Reflection 206
Based on the Vatican II
document (Comments welcome here) |
This beautiful article can be read without much editing:
From the beginning of human history,
people have had a religious sense, a sense of God
In Hinduism, people contemplate
the divine mystery
and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching
philosophical inquiry.
They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through
ascetical practices
or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust.
Buddhism, in its various forms,
realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world;
it teaches a way by which people, in a devout and confident spirit,
may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain,
by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination.
Other religions try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing "ways," comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites.
The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is
true and holy in these religions.
She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life,
those precepts and teachings which,
though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth,
nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all people.
The Church, therefore, exhorts her children,
that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions,
carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and
life,
they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral,
as well as the socio-cultural values found among these people.
Jesus, present in the goodness and truth in
all religions,
may all people come to know you clearly as the Way, the Truth and the Life