Gerard David's Triptych of Jan Des Trompes, 1505. / null

Cuenca, Spain, Jan 11, 2022 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

Father Antonio María Domenech Guillén, a priest of the Diocese of Cuenca, harshly criticized Spanish Caritas for writing “nonsense” about Christ on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Spanish Caritas tweeted Jan. 9: “Jesus was baptized as one more seeker of truth and justice in his time, without calling attention to himself, away from the Temple. Jesus is the Church that goes out, he receives the Spirit of God who recognizes him as a beloved Son and he understands that this Love is to be shared. We are invited to do the same.”

Fr. Domenech responded on Twitter, “Don’t talk nonsense. First of all,  the first part has nothing to do with the second. That Jesus is the Church that goes out is not because he is baptized as one more seeker of the truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life; and the only way to go to the Father.”

“He didn’t have to look for any truth because He was the truth,” the priest pointed out.

“The problem is the moment when we Christians forget that Christ is the truth or we don’t believe it and then we send out messages that are so equivocal that they are, apart from lies, nonsense,” he continued.

Fr. Domenech also stressed that “Christian charity, the charity of Christ, cannot be practiced if there is no faith in Christ.”

“The day the Father says ‘this is my beloved Son’ and everyone discovers it because the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descends and John points to him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, you can’t tell me that he’s there looking for the truth,” he said.

The priest noted that it’s true that Christ “placed himself among sinners, but not because he had to seek the truth, but so that we would realize that we had gone wrong.”

“So, before sending out a message for us to share, let’s carefully convey the true faith of seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Fr. Domenech warned that if it’s not done this way, “if we seek all these things and forget the Kingdom of God, we’re going to run out of funds because we didn’t impart Christ.”

“Brothers in Caritas: Correcting those who err is a Christian obligation, a work of mercy, a work of charity.”

To conclude, the priest exhorted: “Apologize, correct the tweet and study Christ!”

As of press time, Spanish Caritas had not made any correction to its tweet.