In the scene portrayed in St. John’s Gospel where Our Lord greets the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob, what does He say to her? “Salvation is from the Jews.” These are the same Jews who did all those previously mentioned evils, and who would soon put Him to death, using their enemies to commit deicide - and “salvation is from them”! Why? They were Holy, the people chosen by God; despite all they had done God still acted through them to accomplish His salvific will.
Salvation is of the Jews! If the Jews would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah, Savior, then there would have been no sacrifice made. And salvation would have been to the Jews only, and the rest of the world would have been out of luck.
But you must study to understand why the Jews rejected Jesus, for there you will find your salvation.
So it is with the Catholic Church. When man was reconciled to God by and in His Son the Catholic Church, the Incarnation extended in time and place, became the means by which humanity could enter into the New Covenant in the Blood of Christ. Through the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, God dispenses the Grace (Divine Life) – especially through the sacramental life – to bring all people to Himself. The Church in its essence (Christ) is holy, but individual members can be, and often are, sinful, even dreadfully so. Yet God is always faithful and so, just as He did not abandon His Chosen (Holy) People the Jews, He will not abandon His Holy Church which is the Body of Christ, His Son, from Whom all holiness springs.
