Why Christ?

"If there are, as we know there are, so many beautiful souls among the varied religions of the world. If all men and women, not just Christ's followers, who reflect God's own love will one day share the divine life they now mirror. Why proclaim Jesus Christ? Is there any advantage in knowing Jesus Christ?"

In his discussions over the years, especially with young people, Fr. Kelly has found that many do not know the life of Christ or perhaps have turned away from the Gospels as stale or out of date. He proposes to tell that story in a form and idiom that will bring Jesus to life for them.

His interesting device is to adopt as narrator "the rich young man" of Matthew 19:16 now grown old but wiser for living with the guilt of having refused that call. Fr. Kelly imagines him to have been so moved by Jesus that, even though he could not make the full commitment of a disciple, he nevertheless became a follower of Jesus. So he knew Mary and Joseph and the apostles, and he heard from them what allows him to complete what he had observed himself.

The old man tells his stories to a young, Jewish Christian of the First Century but clearly a prototype of the young people Fr. Kelly wants to reach today. His parents had taught him the essentials of their faith in Jesus, but he had not paid much attention. He does not know where to look to satisfy his longing for meaning and purpose. Walking in the Holy Land, he finds himself on the wide path leading up the Mount of Olives from the Kidron valley that lies between the Mount and Jerusalem. And there he meets the old man who sets out in a series of personal rembrances the story of Jesus and the impact he made on those around him.

Fr. Kelly lived several years in Jerusalem as a biblical scholar. But he tells us: "I also learned from the Land itself, from the people Jesus knew, His own people. They are still there, in their descendants." This familiarity with the land and its people allows Fr. Kelly to grace the stories of "the wise old man" with a local color that makes them attractive to a contemporary reader. His knowledge of Hebrew and Arabic, and his scholarly knowledge of the texts of the Bible and its background allow him to introduce in a narrative rather than an academic way- explanations of terms and more important of Semitic customs that might otherwise be misleading.

All in all, Fr. Kelly