The Jews and the broken
Covenant
By Mgr. Cali
February 15th, 1965
Taken
from his article: Palestra del Clero,
(cf. Judaism and the Vatican by
Vicomte Leon de Poncins pg. 155-157)
At a certain moment in history Israel
broke the Covenant with God, not so much because it had transgressed the
commandments of God, or in other words, because it had not fulfilled the
conditions of the Covenant (it had committed this sin so often and God had
always forgiven it!) as because it had refused the fulfilment of the Covenant
itself by refusing Jesus: ‘for Christ is the fulfilment of the law’ (Romans
10:4). Henceforth it was no longer a question of accidental terms of the
Covenant, but of its actual substance. Automatically, Israel’s ‘election’ was
completely frustrated, it lost its purpose, and the privileges which were
attached to it lost their sufficient reason. . . Israel ended up by becoming
institutionalised after a fashion into global, official and adamant opposition
to Christ and his doctrine, despite the great ‘sign’ of the Resurrection of the
Messiah.
The Mosaic religion which,
by a disposition made known by God, was to issue into Christianity to find in it
its own end and perfection, on the contrary constantly refused to adhere to
Christ, thus ‘rejecting’ the cornerstone laid by God. It is not a question of
the renunciation pure and simple of God’s plan (which is a very grave error),
but of positive opposition; in this respect, the relationship between
Christianity and Judaism is much worse than the relationship between
Christianity and the other religions. For Israel alone had been chosen for and
received a vocation, gifts and history, etc., very different from all other
people on earth: in God’s plan Israel was entirely and completely ‘relative’ to
Christ and Christianity. Having failed to achieve, through its own fault, such
an important ‘relativity’, it had of itself put itself in a state of objective
‘rejection’. This state will last as long as the Judaic religion throughout the
world refuses to recognise and officially accept Jesus Christ.
In my opinion, Holy
Scripture justifies this interpretation and patristic tradition confirms it.
At the end of time the mass of the Jews
will save themselves; this assertion of St. Paul’s is an essential part of
Christian hope . . . God’s gifts are given absolutely, that is to say, once
given they are never taken away; but for those who refuse them or do not use
them at the appropriate time, they turn into articles of condemnation. . .
This position was freely
accepted by Israel, and as long as it persists the ‘objective’ state of
accursedness remains with all its consequences. But one must categorically deny
that any human authority whatever, whether private or public, may, under no
matter what right or pretext, execute the punishment attached to the divine
judgment: God alone may do it, in the manner and the time he chooses.”
When the offspring of the Jews abandoned
the customs of the their fathers, the truth abandoned them and took refuge in
the Church. It abandoned them when they said of the Lord Jesus: “Away with
Him! Crucify Him!” for they gave up truth and chose iniquity. ~ St.
Ambrose
So clearly was the transition then made
from the Synagogue to the Church that, when the Lord gave up His soul, the
veil of the Temple was rent in two. ~ Pope St. Leo the Great
Therefore, the Jewish system is destroyed,
for it was only a shadow; but that of the Church is firmly established, for
it is built on the Rock, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
~ St. Athanasius
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