If someone ought to argue that the sacraments are just part of a generally graced world, i.e. the world is full of grace and so are the sacraments, I’m afraid they would be misguided in their statement. In fact, it is the case that Scripture says, “the world is in the hands of the Evil One” (1 Jn 5:19), and Christ, through the sacraments, comes with a mission of a different order—He came “in person to found ‘the new world’” (de Lubac, 166). By the mercy of God, through the forgiveness of our sins, Christ came to give us the knowledge of salvation. He came to show the way for every person to enter into a state of grace and leave behind the old man in order to attain salvation. Thus, it is not the case that the world is full of grace, it is rather filled with the Evil One and his offer of destruction. Christ offers the grace that is not of this world in order to free us from the snares of the Devil and bring us to eternal life.
Human beings are both created and sinful by our nature, and it is “always in fact the sinful man who is gratuitously called to conversion, to the divine life: and it is always in fact this divine life which is gratuitously given him along with the pardon for his sins” (168). Grace itself is God’s invitation to share in His divine life and, thus, it is something other than this world,—it is “a way out”—offered through His great gift of Himself and not to be found in this world. Grace is, therefore, wholly other-worldly; it is a transcendent state of being that only the Lord can offer and we are graciously given the opportunity to accept it in order to enter into this state. By sinning, we refuse this invitation and reject the grace that was offered to us (169). It is only through this invitation and our willing acceptance of the invitation that we receive grace. Therefore, the world does not offer grace and we do not live in a grace-filled world, rather we receive this grace through the sacraments and from God’s own invitation to enter a state that we do not naturally experience nor do we ever enter into without Him.
Going further, the natural world does not offer grace and if we try to look for it in the world, we will undoubtedly fail. De Lubac writes, we can attempt to seek the remedy for sin in natural religion, however, we will never find a remedy. “This remedy is given to us by the central doctrine of Christ the Redeemer… Thus, ‘revelation begins at the point where natural religion falters” (169). It is through this remedy for sin that we are offered once again the opportunity to enter into divine life and it is in and through the sacraments, instituted by Christ Himself, where this invitation lies and, thus, where grace abounds. Therefore, it is only through the sacraments that redemption is found. Through the grace found in the sacraments, we enter into the divine life and the hope of a perpetual state of grace in the next life is re-opened up to us.
It is often the case, as de Lubac notes, that this idea that we can become like God without God—in other words, receive grace from the world and therefore be divinized without the help of our Lord—is the understanding some people have these days in regards to man’s salvation. However, Yves de Montcheuil writes that “Jesus does not speak of the evils in the social order as springing from a social disorder which could be overcome by means proper to that social order.” He continues, “Human dignity and human justice, separated from God, end by becoming corrupt” (164). The world is permeated with sin, not with grace. It is only through God that grace is given and salvation can be gained, which is why, as Pope St. John Paul II writes, “The Church has a duty to proclaim liberation to millions of human beings…but she also has the corresponding duty of proclaiming this liberation in its full and deep meaning, as Jesus announced it and brought it about.” This freedom—this grace—is found only in “the joy of knowing God and being known by him” through “reconciliation [with Him] and pardon” by Him (165). Therefore, it would be a great misunderstanding to dissociate man’s salvation with God and His infinite grace. Furthermore, it would be incorrect to assume that His grace is something the world offers rather than gifted by God Himself wholly apart from this world.
Works Cited
Lubac, Henri de. A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1984.