Editors Note: Father Castro asked that we include an English translation of his messages as well. In an effort to reach out to more people, we have included his original Spanish version in the pages before this. Ever effort was made to translate this message as faithful to the original as possible. Any error is mine and mine alone. Thank you.
The person of Jesus has created in mankind a number of ideas and assessments up to and including interpretations of what Jesus really wanted with his spiritual movement, to what we call today the ecclesiastical institution. Although we have imported little or nothing of the anthropology of this man whose ideals after 20 centuries continues to touch thousands of hearts, and that somehow transforms lives… while the other side goes to the other extreme of wrong to attempt to interpret what he actually taught thus leading them through the story to commit a number of outrages and humiliation in his name.
Right here we must consider two questions: What is Jesus? And Who is Jesus? These two questions have become synonymous and even related, but if we enter into a profound discernment of every one we can get down to a basis of thinking that both questions are antagonistic.
While we know Jesus, to the Jewish authorities, was a man who became a “moral authority” that is what became his downfall in regards to the morality of the law. But we should bear in mind that Jesus is a man of ideas, and that makes him a true “Re-evolution” in the human thinking of that time.
Precisely, this way of thinking at the time was accommodated by others, giving origin to a structure that would fall short of the initial idea that it was to “liberate” human beings and it is right there where it starts to be a good response to the question: What is Jesus? And precisely through the story is the answer to this question, and I venture to affirm that Jesus turns into a corporate figure to a “dehumanization” that makes it unattainable to feel and to be human… in other words, Jesus becomes an “object” and not a “subject” of hope to humanity. It is there where it becomes vital to seek the bases that have been covered by thousands and thousands of good intentions of the interests of others over the true interest of Jesus when he began his ministry as redeemer.
We think actually if the human being received from Jesus a consciousness of freedom and dignity according to the works that has been seen throughout history, because if we see that Jesus did not found an institution, but a spiritual movement, then it takes the reality of a God who becomes human in order to understand the reality of fallible human beings, in their essence, is the same God through the person of Jesus, who teaches us the ways of how to relate to him from your heart and values.
It is here where arises the answer to the second question, “who is Jesus?” and we realize that Jesus is the humanity of a God that does not seek tribute, but that God himself believes in humanity as his most beautiful creation making us understand that we are the children by his Son Jesus.
On the other hand, Jesus shows us from his humanity the necessity of being freed by love and forgiveness, finding meaning in life itself by means of service.
Jesus conveys a consciousness of feeling and a taste of the life… by means of the details that bring hope, that he is the bearer of hope and the restorer of human dignity that is lost by the legalism and the appearance of holding a false value.
That is why Jesus is the one who liberates and lifts a humanity blinded by the ignorance of the letters and religious prejudices of institutions, and make us see that God and his kingdom is a reality that lies at the heart of their children, the human beings, that is why many of the things that we see as “Christian” do not align with the true ideal, much less with the essence of that teacher that calls us to walk through the world doing good.
It is there where we realize that Jesus is a man who motivates us to be free and be authentic and loyal to your feelings with a background of hope and dignity. That is why, before one speaks of Churches, we must begin to open our mind and heart to a real experience of God in the person of Jesus, and all this is acquired thanks to the spiritual consciousness, starting a journey of humanization of God in the events that are existential of the human being.
The success of the Christian faith is not in which group one belongs, but the degree of recognition of the humanity of God in the person of Jesus, and how this writes on the heart of the story with the ink of love, the letters of the forgiveness and the strength of service.
