"Christ is seen in the poor, and in the persecuted, and in children, so he is seen in the employments which he puts upon his chosen, whatever they be; that in attending to his own calling he will be meeting Christ."[1] This is not a quotation from some twentieth century author, conscious in the light of the Conciliar document Gaudium et Spes of the importance of bringing out the relationship between faith and daily living. Rather it is part of a sermon preached by a nineteenth century Englishmen who at the age of 44 after having served the Anglican Church as minister and apologist, chose to become a Catholic. Newman understood Christ as living and acting in the Church, and it was his search for Christ that led him to change his ecclesial allegiance. Contemporary ecclesiologists might do well to ponder over this counsel of his: "No one should enter the Church without a firm purpose of taking her word in all matters of doctrine and morals, and that on the ground of her coming directly from the God of Truth.[2] His search for truth in his Anglican days had led him to delve into the works of the Fathers as well as Scripture and these are his source of inspiration when understanding and explaining Christ.

Newman follows the way indicated by Pascal-the "reasons" he offers for his way of seeing things, are raison du couer and this is to be found in all his theological works, perhaps one of the reasons why even after his elevation to the Cardinalate (1879) he inspired mistrust both amongst Catholics and Protestants. R. Fisichella comments that "Newman's greatness lies in his having worked in a stagnant context that preferred the oversure certainty of dogmatic metaphysical principles to the "sitautional" approach of a more pragmatic believer."[3] Newman however was not unaware of the importance of dogma and historical reflection in his seeking for Christ. Thus in the essay The Grammer of Assent (1870), he says: "There is just one name in the whole world that lives; it is the name of One who passed His years in obscurity and who died a malefactor's death. Eighteen hundred years have gone since that time, but still it has its hold upon the human mind. It has possessed the world and it maintains possession."

Yet, Newman recognizes the fact that while Christ did have a great impact on the world, he remains hidden to many, and while so near, many fail to recognize him., so that they deserve the rebuke Christ gave to one of his disciples: "Have I been so long with you, and yet you do not know me Philip?" In The Development of Christian Doctrine, he says that "the incarnation is the central truth of the Gospel, and the source whence we are to draw out its principles." He was however conscious of the fact that many who adore and confess Christ as Lord and God do not have "faith". Newman regards Faith as "an all embracing act, an ensemble of feeling, reason and practice". Thus, preaching in St. Mary's , Oxford, while still an Anglican, he criticizes those who have been accustomed to call Christ, God; but that is all; they have never considered what is meant by applying that title to one who was really a man." Then he offers a suggestion. He says "until we contemplate our Lord and Saviour, God and man, as a really existing being, external to our minds, as complete and entire in his personality as we show ourselves to be to each other, as one and the same in all his various and contrary attributes, "the same, yesterday, today and for ever," we are using words which profit not."[4] For Newman, Christ is the meaning of life and in one of his homilies he protests that in his times, Christ "the true light which lightens everyone born into the world", is removed out of sight.[5] In fact, Newman is concerned that people should not just know Christ, but love him just as the early martyrs did. This can be appreciated in his novel Callista, which tells the story of a young girl's progress to Christianity in the early years of African Christianity. In one of the answers Callista gives to her governor, we may read Newman's own relationship to Christ. She says: "He is the True Son of God; and I am his and he is mine."[6] For Newman, what is particularly important about Christ is that he is Light and that he is Truth. Thus in his other novel Loss And Gain, Newman's central character, Charles Reding refuses to adhere to the truth society because of its affirmation that "It is uncertain whether truth exists". Rather he is happy about the fact that "Christianity says that truth can be found".[7]

Thus Christ for Newman is both the object of love and also the path to true knowledge. Newman believed that evangelists should put forward Christ as the one who satisfies man's yearning for truth and love. It is this Christ whom Newman sought and who eventually led him into the Catholic Church; a Christ crucified and present in the sacramental life of the Church; of whom Newman could say "The love which he inspires in us lasts, for it is the love of the unchangeable."[8] It is quite strange that such an affirmation should come from one who believed that "to be perfect is to have changed often." However, Newman knew that all truth and love could only be found in Christ, who is changeless but ever present to man's heart. Thus we can conclude by reflecting on what he says in one of his lectures on justification, about the role of the evangelist, the one called to proclaim Christ, a reflection, which I think even contemporary evangelizers should find useful to ponder upon: "When men are to be exhorted to newness of life, the true object to be put forward before them, as I conceive is: "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today and for ever"; the true gospel preaching is to enlarge, as they can bear it, on the person, natures, attributes, offices and work of him who once regenerated them and who is now ready to pardon; to dwell upon his recorded words and deeds on earth; to declare this mysterious greatness of the only begotten son, one with the Father, yet distinct from him, of him, yet not apart from him; eternal, yet begotten; a Son, yet as if a servant; and to combine and contrast his attributes and relations to us God and man, as our mediator, saviour, sanctifier, and judge. The true preaching of the gospel is to preach Christ."[9]

Notes:

1 C.S. Dessain; Newman's Spiritual Themes, Veritas Publications, Dublin, 1977, 51.

2 Cardinal Newman; Discourses adressed to Mixed Congregations, 1892, 334.

3 Dictionary Of Fundamental Theology, (ed.) R. Latourelle and R. Fisichella, 734.

4 C.S. Dessain; Newman's Spiritual Themes, Veritas Publications, London, 1977, 56.

5 ibid. 84.

6 Cardinal Newman; Callista, Burns and Oates, London,1962, 200.

7 Cardinal Newman; Loss And Gain, Burns and Oates, London, 1962, 231.

8 Cardinal Newman; Callista, Burns and Oates, London, 1962, 221.

9 C.S. Dessain; Newman's Spiritual Themes, Veritas, Dublin, 1977, 75.