Many Ways to Christ

When Pope Benedict was asked how many ways there are to God, he replied, “As many ways as there are people.” It caused some to be concerned that the Holy Father was implying that a person could attain the beatific vision (get to heaven) without the assistance of Christ. But that’s not what he was saying. He was saying there are many ways to Christ.

C.S. Lewis, in his book, Mere Christianity, said it this way:

“If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through.
If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is
simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all these religions, even the queerest
ones, contain at least some hint of the truth.”

What I like about this way of thinking of Jesus (sometimes called the Cosmic Christ) is that it’s both triumphant and humble. It’s glorious and of service. Christ is Lord, and there is no other; without question. But He’s also all that is good in the people and places of this world. As we pray in the Third Eucharistic Prayer, “...lead us to the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.”

Some think this is a compromise with the truth, that it reduces Jesus’ divinity. But I think it’s a proclamation of the sovereignty of Christ (and of Our Blessed Mother, for that matter), an attestation to the words we hear Him speak this Sunday when He says to Thomas:

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Those words should resonate warmly in our hearts, reminiscent of the words Our Lord spoke in the Gospel of Matthew, “Whatever you did for the least of My brothers, you did it for Me.” As Mother Teresa would say, “I do it for Jesus in the poor,” even though the vast majority of people she helped were Hindu.

So why not just seek what is good, beautiful, and true, since Jesus is present in those things? Jesus Himself partly answered that question: “It was not you who chose Me, but I who chose you.” But chose us for what? For the privilege, I guess - the favor. As Matthew said to Peter in Zeffirelli’s 1977 miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth, “We’re the first...to know.” +