Madrid, Spain, Aug 15, 2008 / 08:44 am (CNA).- Spanish priest Father Francisco Javier Ruiz said this week that the role the Church has in today’s world is to bring to it the message of the Gospel, “but what she cannot do is betray the message in order adapt it to society.”
 
“The truth is always the truth. There are some things that cannot change, because they are things man has received—revealed by God—in Jesus Christ,” and therefore “history and the present moment must adapt to the truth and not vice versa,” the priest said during an interview for the website Laverdad.es.
 
After noting that “there is no redemption or salvation” without the Church, he pointed out that despite what is said about her, he has never considered abandoning the Church. “I have never had that thought.  The Lord has given me the gift of a profound love for the Church,” Father Ruiz said.
 
“I always say that if I could be born again, I would be a priest,” he continued, stressing that “the greatest moment of my day is celebrating the Eucharist and—in the name of Jesus Christ—forgiving sins.”
 
He also denied that many priests live posh lives, and that instead they give of themselves in service to others.  “Since I have been a priest I haven’t had one minute for myself…I’m very happy being priest,” he said.
 
Asked about priestly garb, Father Ruiz said he is “convinced that the desire of the Pope—and the sense of the Church—is that priests should dress as clergy.” For this reason, he stressed, “I will always dress as a priest,” as in “a world that is so secularized, where more than ever they want to take God out of everything, we should dress as to make present the mystery of God.”
 
He concluded by saying that it is not true that young people have lost their faith. “There are more young people in the Church now than ever. Young people are falling in love with Jesus Christ and encountering the mystery of the Cross, in order to confront suffering.  Jesus saves them from the death of sin,” he said.

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