CRECIMIENTO Y SUBINVERSION

In light of these themes, Schillebeeckx concludes Christ the Sacrament by considering the possibility of other sacramental sites of encounter beyond the walls of the church. The first challenge is developing a new theological vocabulary. If grace is not contained within the sacraments, but rather the sacraments are visible, public, communal participations in the redemptive activity of God in the world, how should we speak of those implicit yet real meetings with Christ in the midst of everyday life? Schillebeeckx proposes a distinction between what he calls ‘sacramental’ and ‘extra-sacramental’ bestowals of grace – that is, between ‘decisive Christian acts’ and ‘everyday ones.’

The seven sacraments are ‘culminating moments’ in a Christian life when the believer responds to Christ’s availability in a personal and decisive manner. Such moments bring a person’s deep longing for grace to ‘ecclesial manifestation.’50 However, it is in mundane human living that the existential integrity of worship must be practised and grown to maturity. ‘Therefore, the sacraments cannot be isolated from the organic unity of a whole persevering Christian life.’ Schillebeeckx observes, ‘The sacraments determine the objective importance of certain moments in life, to which we personally and in a religious spirit must give full value. But besides these moments which are decisive objectively, in the life of a religious person, there can be others which are of vital importance subjectively.’51 Though the administration of the seven sacraments

49

Schillebeeckx 1963, 15, 29.

50

Ibid., 199.

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manifests Christ’s sacramental presence par excellence, Schillebeeckx nonetheless concludes that: ‘For all men, encounters with their fellow men are the sacrament of encounter with God.’52

The Christian practice of loving-kindness towards the neighbour becomes an ‘extra-sacramental’ event of grace in two ways. On the one hand, in the concrete act of compassion the Christian becomes a sacramental sign of Christ’s love. ‘Incarnate love, the love of God transposed into brotherly love for our fellow men, is the irresistible motive of credibility for the Christian faith. It is this that confronts men with the reality of salvation in the midst of daily life. In the course of their life men can encounter grace visibly present in such a way that they cannot avoid it, but must decide for or against.’53 On the other, the ethical act constitutes an event of grace because Christ himself is present in the suffering of the neighbour.

Schillebeeckx contends that Christian worship cannot be reduced ‘to the narrow sense of worship as cult. Not only Jesus’ prayer, not only his entire moral and religious attitude of life, but also all his apostolic activity is worship of the Father. The complete notion of worship includes all of these expressions, and all are at the same time an apostolate.’54 It is from within this overarching sacramental framework that Schillebeeckx proposes a more integrated approach to liturgy and ethics. In a world growing impatient with shallow words and empty rituals, Christians ‘must show a real love for our fellow men, and this love must truly be the sacrament of our love for God. […] The Christian lives in the world because he lives in and with the living God; his is a redeeming presence.’55 Sacraments signify necessary ‘markers, milestones on the way, so that by living the Christian life as a whole we may become more and more one with Christ.’56 From this perspective, works of mercy can become, for the believer, implicit ‘extra-sacramental’ acts of worship.

Despite the suggestive tone of these theological explorations, Schillebeeckx’s early project ultimately remains within a fairly conventional sacramental orientation. His ‘extra-sacramental bestowals of grace’ are fundamentally subordinated to the seven ecclesially administered rites. 52 Ibid., 206. 53 _Ibid. 54 Ibid., 37 n.80.

55 _{Ibid., 208. ‘The Church is a visible invitation to men to accept charity, and it is precisely in this way that}

brotherly love can be understood to be the sacrament of contact with God – humanity and the love of God our redeemer for us are made visibly manifest in and through Christians themselves. This contact between men – acting as a visible manifestation of God’s contact with man – is most meaningfully expressed in the office of the Church, that is, in the administration of the sacraments and in the Church’s preaching of the word’ (215).

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This comes to the surface in a revealing summative analogy given towards the end of Christ the

Sacrament. Schillebeeckx likens the sacramentality of the church to concentric circles emanating

from a stone tossed into a pond: ‘The ripples flow in all directions from this one central point. This point is the Church, the visible presence of Christ’s grace on earth, and from it all movement can be seen to flow.’ These ripples represent an explicit hierarchy of value beginning with the Eucharist and then expanding outwards in descending order to the six sacraments, the word, all human conduct which proceeds from grace, and into the entire world of humanity. Whilst word, sacraments, and charity may be ‘visible realities in this world of which the Lord avails himself, using his rich fund of inspiration in the most diverse means, to orientate man existentially towards God in Jesus Christ,’ they nonetheless become less potent and clearly defined the farther their circles emanate out from the church.57 So whilst Schillebeeckx’s early work laid some key foundations for conceiving the whole world as ‘shot-through’ with the grace of God, in the end his understanding of sacramentality is simply insufficiently sacramental when it comes to the status of ethical praxis as sacrifice, worship and praise.58