It was a big deal when the pagans heard the gospel and entered into the church.
Until that point, the true faith was not something that was eagerly shared with the so-called Gentiles.
It's a novelty of the fullness of time, a novelty of the fullness of the revelation of Christ that the whole world, including the Gentiles, people outside of the ethnic chosen people of God, are called to communion with God, are called to the fullness of the truth, are called to be a part of his people.
So it's a big deal, what we read of in the Acts of the Apostles, that Gentiles are being welcomed into the church to receive baptism, to receive the Holy Spirit.
In that light, we can look at St. Leopold Mandich, just very briefly, he's today's Franciscan saint, who had a great fervent desire to share the gospel.
And just a little bit about him, just biography-wise, he was born in 1866 in Croatia, very near the Italian border, and it's in Italy that he became a Franciscan.
At the age of 17, he made his first profession with the Capuchin Franciscans.
In 1890, at 24, he became a priest, and then he very much desired to go east to the Balkans, so Croatia, Serbia, that part of Europe, and to work for the conversion of the Orthodox, their conversion, their re-entrance into the Catholic Church.
That was very much on his heart, to have that unity of the church in his homeland.
He was too sick to do that, so his superiors never allowed it.
They knew it would just not work, to be a missionary requires good health, and he did not have it, so he remained in Italy, and basically heard confessions for the whole rest of his life, like a Padre Pio, like a St. John Biani, his ministry was to hear confessions, to convert sinners in Catholic Italy.
But he actually still, that desire to see the conversion of the Orthodox to Catholicism never left him.
And in fact, he made a vow to God to offer everything that he did, all his good works, for that intention, for the conversion of the Eastern Orthodox to Catholicism, what today we call unity of Christians.
He made a vow so that all that he did would be for that purpose.
Now the first takeaway is that we can truly, like St. Leopold, we can offer our daily work, our good works, each and every one of them, for a holy purpose, for a holy intention.
And in fact, we should.
This helps us then to do our duties, just everything that makes up our daily life, it helps us to do it well, if we offer it for some noble intention, for some holy intention.
This certainly helped St. Leopold, it gave a deeper meaning to his ministry, because it was not just, again, in that framework of his ardent desire to bring into the unity of the church his homeland, his daily ministry in Italy was serving that purpose of converting souls even into Balkans.
God can do that, God can work that way.
God is all-powerful.
And again, we can offer to God our good works for an intention.
And this is also comforting, because when we try to evangelize, whether it's families or friends, people that have fallen away from the Catholic faith, have fallen away from the observance of the commandments, from Sunday Mass, or from confession, we can, of course, by our example and by our words, try to bring them back, but when all else fails, we should be comforted by knowing we can offer our good works for their intention, for their conversion, for their reversion.
And God can use that.
The second takeaway is that unity of Christians means a conversion to the Catholic church.
And this kind of sounds, again, whenever we hear this, I don't know, maybe it still sounds, ooh, a little triumphalistic, you know, like, wow, unity of Christians, conversion to the Catholic church.
But it is at the same time true, and just a little bit of doctrine, just briefly, the church, again, uses a very pastoral language nowadays, but every once in a while, it reminds us that unity of Christians, yeah, that's fundamentally what it means, all those who Christ calls to communion with himself, united as one flock under one shepherd within the Catholic church.
So just a couple of quotes from a document called Dominus Iesus from the year 2000, very It says the church's constant missionary proclamation is endangered today by relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism.
Religious pluralism is a fact, it's just the starting point, unfortunately, there are many religions and many denominations in the world, it's a fact, but it's not something that God wills, just because it's a fact.
God in fact does not want many religions, or even many Christian denominations, these are human things, these are fragmentations and divisions because of human faults, because of human resistance to God's will, to God's revelation, they don't come from God, they are not part of God's will.
So this document goes on and says it would be contrary to the faith to consider the church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions, or we can add here other denominations seen as complementary to the church or substantially equivalent to her.
Now again, this is not God's will, and if we study history, we see again that all divisions when it comes to both religion and within Christianity, all denominations, again are due to some human intervention against God's will.
Now again, the fact is that there is religious pluralism and there is lack of unity amongst Christians, so we live elbow to elbow with many people who are not Catholic, and saying this, it can seem or it can be taken as if when the church says this, as if when we say this, we're saying this at people or against them, this is not the case, of course.
First and foremost, we say this to remind ourselves of, wow, a great mercy and a great gift that we've received by being Catholics, by being members of that one flock under one shepherd where God wants us to be, and that comes with a great responsibility.
So this same document again reminds Catholics, all the children of the church should nevertheless remember that their exalted condition results not from their own merits, but from the grace of Christ.
If they fail to respond in thought, word, and deed to that grace, not only shall they not be saved, but they shall be more severely judged.
So if we've received great mercy, it's not just to triumph over others, no, no, it's quite the contrary, it's to examine ourselves and whether we're living up to that grace that we've received, whether we are living up to that mercy that has been shown to us.
And secondly, it's something to be shared, again, not to throw at others, not to something to boast of before others, ah, guess what, I'm better than you, not at all.
Quite the contrary, it's something to be shared, again, like the apostles wanted to share it with the Gentiles, like our Lord, of course, wants to share with all of humanity.
So there's another document, and with this one we'll close, probably getting long already here for a Friday morning homily, so St. Paul VI, he says, it would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about the following thought.
Men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God's mercy, even though we do not preach the gospel to them, even though we, even though they never enter into the visible confines of the Catholic Church, even though we don't do anything to help them to be saved, it's, of course, possible, God is omnipotent, God is the primary agent and protagonist in the salvation of souls, it's possible, but very difficult, to ask for us, can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame, what St. Paul called blushing the gospel, or as a result of false ideas, we fail to preach it?
For that would be to betray the call of God who wishes the seed to bear fruit through the voice of the ministers of the gospel, and it will depend on us whether this grows into trees and produces its full fruit.
And this light, so just one last thought, tomorrow will be the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and this light, it makes sense why Our Lady is so concerned for the conversion of Russia as well, she wants Russia and all those countries, nations, peoples that are not in communion with the Catholic Church to enter into communion with the Catholic Church, to receive the fullness of the salvific goods that Christ wants to give to us.
Conversion of Russia, conversion of sinners, it's not something that we ever speak at people, but it's for them, to share with them the mercy that we've received, and above all, we must respond to that grace and that mercy which we ourselves have received from God and be very grateful to Him for it by our way of life, and also by our eagerness to share with others what we have received.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.