Perfection
This past Monday was my last night leading Vespers at Loyola. I didn't realize at the time that it would be my last go at it, but the Lord has been pushing me in that direction since the Fall. I'm bittersweet about it; sad but there's lots of peace; not much else to say there.
Anyway, this last time the only other person there was a good friend of mine, a recent convert to Roman Catholicism. It turned out that I had rushed through my preparation and had printed the wrong readings. But the ones we read really spoke to her, so I decided to ditch my planned message and just talk. One thing led to another and we ended up having an hour and a half talk basically about why I'm not Roman Catholic.
Most of it (the discussion; I have many more important reasons for not joining the RCC) had to do with Eucharistic adoration and therefore transubstantiation, because one of my main objections against Eucharistic adoration is that, since the Sacrament is the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ (the elements become Christ, and yet remain themselves), worshiping it would be idolatry. I presented several different arguments against transubstantiation, but none of them were very strong; we weren't trying to convince each other, so I didn't feel attacked, and I actually went away quite built up in my Reformed Catholic faith. But I also wished I could have found something more substantial (pun intended) to present to her.
Well, that night I came home, got some dinner, and say down at the table. I like to eat while I read, so I picked up the Thomas Aquinas anthology I'd been reading for class and opened it at random. And this is what I read (Exposition of the De Trinitate of Boethius, Article Three, Reply):
The gifts of grace are added to nature in such a way that they do not destroy it, but rather perfect it.
And there was the answer to my wishes, from Thomas Aquinas of all people!
Word of caution before I proceed- I'm not here to assault the Roman Church or any of her theologians. I'm not even really looking for much argument; this is just a couple days' worth of musing. Don't get me wrong- I know Thomas was the advocate of transubstantiation; and I know that he specifically taught that the bread and wine were converted and not annihilated; and I'm sure he'd have a very good, rational, thoughtful way to reconcile what he said about the Eucharist with what he said about grace.
At the same time I don't think any logical or philosophical reconciliation would be very satisfying. The Eucharist is central to Christian life; the doctrines of creation and grace, and their interaction as described by Aquinas, are key to Christian theology; they have to coincide, and coincide perfectly.
Down the line of Christian theology, Aquinas' principle holds true. In the Godhead Itself, of course there is neither nature nor grace, only Divinity; but the interactions of the three Persons provide a basis for the Created order of nature and grace, because in God, to our amazement, "communicability coexists with personal identity" (Bonaventure, Itinerarium, vi.6). The Persons of the Trinity are completely distinct from each other, and yet they exist fully within each other- in theology this is called perichoresis or interpenetration.
In the universe, the same sort of process occurs between nature and grace. Although present in all of creation- which is itself an act of grace- we see this created interpenetration most clearly in the New Creation. Jesus Christ Himself, in His Incarnation, became flesh (John 1:14) and yet remained fully God; Thomas called him my Lord and My God (John 20:28) and yet He remained fully human; He "emptied Himself" and yet in His emptiness became the One that filleth all things (Ephesians 4:10). In the Person of Our Lord, God is Man and Man is God, so that man can rule the universe and God can eat fish for breakfast; yet they remain completely distinct. In Christ, grace perfects, but does not destroy, human nature.
In the Church, nature and grace react in a different way, but the principle of interpenetration still holds true. In Scripture, the Church is called not only Christ's bride, but also His Body. If we took that word completely literally, we could suppose that the Church is Jesus. They are one flesh (Genesis 2:24), just like my mom and dad are one flesh, and she can get letters addressed to "Mrs Robert Andrews" and not freak out because anyone thinks my dad is a woman. My dad is not a woman, and my mom is not my dad. But they are one. The Church's unity with Christ does not do away with its humanity, and it doesn't make it God like Christ is God. In the Church, grace perfects, but does not destroy, human society.
By the grace of the Holy Spirit, those who put their faith in Jesus are made one with Him. In Baptism we die and are raised with Christ. Actually, this unity is the whole basis for our salvation: when God looks at us, He sees Christ's goodness and not our sin, because in a very real sense we are Christ. Justification is not by legal fiction (as some accuse Protestants of believing), but by covenantal identification, accomplished through the Word and the Sacraments and received in faith. Imputed righteousness has more to do with the dining room- or, dare I say, the bedroom- than the courtroom. When we put our faith in Christ, our old, sinful selves are not annihilated to make room for holiness; rather, the omnipotent God fills them with Himself. In the individual believer, grace perfects, but does not destroy, human life.
And what of the sacraments? In them yet another order of interpenetration is observed. God, in His humility, has chosen to use weakness rather than strength (1 Corinthians 1:25) to deliver His grace to us. Rather than showing off His spiritual power, He saves our souls through physical means: a sound in the air, a word on the page, water on our head and wine down our throat. And He requires the same humility of us: we have to let go of our spiritual superiority complex and accept His gifts by faith and faith alone. In the Sacraments, God, who is Spirit (John 4:24), unites Himself with the physical world- not in a full, personal union as in the Incarnation; but the Word and the Sacraments are the fruits of the Incarnation.
The culmination of this act of unity, this gesture of peace from God to the world, is the Holy Eucharist, in which the Incarnate God Himself becomes something His followers can see, smell, taste, and touch. He takes bread and wine and brings them to the perfection of their nature: for the perfection of every created nature is to be a receptacle for God. I've heard the analogy of iron in the fire used before: a heated piece of iron takes on all the properties of fire (heat, light, etc.), so much that you could legitimately say that it is fire; but it doesn't stop being iron. The iron is completely distinct, yet utterly inseparable, from the fire. It is not destroyed, nor is it converted in a way that amounts to destruction. In the sacraments, grace perfects, but does not destroy, the Creation that came from it in the first place.
Lord God, who, being lofty and on high, has respect unto the lowly: help us to receive the gift of Jesus Christ as You have given Him to us: as the Way of life and not of death; the Truth that You love, and do not hate, Your Creation; the Life of all who live, and the Being of every existing thing; that we, by Him being made fitting vessels of Your grace, may be lights in Your world and glory in Your Holy Church; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Anyway, this last time the only other person there was a good friend of mine, a recent convert to Roman Catholicism. It turned out that I had rushed through my preparation and had printed the wrong readings. But the ones we read really spoke to her, so I decided to ditch my planned message and just talk. One thing led to another and we ended up having an hour and a half talk basically about why I'm not Roman Catholic.
Most of it (the discussion; I have many more important reasons for not joining the RCC) had to do with Eucharistic adoration and therefore transubstantiation, because one of my main objections against Eucharistic adoration is that, since the Sacrament is the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ (the elements become Christ, and yet remain themselves), worshiping it would be idolatry. I presented several different arguments against transubstantiation, but none of them were very strong; we weren't trying to convince each other, so I didn't feel attacked, and I actually went away quite built up in my Reformed Catholic faith. But I also wished I could have found something more substantial (pun intended) to present to her.
Well, that night I came home, got some dinner, and say down at the table. I like to eat while I read, so I picked up the Thomas Aquinas anthology I'd been reading for class and opened it at random. And this is what I read (Exposition of the De Trinitate of Boethius, Article Three, Reply):
The gifts of grace are added to nature in such a way that they do not destroy it, but rather perfect it.
And there was the answer to my wishes, from Thomas Aquinas of all people!
Word of caution before I proceed- I'm not here to assault the Roman Church or any of her theologians. I'm not even really looking for much argument; this is just a couple days' worth of musing. Don't get me wrong- I know Thomas was the advocate of transubstantiation; and I know that he specifically taught that the bread and wine were converted and not annihilated; and I'm sure he'd have a very good, rational, thoughtful way to reconcile what he said about the Eucharist with what he said about grace.
At the same time I don't think any logical or philosophical reconciliation would be very satisfying. The Eucharist is central to Christian life; the doctrines of creation and grace, and their interaction as described by Aquinas, are key to Christian theology; they have to coincide, and coincide perfectly.
Down the line of Christian theology, Aquinas' principle holds true. In the Godhead Itself, of course there is neither nature nor grace, only Divinity; but the interactions of the three Persons provide a basis for the Created order of nature and grace, because in God, to our amazement, "communicability coexists with personal identity" (Bonaventure, Itinerarium, vi.6). The Persons of the Trinity are completely distinct from each other, and yet they exist fully within each other- in theology this is called perichoresis or interpenetration.
In the universe, the same sort of process occurs between nature and grace. Although present in all of creation- which is itself an act of grace- we see this created interpenetration most clearly in the New Creation. Jesus Christ Himself, in His Incarnation, became flesh (John 1:14) and yet remained fully God; Thomas called him my Lord and My God (John 20:28) and yet He remained fully human; He "emptied Himself" and yet in His emptiness became the One that filleth all things (Ephesians 4:10). In the Person of Our Lord, God is Man and Man is God, so that man can rule the universe and God can eat fish for breakfast; yet they remain completely distinct. In Christ, grace perfects, but does not destroy, human nature.
In the Church, nature and grace react in a different way, but the principle of interpenetration still holds true. In Scripture, the Church is called not only Christ's bride, but also His Body. If we took that word completely literally, we could suppose that the Church is Jesus. They are one flesh (Genesis 2:24), just like my mom and dad are one flesh, and she can get letters addressed to "Mrs Robert Andrews" and not freak out because anyone thinks my dad is a woman. My dad is not a woman, and my mom is not my dad. But they are one. The Church's unity with Christ does not do away with its humanity, and it doesn't make it God like Christ is God. In the Church, grace perfects, but does not destroy, human society.
By the grace of the Holy Spirit, those who put their faith in Jesus are made one with Him. In Baptism we die and are raised with Christ. Actually, this unity is the whole basis for our salvation: when God looks at us, He sees Christ's goodness and not our sin, because in a very real sense we are Christ. Justification is not by legal fiction (as some accuse Protestants of believing), but by covenantal identification, accomplished through the Word and the Sacraments and received in faith. Imputed righteousness has more to do with the dining room- or, dare I say, the bedroom- than the courtroom. When we put our faith in Christ, our old, sinful selves are not annihilated to make room for holiness; rather, the omnipotent God fills them with Himself. In the individual believer, grace perfects, but does not destroy, human life.
And what of the sacraments? In them yet another order of interpenetration is observed. God, in His humility, has chosen to use weakness rather than strength (1 Corinthians 1:25) to deliver His grace to us. Rather than showing off His spiritual power, He saves our souls through physical means: a sound in the air, a word on the page, water on our head and wine down our throat. And He requires the same humility of us: we have to let go of our spiritual superiority complex and accept His gifts by faith and faith alone. In the Sacraments, God, who is Spirit (John 4:24), unites Himself with the physical world- not in a full, personal union as in the Incarnation; but the Word and the Sacraments are the fruits of the Incarnation.
The culmination of this act of unity, this gesture of peace from God to the world, is the Holy Eucharist, in which the Incarnate God Himself becomes something His followers can see, smell, taste, and touch. He takes bread and wine and brings them to the perfection of their nature: for the perfection of every created nature is to be a receptacle for God. I've heard the analogy of iron in the fire used before: a heated piece of iron takes on all the properties of fire (heat, light, etc.), so much that you could legitimately say that it is fire; but it doesn't stop being iron. The iron is completely distinct, yet utterly inseparable, from the fire. It is not destroyed, nor is it converted in a way that amounts to destruction. In the sacraments, grace perfects, but does not destroy, the Creation that came from it in the first place.
Lord God, who, being lofty and on high, has respect unto the lowly: help us to receive the gift of Jesus Christ as You have given Him to us: as the Way of life and not of death; the Truth that You love, and do not hate, Your Creation; the Life of all who live, and the Being of every existing thing; that we, by Him being made fitting vessels of Your grace, may be lights in Your world and glory in Your Holy Church; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.