Saints from other religions

[bball147]

Is it possible that non-Catholics can be in a state of union with God or reach a state of perfection on earth? I came across a woman named Rabia Basri and the things she says are really similar to some of the famous catholic saints who I have read about. For example, one of her quotes is "O God! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell,
and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.
But if I worship You for Your Own sake,
grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.”
I did further reading and one of the sites stated that “Rabia was in her early to mid eighties when she died, having followed the mystic Way to the end. By then, she was continually united with her Beloved. As she told her Sufi friends, “My Beloved is always with me””
I read in St Teresa’s seven mansion that once you are in union you are fully aware that God is always by your side. And in reading about this muslim it seems that she has reached this union. It makes me think that maybe people in other religions can reach sainthood. . Ya, so i was just wondering if it was possible for people in other religions to be in union with God when they were on earth. Thanks

 

[AdriannaJean]

Is it possible that non-Catholics can be in a state of union with God or reach a state of perfection on earth? I came across a woman named Rabia Basri and the things she says are really similar to some of the famous catholic saints who I have read about. For example, one of her quotes is "O God! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell,
and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.
But if I worship You for Your Own sake,
grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.”
I did further reading and one of the sites stated that “Rabia was in her early to mid eighties when she died, having followed the mystic Way to the end. By then, she was continually united with her Beloved. As she told her Sufi friends, “My Beloved is always with me””
I read in St Teresa’s seven mansion that once you are in union you are fully aware that God is always by your side. And in reading about this muslim it seems that she has reached this union. It makes me think that maybe people in other religions can reach sainthood. . Ya, so i was just wondering if it was possible for people in other religions to be in union with God when they were on earth. Thanks

I think it’s more than possible that Christ can work within people without them knowing it’s Christ. And, I fully expect to meet both Socrates and C.S. Lewis in Heaven, though neither of them were Catholic. The only one I’m not so sure about getting there is me

 

[bball147]

I just thought of something else. Doesn’t the church say that you need to be baptised in order to go to heaven? How can an unbaptised person from another religion become a saint then?

 

[rossum]

Is it possible that non-Catholics can be in a state of union with God or reach a state of perfection on earth?

Abraham, Moses, David and many other Old Testament figures were not baptised Catholic.

rossum

 

[tonyrey]

I just thought of something else. Doesn’t the church say that you need to be baptised in order to go to heaven? How can an unbaptised person from another religion become a saint then?

There is more than one form of baptism: baptism by desire or by blood!

 

[Tonitz]

Are you bilingual? Think about what you would call an item if you called it in another language. Religions, to some extent, are languages about God. Mysticism is actual relationship with God at a level of engagement beyond belief. This is why there are such words as “exoteric” and “esoteric” referent to religion and mysticism. there are many such terms, but again, language is the code our brain uses toe engage the world. So if someone speaking another language encounters the same object you do, and calls it by another name, will you argue about the name, or note that you are speaking of the same thing?

Are we not all created in the image and likeness of God? Would it not make sense therefore that looking within by the tools of mysticism utilized by the Saints and Sages of the Ages, whatever their “language” might be, that all their efforts in sincerity and humility would go back to That from which it came?

You might be interested in reading the works of Fr. Raimon Panikkar who just passed recently, and who was well respected in the Church. He has much to say about this in a way that is understandable to Catholics. There are other ways, but they are difficult due to the “language” barrier, even across Christian lines and even withing the Church in some instances.

Having the same Father and yet different upbringings might naturally make it look like we are talking sometimes about different ideas or things by virtue of our different perspectives and the different immediate needs of our upbringing. but just as we all bleed red, or all are subject to gravity, when we are still, the God we know is the Same, whatever clothes we are wearing when we pray, or the shape of the building, or its name. and in the end, the scaffolding the mind uses to build its temple, meaning even the particulars of a religion, all those fall away and we simply dwell in the Presence. Arguing about whether bamboo or steel or 2x4’s make a better scaffolding, or straw bales, or whatever, soon becomes irrelevant in the perception of what is Real as God. As one said, “God is Love; all the rest is commentary.” The commentary is fun, and one can even get lost in it, but it is itself not the Temple.

 

[AveChriste11]

I’ve always wondered about this question too. The way I understand it, is that the current Catechism certainly allows the possibility. Just because someone is not a Christian, or even a Catholic Christian does not mean they’re on a one way ticket to Hell.

But neither should we presume for ourselves that we’re going to Heaven either just because we believe in Jesus, or were revealed a more complete picture of Truth than peoples of other religions were. I believe it’s really possible that people like Jalaludin Rumi, Shirdi Sai Baba, and others could be in Heaven… we may never know till we get there, and hopefully we will get there! It is as you said though, that many of these individuals are just on fire for God – they simply didn’t or even don’t know his Son yet though.