Michael Brundell O.Carm. takes note of Karl Rahner’s vision of the Church of tomorrow, a Church of sinners, shaken perhaps by the storms of history and of internal conflict, but still united in love of each other and love of the Church itself.
The renewal of the Church depends upon the quality of its spiritual life in the daily following of the commandment to love. To do this effectively, and to witness to the Gospel in the world, means that every Christian has to become fully involved in the mission of Jesus to overcome sin and death through love. In this way Karl Rahner’s suggestions – that Christians continue to be faithful to their history, that they concentrate on essentials, that they are to become mystics, that they must develop true fraternal communion, and that they keep on learning how to love the Church – provide a challenge to all Christians to regain the radical commitment of Jesus to truth and freedom.
The tent of a pilgrim people
In his article, ‘The Spirituality of the Church of the future’, Karl Rahner paints a graphic picture of the reality of the Church today:
What we now see is the poor Church of sinners, the tent of the pilgrim people of God, pitched in the desert and shaken by all the storms of history, the Church laboriously seeking its way into the future, groping and suffering many internal afflictions, striving over and over again to make sure of its faith; we are aware of a Church of internal tensions and conflicts, we feel burdened in the Church both by the reactionary callousness of the institutional factor and by the reckless modernism that threatens to squander the sacred heritage of faith and to destroy the memory of its historical experience.
This is the Church which we are required to love, and in this Church we are asked to become mystics; here we must develop and sustain communal fellowship, and focus on the basics, through learning to appreciate history and at the same time be discriminating in our learning from it.
The Jewish way – and Jewish ways
The whole Church must set itself the task of educating in fundamentals. By that is meant a thorough knowledge of the Bible as a whole and its various parts, so as to be able to realise that in reading the sacred texts we are listening to God who is actually speaking to us. That God chose to speak in a Jewish way underlines the importance of appreciating Jewish ways. That God’s word became flesh, pitching a tent in and among Jews, stresses the importance of recovering and reverencing the Jewish roots of Christian heritage. These roots display a long tradition of protest: against spiritual and social injustice and against false ideologies which try to make the human desire for peace and happiness simply a quest for an earthly utopia.
Along with the Bible, a new look at the sacraments as encounters with Christ, as moments of sacred mystery, having nothing to do with magic, and everything to do with empowering and freeing, is a part of educating in fundamentals. For example, the sacrament of Reconciliation is the gift of forgiveness and healing. To celebrate this sacrament requires that what is given to me must also be given through me to others. If I am forgiven, then I must learn to forgive, and what is more, I must learn to accept the forgiveness of others that I have hurt. It should therefore be possible to communally celebrate this sacrament at reasonable intervals. Then too, the Eucharist is a personal encounter with Christ, but it is more. Through the liturgy, ‘memory’ makes ‘present’ the reality of Christ, and in that graced power, the communicants are sent forth (Missa – Mass) in ‘hope’ to share their life in Christ and to bring Christ into the lives of others with whom they live and work. Therefore each Eucharistic celebration must never be simply a matter of ‘getting Mass in’. And every moment of the celebration must be prepared for: the encounter with God requires a listening heart at the Liturgy of the Word, and an opening of ourselves to allow that same God to renew our whole being through the sacramental presence.
A disciplined catechesis
In order to appreciate fully the richness of the biblical and sacramental life of the Church, we are going to have to be strictly disciplined in our approach to devotions and devotional practices. Sound, frequent and ongoing catechesis is necessary to teach the truth that devotions can be good in themselves, but that they must lead into a deeper sense of the essential mysteries of faith if they are not to degenerate into ends in themselves. Devotions which help to introduce those who practise them into the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the death and resurrection of Christ, the role of Mary and the Church in God’s plan for salvation, for instance, are quite acceptable.
But devotions can also be factors which may restrict or stunt the spiritual growth and development of those who may become trapped into seeing them as the pinnacle of achievement. What can be worse, however, is the offence which can be given to a catechumen, for example, who witnesses devotees blithely attending their shrines during Mass or a liturgical celebration, seemingly unaware of the far more important event taking place around them.
Normal Christian maturity
It is not intended to belittle personal devotions, but rather to encourage Christians of all ages and interests to reach their full potential. This potential is to become a mystic if God so wills. Mystical experience is not for the faint-hearted, however, and demands a strong internal faith to enable the one so graced to come through trials and long periods of dryness in prayer when God’s presence is only experienced as absence. The mystic cooperates with God’s grace and is gradually empowered to transcend with Christ the limits and prejudices of human life. In a very practical way, this means that Christians can only begin to build a better world where the ‘reign’ of God is more evident, when they reject all forms of bigotry, intolerance, parochialism, racism, sexism, and where genuine love replaces fear, hatred, anger, revenge. These last mentioned are often the answers given to problems by media heroes and heroines, but they are not the answers of Christ.
If Christians can know and love their history, we will begin again to appreciate the treasures to be found in such works as the Letter to Diognetus, written at the end of the first or beginning of the second century, and be able to say with him:
The difference between Christians and other people is not a question of nationality, language or custom. Christians do not live apart… and while they live happily in their own countries, their behaviour is more like that of resident aliens… For them, any foreign country is home and any home can be a foreign country… they live their lives here below but their citizenship is in the heavens. They obey the laws which are laid down, but in private life transcend such laws. They show love to everyone and yet everyone will persecute them…
Transcending the ‘isms’
This summarises Rahner’s thinking in regard to the type of Christian community, or koinonia, needing to be constantly worked at, in order to provide the level of common experience which will break down barriers and actually be an experience of God. It is not through controlling or manipulating others, nor in exploiting weaker people or exercising power over them, that God’s presence is experienced. It is when people share trouble and misfortune as well as joys and blessings, caring for the less capable or less well off, and especially in transcending race, creed, colour, or any artificial worldly barrier, that the presence of God is real. This presence can break down nationalisms and individualisms and the loneliness of hatred and fear. However the Christian community cannot just pay lip service to these ideals but must actively put them into practice.
Perhaps the most fundamental of values to be recovered is the Christian sense of solidarity in the face of an often indifferent and sometimes hostile world outlook. If it is true that there will be no lasting peace on this earth without a sense of reverence and respect between religions, then it is also true that within each of the Christian denominations, and between them, there must also be a constant and consistent search for understanding, tolerance and love. This is going to require a profound emphasis on that true humility which recognises the image and likeness of God in all persons, no matter what race or creed they belong to. It will also mean that the divisions among people who make up the Christian family need not be seen to be so much a cause of negative regret, but instead present possibilities for a positive response to the challenge to live up to the teachings of Christ while always seeking to heal the divisions.
Taking risks
The Church of tomorrow has to face the challenge of division, suspicion and mistrust in the world, and in its own ranks, through taking the risks demanded by a love which transcends the limits set by society or nation. It can do this when there is a renewed commitment to the person of Jesus and an experience of Christ at work in the world and through his people. Karl Rahner’s vision for the future can be achieved only by letting go of the human desire for a manageable and predictable God, and allowing the true God of wonder and mystery to rekindle the faith which inspired the early Christians to take risks in the hope of a redemption through love.
This article first appeared in Spirituality (March-April 1996), a publication of the Irish Dominicans.
