The most holy Author says,
«If the whole world is to be acknowledged as being sinful before God, if from the Law comes the consciousness of sin and no one will be justified before God through the works of the Law, who will ever be saved? With what? And will it be of worth then to belong to the People of God if the whole world is to be acknowledged as being sinful before Him?
These words of the Apostle at the closure of the passage meditated beforehand, do they not destroy hope in the divine promise? No. They do not destroy neither hope nor promise. They do not condemn the world to an inexorable perishing. They do not dishearten with the thought of uselessly belonging to the People of God. Instead, they amplify hope and promise, faith in the love of the Father, the Creator of every creature, they invite to enter into this blessed People, they encourage to carry out the works of the Law without fearing that they are not useful for salvation by knowing them and practicing them, but rather for condemnation because they are always accomplished so imperfectly.
And why? Because "all those who believe in Christ are justified freely by His grace through the redemption accomplished in Him."
Oh! truly, He "took upon Himself all the infirmities of man; God, His Father, had placed upon Him all the iniquities of the whole world and He suffered the punishment which gives peace back to men."
Here is the Shepherd and the Lamb who gathers "the wandering sheep who have deviated from the path of Heaven." To the men who have been distracted by the looseness of the flesh, of the world and of Satan, having been easier for them to pass through treacherous pastures, He has traced a sign with His blood. That sign goes from this muddy Earth where you live to the Kingdom of God. That Blood, that divine Blood of the Incarnate Word, that innocent Blood of the Son of Man shines and cries out to all men indicating the way and truths to be followed in order to have Life.
Note that I am speaking in the present, because the Redemption through "the propitiatory Victim pre-ordained by God" is an eternal present that has its beginnings not at the ninth hour, not from the cry in Bethlehem, not from the revelations of the prophets, not from the promise to Abraham, not from the condemnation in Eden, not from the first creative command "let there be light", but has always been, always, as God has always been, One and Trine, by generating the Son from His perfect Unity, and the Paraclete who from the First two proceeds without producing a division of the Unity and without creating a confusion of Persons through this unaltered Unity.
The Thought has always in the eternal present of the divine Thought, thought, pre-ordained, and wanted the redemptive Victim. And this infinite palpitation of His merciful love, eternally had from the thinking Unity from the days of the still uncreated Universe and the creatures of this Universe, perfect by way of their origin, imperfect through their own will, generated the Word, the Victim.
This is why it is correct to say that God is Love and that every work of God is love, from the mysteriously and infinitely admirable generation of the Word, and therefore, also from the being of the Paraclete, who is the infinite love and the reciprocal love of the first Two, to the seed that at this minute, after millenniums from Creation, casts his seed outside of the furrow in order to create one day, a family of grains, the future bread of man.
God is infinitely good, loving, wise and patient. Because of these infinite perfections of His, He wanted the Redeemer even before Sin existed, and because of these perfections of His, He was able to "endure the prior crimes of men in order to make justice known at the right moment and so that all those who, either through spiritual enlightment or through doctrinal knowledge believe in Christ Jesus", could have redemption.
I said, "all those who either through spiritual enlightment or through doctrinal knowledge". Here is a point that many do not meditate enough, and one in which they fall into the same error as the ancient Hebrews who believed themselves to be the only ones destined for Heaven because they were the only ones who knew the existence and the Law of the true God.
Oh, wretches! To how many of these was this knowledge a condemnation. A condemnation because the knowledge was not a reason of humility in them, but of pride. They judged themselves to be justified without the need to circumcise the spirit, only because circumcision was upon their flesh. They thought of having triumph through theft, through an arrogant right. No. Heaven is a conquest for everyone. Hard. Long and certain only for those who persevered in good will till the end of existence.
It is said by the prophets that the Synagogue will be repudiated and the Temple and the Nation of Israel destroyed, whereas "the desert of the Earth without paths will be full of joy," and in the desert there will rise the multitudes of the new people of God "and they will see the glory of the Lord" and they will hear the inviting words, "Fear not. Behold your God. God Himself comes and will save you." And "then the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf (the Gentiles) will be opened." And "the lame (the uncivilized) will leap as harts," as if they were healthy, to the waters of the Saviour. And "the purifying waters will gush out even where now (I speak of God in the present, but I allude to the times beginning with the apostolic evangelization and which will not have an end but with the ending of time) there is aridity of idolatry, and the torrents (of wisdom) will flow where there is ignorance of God and His doctrine... and where before there were the dens of the dragons" (sin, idolatry, heresies, and every evil born of Evil), there will rise the dwelling places of the elect to the divine progeny and "there shall be a way for you, and it shall be called holy." That way marked by the Blood of Christ. "Whoever follows it, even if he is ignorant, cannot err." Oh, consoling promise! "There shall not be lions nor mischievous beasts on it, but there shall walk on it only those who are free, those delivered by the Lord" who shall return to the divine friendship and progeny between God and man, shattered by Adam, and full of supernatural joy shall they carry out their day, till the entry into the Kingdom of God shall not dry up every tear and annul every sorrow forever.
Here is the promise. And here is the reply to whoever believes that only a Catholic can save himself. And here is the explanation of my words, "or for spiritual knowledge".
God has every power. God has every mercy. And His joy is to communicate Himself to the spirits who yearn for the unknown God whom they feel exists without knowing how, who, where He is, nor how to go to Him. Many, if one looks at their number; few, if one calculates the billions of men who from Adam onwards have squeezed the dust of the Earth, those who are "saved" for faith in the true God, for that faith found mysteriously alive in the midst of their spirit and which God has made stronger and more limpid as a reward for their justice offered to the unknown God whom they sought to know.
Many. Many. Yes. Because God justifies the uncircumcised by means of faith, and the circumcised by means of faith. And truly, many times, the uncircumcised, out of the mysterious faith that inspires them (a divine gift to these with good will), without knowing the works prescribed by the Law, work better than those who know them, by showing thus that faith is even more valuable than the Law in saving man because where there is faith in an unknown God who loves and rewards for the good done in His honour, there is hope and there is love. And where there is love, there is salvation. Because truly, at the end of time, those who were not baptized with water will be baptized with Fire, that is, with the Love given as a reward for their love.»