Dialogue seems to me like a multi-faceted diamond, each facet inseparable from the other, each giving forth a sparkle that enhances the others. These facets correspond to the various levels of dialogue: dialogue of life, dialogue of social action, theological dialogue, dialogue of religious experience. These activities are various—what unites them is that they are the occasion and the means of mutual acquaintance, friendship and exchange with people of other religions. In this way one discovers that God has spread his gifts over all humankind and that it is good to share them together.

For me, the most important thing, the heart of dialogue, is searching out God’s gifts and making them available to all.

To search for God’s gifts is to recognize faithfully the values present in Christianity and also the “seeds of the Word” scattered outside it. One can also see that certain of the “seeds” have been particularly cultivated in several religions, and have borne fruit that Christianity can also develop.

To share together means to show with humility that which is proper to Christianity and to make flourish there the good fruits recognized elsewhere. The seeds of the Word sometimes remained at an embryonic stage in the Church or, because they were too closely connected to an historical moment, fell into disuse. Finding them outside Christianity invites us to develop them and to restore them to value among us.

This process is borne out at the different levels of dialogue.

In the dialogue of life the values of friendship, generosity and service are shared. The disinterested generosity of others can often be a model for us. On our side we can make it clear that we venerate Christ in every human being and that we try hard to serve our neighbour according to the example Christ gave us.

The service of social action extends these values to the community level—it aims to provide for social groups peace and conditions of life that respect each person’s rights. The Church, however, can appear to be an aggressive social group. It is important to show that the Church does not seek to increase its numbers to the detriment of other groups, but to share the values it derives from Christ. Conversion from one religion to another is a personal matter that must be free from all constraint.

Theological dialogue between religions does not desire—as does ecumenical dialogue—to bring about unity. It tries, in a climate of peace and friendship, to clarify the similarities and the differences between the various religions. The similarities can form a basis for establishing links, while the study of the differences helps one to understand the religious and cultural situation of those taking part in dialogue and to express the Christian faith in a way that is comprehensible to them. Dialogue is thus firmly bound to proclamation while allowing it to perfect its language all the time.

Consideration of the differences also often gives a Christian the surprise of discovering in scriptural texts responses to questions that were not yet being asked. The word of God reveals undreamt of depths of meaning. Thus the words of Jesus in his discourse after the Last Supper revealing his relationship with the Father are thrown into fresh relief when they are brought into comparison with Buddhists’ questions about the meaning of person.

This level has yet another particular importance because it checks the authenticity of other dialogue activities. Theological reflection lets Christians make sure that the social actions and the ways of meditation they engage in conform to the Gospel.

God’s gifts in the dialogue of spiritual experience are various. The Asian religions invite one to give greater attention to the influence of the body on the mastery of thoughts and on interior silence. They also offer a gift of asceticism through the importance given to the presence of the divine immensity in the human being and through the need to pass beyond the conceptual level to join the Absolute. These deprivations lead to a kenosis, an ever-deeper abandonment of the egoistic ‘self.’ For Christians this simplification tends towards a non-duality, not of beings, since the relationship of knowledge and love persists and intensifies, but of wills, the human will identifying with the will of Jesus who, in turn, shares his divine life. Christianity’s contribution is to present Christ as the way that opens up towards the infinity of the Trinity, contemplation where knowledge becomes the presence of love.

A final gift shared in all these experiences is the climate of friendship, religious fervor and zeal for the common good that inspires the various activities. It also leads each person to desire to know his or her own religion better and to go more deeply into its values. Speaking for myself, the questions put by Buddhism on the person have led me to the study and spiritual reflection on the mystery of the Trinity. I have been better able to grasp that the perfection of the person is the complete gift that each makes of himself to others.

Similarly, Hinduism’s insistence on unselfish action, considered as the most perfect act of the human being, has led me to discover the humility of Jesus. He avoids all publicity and flees from any personal advantage that could spring from his miracles. His perfection is to give everything, even his life, and by so doing he accomplishes, as man, his Trinitarian perfection, the complete gift of himself.

Dialogue has allowed me to discover the gifts of God and leads me to share them with everyone.

“If you know that Christ is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him”. (1 John 2:29)