Salvation Through the Church

Extract

‘The Church,’ said an ancient writer, ‘was created first o£ all, and for Her sake was the world made.’ Nowadays we seem to have lost much of that lofty sense, that divine view, of the Church in the purposes of God. We tend to consider Her empirically only, as one sect among many, as one section only of the human race. It is one of the functions of the revival of ecclesiology—of that branch of theology which treats of the nature and purpose of the Church —to restore that ancient sense of the Catholicity of the Church, the all-embracing society of redeemed humanity, the Kingdom of God on earth.

Amongst recent literature on the Church, Catholicisme; les Aspects Sociaux du Dogme, by Henry de Lubac, S.J., is of first importance. Based entirely upon the living theology of the Fathers, this excellent book gives a comprehensive account of the social implications of Catholicism. In an important chapter, Le Salut par I’Eglise, Father de Lubac recalls to mind the fact that mankind is naturally and instinctively a social organism, living a single, simple life; disunion and discord, the cancerous growths of sin, have rent asunder this unity, which was a spiritual harmony rooted in the love of God, and its restoration is only possible now, in the existing state of things, through Christ and His Church. ‘Seul I’Idéal que le Christ a transmis a son Eglise est assez pur et assez puissant. . . pour inspirer aux hommes de travailler a leur unité spirituelle, comme seul le Sacrifice de son Sang peut donner l’efficace leur travail.’