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Christ's grace and non Christians: Viis sibi notis (Ad gentes, n. 7); Modo Deo cognito (Gaudium et spes, n. 22)
Having established this picture of doctrinal reference, we come now to two questions. The first concerns the significance and value of those paths, known only to God, through which grace is poured into the hearts of non Christians. The second question concerns certain epistemological reflections on interreligious dialogue.
However paradoxical it may appear, the affirmation of the Church as a universal sacrament of salvation, is in harmony with the other biblical affirmation about God's universal salvific will (cf. 1 Timothy, 2, 4-6). John Paul II states «It is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for salvation» (John Paul II, Redemptoris missio, n. 9).
We may ask: does the possibility of salvation for all with reference to Christ and the Church actually exist? and if so, how does this possible communication happen?
With regard to the possibility of salvation, DI, referring to conciliar and papal magisterium, asserts its actual existence. Even for those who are not members of the Church, «salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church» (DI n. 20, refers both to Redemptoris missio, n. 10, and to Ad gentes, n. 2).
This is a gift of the Triune God, which comes from Christ, and is the fruit of His sacrifice and is communicated by the Spirit of the Risen Christ, according to the plan of the Father. It is a grace which, by means of the Church, extends the fruits of Christ's redemptive sacrifice to all humanity. It is also a grace which, accommodated to their spiritual and material situation, truly illuminates non Christians (cfr DI n. 20). This means that Trinitarian grace pours into their hearts mysterious but real and correct discernment with regard to the truth and goodness, enabling them to follow what is true and to do what is good. And this discernment regards both their personal life and their life of relationship and communion with others.
The Eucharistic sacrifice is the daily offering which the Church makes to the Father so that the truth of the Gospel may illuminate all peoples. Not only through missio ad gentes, but also through prayer, the Church intercedes with the Father that the redemption worked by His Son may reach and convert the hearts and minds of all human beings.
Having confirmed the possible existence of this grace, we can reflect more deeply on the ways of communication and reception of this mysterious Trinitarian grace, which the Spirit of the Risen Christ, actualises in the Church's Eucharistic sacrifice.
On this matter DI says «the Second Vatican Council limited itself to the statement that God bestows it “in ways known to himself”» (DI n. 21), and makes explicit mention of the decree Ad gentes n. 7, which places the statement in a clear ecclesiological context: «Therefore though God in ways known to Himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to find that faith without which it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6), yet a necessity lies upon the Church (1 Cor. 9:16), and at the same time a sacred duty, to preach the Gospel. And hence missionary activity today as always retains its power and necessity.» (Ad gentes, n. 7).
Actually, we can add that, at least one other conciliar passage contains an affirmation analogous to Ad gentes n. 7. The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, in a Christological context, which refers to Christ's grace, who works invisibly not only in Christians but also in the hearts of all men and women of good will, declares: «For, since Christ died for all men,(“modo Deo cognito”), and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.» (Gaudium et spes, n. 22).
Certainly theology would not dare to investigate the mind of God. It can, however, seek to understand what the Council fathers wished to say with the expressions: viis sibi notis (Ad gentes, n. 7) e modo Deo cognito (Gaudium et spes, n. 22).
Examining the Acta Synodalia we learn that the Council made no few statements, explicit and implicit, with regard to the ways of salvation for non Christians, all, however, related to the unique plan for salvation willed and actuated by God in the mystery of Christ.
The Council affirms explicitly that the ways of salvation for non Christians are at least four:
1. being a member of the Church (Dignitatis humanae, n. 1; Ad gentes, n. 7);
2. all humanity ordered to the Church (Lumen gentium, 13d);
3. right and true judgements of conscience (Dignitatis humanae, n. 3; Lumen gentium, n. 16);
4. love good and avoid evil (Gaudium et spes, n. 16.17).
But the Council makes also implicit mention of other ways of salvation for non Christians when it speaks of viis sibi notis and modo Deo cognito. From the development of the drafting of these texts it emerges that for the Council Fathers, the ways unknown to us but known to God, are the following: adhesion to the truth and coherence between faith and life (cfr F. Fernandez, In ways known to God. A theological investigation on the ways of Salvation spoken of in Vatican II, Vendrame Institute Publications, Shillong, 1996).
The Declaration on religious freedom, in a context therefore of defence of human freedom, but not of man's indifference with regard to what is true or false, after reaffirming the subsistence of the true religion in the Catholic Church, and after underlining that it is the duty of every person to seek the truth, affirms: «This Vatican Council likewise professes its belief that it is upon the human conscience that these obligations fall and exert their binding force. The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power.» (Dignitatis humanae, n. 1).
The search for the truth is a way of salvation, because a man who seeks to form an upright conscience, allows himself to be guided by the objective norms of morality (cfr Gaudium et spes, n. 16). This becomes even more clear, if we consider that God enables man to participate in these norms, with the result that, under the gentle disposition of divine Providence, he can come to perceive ever more fully the truth that is unchanging. Seeking the truth, man manifests his total obedience to the will of God (cfr Dignitatis humanae, n. 3).
Another implicit affirmation on the ways of salvation, can be grasped from the Council's rejection of dichotomy between the faith professed and daily life. The most serious danger for a Christian is a «split» (discidium illud inter fidem quam profitentur et vitam quotidianam multorum), which is a threat to salvation. Hence the warning, the «Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbour and even God, and jeopardises his eternal salvation» (Gaudium et spes, n. 43).
This statement is to be related with what the Council says on the Church's relations with non Christians: «Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience» (Lumen gentium, n. 16). If for the Christian inconsonance between faith and life can be a cause of non salvation, for the non Christian striving for harmony of upright life can lead to salvation. In both is present divine grace, ineffective in the one and salvifically effective in the other. (5-to be continued) (Agenzia Fides 7/3/2008; righe 111, parole 1425)
