To most Catholics the word salvation has a negative and very individualist connotation. To them it means avoiding the possibility of ending up in hell. Salvation is a negative action and is usually couched in expressions such as salvation “from” . . . eternal damnation, eternal punishment, eternal suffering etc. Unfortunately our catechesis has reinforced this negative understanding of salvation.

Right from the Book of Genesis we see that everything that God created “is” good; this is confirmed repeatedly by God. Man’s ability to appreciate the magnificence and the magnitude of creation is reinforced by his recently enhanced scientific pursuits. The more that “science” reveals to man, the more abundantly clear it becomes that the beauty and the goodness of creation far surpasses man’s ability to comprehend it. In his attention-grabbing book “The Mysterious Universe” Sir James Jeans tells us: “A few stars are known which are hardly bigger than the earth, but the majority are so large that hundreds of thousands of earths could be packed inside each and leave room to spare; here and there we come upon a giant star large enough to contain millions of millions of earths. And the total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of grains of sand on all the sea-shores of the world. Such is the littleness of our home in space when measured up against the total substance of the universe.”

It is no wonder then that the psalmist exclaims: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth !. . .When I look at the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou has established; what is man that thou are mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet, . . . O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth !” (Ps. 8)

God gave man dominion over His entire creation, but man abused this trust. Creation belongs to God alone; it cannot belong to anyone else except the Creator. Man’s role was only one of “trusteeship” and “caretaker.” Unfortunately, man usurped – or rather, tried to usurp – creation for his own ends. In his pride he thought that he could govern created things. In recent times, because of his advance in knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and the other sciences, he has deluded himself into believing that he “knows” how the universe works. He presumes to be able to control the functioning of the universe. Pride has made man believe that, like the tail, he is wagging the dog. In fact, he is not even the dog’s tail; he is only the flea on the hair of the tail of the dog. Yet, he has become arrogant enough to declare that there is no God. He has substituted himself for God. Under such circumstances, it would have been understandable for God to abandon man to steer his own course. Of course this would be to guarantee complete disaster. Humankind has already witnessed the horrors of two world wars, the massive destruction caused by the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In his arrogance, man developed and stockpiled nuclear weapons enough to destroy the entire earth ten times over. It is only by the mercy and compassion of God that humankind has pulled itself from the brink. But the insanity has not ceased. To prove that he is still in command of the universe, man has continued to pursue his studies of physics, chemistry, biology, embryology and neurology along lines that can only lead to greater disasters. Having tasted of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, man continues to disobey God and refuses to accept God’s sole proprietorship of the universe which He has created. One can clearly discern that there is a systematic and well organized movement to “get rid of God.” The atheistic movement which was at first subtle and low-key has now become aggressive and even violent. The fruits of this atheism are evident everywhere: in an aggressive feminist movement, in the promotion of homosexuality, in the clamour to allow abortions in the name of “pro-choice”; in the growing trend to eliminate the elderly, the handicapped and the frail in the name of “dignity.” What was once a closeted and invisible activity has now become overt and even aggressive. In fact, the expression “coming out of the closet” has become part of the common language.

At the root of this new trend lies the deceit of the devil, whom Jesus called “. . . a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (Jn. 8: 44)

The disturbing thing, however, is that even many Catholics, who are supposed to be the children of light, have allowed themselves to fall victims to the deception of the devil. In the name of “science” and “enlightenment” they have abandoned the teachings of the church and have embraced what is supposedly the “verifiable” truth as expounded by science. Many of these who are academics or professionals have fallen prey to what our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI calls the “tyranny of relativism.” It is common to see articles in the secular press which purport to bring about a “balance” between pro-life and pro-choice. Such articles are not only gross distortions of the truth, but they are also scandalous because they are written by persons who have been academicians and have taught at university level. The professional status of the authors lends weight to their views, even though these views are demonstrably unscientific and completely untenable. One such recent article in a local newspaper citing a case of a 14 year old girl who died of leukaemia asserted that “if a compatible embryo was available to us she could have been saved by gene therapy.” The author, who taught microbiology, and therefore should have known better, seemed to be ignorant of the fact that up to this point there is not a “single” case in which human embryonic stem cell transplant has proved successful. On the contrary, the use of adult stem cells has proven to be successful in more than seventy different diseases. Apart from the moral unacceptability of “growing” human embryos merely to provide stem cells for sick patients, this “scientist” ignores the fact that human embryonic stem cell research has, up to this point of time, proven to be a disastrous failure.

The real danger lies in the underlying fact that these so-called scientists propound the view that there can be a compromise between truth and falsehood, between promoting life and promoting death.

Catholics need to become aware of the fact that sin is not a fictitious invention of the Catholic Church. They also need to be aware that sin is never purely individual. Every sin has a four-fold consequence. It hurts the individual; it damages familial relationships; it has social consequences and it even disturbs the harmony of the cosmos. Even the Hindu doctrine of “Karma” recognizes this “fact.” Apart from theology, even science now seems to be awakening to this realization. The ecological crisis, for example, demands that each individual accept his own contribution to the ecological damage, and make a “reparation” by changing his lifestyle habits. Space does not permit an elaboration of how many of the social and political problems can be traced back directly to the “sinful” behavior of individuals.

Sin is the fracturing of the integrity of the human person and also of the cosmos. Recent developments in sciences such as palaeontology, cultural anthropology, social anthropology, social psychology and ecology have clearly indicated that the process of “re-integration” has to take place simultaneously at the personal level as well as at the cosmic level. Human beings are not simply arithmetical entities which aggregate to form society and the entire community of human beings all over the world. Human persons are “organic” wholes who are intimately and inextricably united to all other human beings all over the world. The “salvation” of the world consists in the restoration of the original harmony of the whole of creation. But this cannot be done by human effort alone – after all we are only creatures. The restoration of the integrity of creation is the work of the Creator Himself, but He has ordained that this restoration needs the cooperation of human beings, who are at the summit of His creation. He expects us to participate in the salvation of creation by intensifying our understanding of the processes involved, and by actively cooperating with Him in this massive project. In order to redeem his creation, God sent His only begotten Son to teach us the way of salvation and to invite us to participate in His salvific mission. St. Augustine of Hippo described this very succinctly when he said that God who created man without his consent, will not save him without his consent. Man is unique in the order of creation. The Psalmist declares: “ . . . what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, . . . . (Ps. 8: 4-6.)”

In his loving mercy and in keeping with the promises which he had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God has given us the Saviour of the entire world. Jesus declared: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.” (Jn. 12: 32). This lifting up has been interpreted to mean both his being lifted up on the cross and his being lifted up to heaven. Jesus is the only savior of the world. There can be no doubt about this. He declared: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. . . .” (Jn. 14: 6.)

The world in the twenty-first century is in crisis. This also means that we have immense opportunities to participate in the restoration of all things in Christ – “instaurare omnia in Christo.” However, it is necessary to understand the processes of this restoration. The first step is to understand that each individual is vitally important to the entire edifice. In a magnificent cathedral, every single brick and every single nail is indispensable for the integrity of the cathedral. On the other hand, each single brick and each single nail cannot contribute to the final product unless it conforms to the overall plan of the architect. The global crisis cannot be understood from the limited and very narrow perspectives of economics, neurology, biology, anthropology or any of the thousands of sciences in which humans are presently engrossed. The crisis is not just economical or political or sociological or racial. We are in a “human” crisis; and this means that each individual human has to be restored to health simultaneously with the restoration of the integrity of the entire world. It is a two-fold task : salvation of each person and the restoration of the whole world to its original purpose. This purpose is known only to the Creator and only dimly by us humans who are called upon to participate in the “restoration” of the Kingdom of God. While science is certainly helpful, nay, even necessary, the revelation of God’s purpose is indispensable. The greatest scientist of our times, Albert Einstein, shares his own insights with us: “. . . But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of the understanding he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man.

“This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life.”

At the very core of our understanding of what “salvation” really is, is the declaration made by Jesus: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn. 10: 10)