Universal Offer of Salvation

​Salvation is not an inheritance for only those of certain groups. People do not have a special claim to being saved based on their families’ traditions, be they of Irish, Polish or Italian descent. Salvation is a gift offered to all the people of the earth in every time and place. The Prophet Isaiah had a vision of all the peoples of the earth, Gentiles as well as Jews, streaming toward Mount Zion, where they would worship the one God. We share this vision and hope. The prayers of the Mass remind us that a perfect offering will be made from East to West, throughout the whole inhabited world and by all of God’s people. We find this idea in the story of the Magi, who were foreigners and outsiders to the Jewish people, but who saw a light in the darkness and set out on a journey to reach it. Each of us brings our own gifts to the Christ Child, and each of us are on our own journey toward the light.