as they could find.

Here is the text: “Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen’.  (Mt 22, 8-14).

3.From this parable it emerges that everyone, good or bad, went to get the wedding garment that the master kept ready, because in those days those who invited people to a wedding also provided the clothes to wear.

Only one did not want to go through the wardrobe and was therefore put out.

4.This means that God, through the ways he alone knows, offers the possibility of salvation to all. He offers it even to Jews who have not yet expressly converted to Christ because in good faith they believe that the Messiah has not yet come.

Therefore there is no difficulty that they can be saved, all the more so since, as St. Paul reminds us, ‘for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.’ (Rom 11, 29).

5.The Second Vatican Council in its decree Nostra aetate on the relationship with other religions writes about the Jews: ” Nevertheless, God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues-such is the witness of the Apostle. In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle, the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him shoulder to shoulder”. (Zeph 3, 9)” (NA 4).

6.About the prayer of non-Jews at the Wailing Wall.

I too had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem and approach the Wailing Wall.

I saw many Jews praying according to their typical custom.

Other people were also secretly praying.

I could not help but think of the words of Jesus when, in the sight of Jerusalem, he wept: “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Lk 19, 42-43).

I prayed for the Jews and their conversion.

And when I happened to enter a mosque, I prayed for the Muslims for the same reason.

7.No place prevents us from praying.

St Paul says: ‘It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.’ (1 Tim 2, 8). 

I think it corresponds to a need of the heart to pray to our Lord where nobody prays to Him.

I wish you well, bless you and remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo

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