by Father Ignatius John Schweitzer, OP (Sept 14, 2023)
The theme of “attunement” guided our ecumenical dialogue from the beginning and enabled us to think beyond just a lowest-common-denominator of what we have in common to ponder the fullness of what God calls us to as Christians. It also sets Christ at the center of things as he is the one to whom we seek to attune our lives and thoughts, and this is always a progressive reality and endeavor. In recognizing others as Christians, we recognize an assimilation to the Lord Jesus that is accomplished in a fundamental way but is still coming to maturity. Christian existence entails the eschatological already and not yet, as a reality already possessed but not yet all that it will be. Recognizing the radically pilgrim-quality of what it means to be Christian enables us to look at others as authentically Christian even while they may be lacking something since we see even in ourselves this dynamic of lack and progressing toward a final goal.
The Catholic Church uses the language of “fullness of truth” to describe what she has in Jesus Christ, the definitive revelation of God, and this is reflected in the Church’s belief that her teachings do not lack any core or fundamental element concerning the mystery of Christ. Elements such as the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Sacraments, the Mother of God, the Petrine ministry, and the Church all have to do with the fullness of the mystery of Christ and how we share in it today. What may first appear as just a claim of superiority in speaking of the fullness of truth is actually a way of recognizing and affirming what is true, good, and beautiful in other Christian communions through the language of degrees of fullness, rather than just speaking in terms of true or false. Moreover, it is not forgotten that we all stand before the inexhaustible mystery of God and so we can help one another. What can strike some as an unnecessary claim of preeminence in regards to the fullness of truth is simply the Church trying to remain faithful to what Christ has entrusted to “the church of the living God, a pillar and bulwark of truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Even with this claim, the Church recognizes that we are all on a pilgrim journey into the truth of the mystery of Christ and this full assimilation and attunement culminates only in heaven.
The Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on Divine Revelation notes the Church’s own progression into this fullness of truth and that “there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down” (Dei Verbum 8). The process by which the Council formed its documents shows this growth and is furthermore a wonderful witness to the ecumenical age we are now in, as the influence of Protestant theologians helped shape the Council’s doctrinal expression. One striking example of this is recounted by Joseph Ratzinger in his 1968 commentary on the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, where he notes “it becomes clear how much Catholic theology has benefited in the last fifty years from the theology of Karl Barth, which itself was influenced by the personalist thinking of Ebner, Buber, and others” (Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. 3, ed. Vorgrimler [1968], 170). This is Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, commenting on a document he helped compose, and recognizing the contribution of a staunch Protestant in aiding the formulation of an official document of the Catholic Church at the highest level of her teaching! This is a great sign of hope and illustrates the enrichment that can happen through the sharing of gifts. It shows that it really does happen, even at the highest levels, and that our growth into the fullness of truth, which has been given to us in Christ, is strengthened by our growing in unity with one another.
Yet the deeper penetration of the truth is only part of the picture. What is ultimately sought is an attunement of our whole lives and being to Christ, not simply knowing the truth but also “doing the truth” (1 Jn. 1:6; Jn. 3:21). As Evangelicals and Catholics share in the profession of key truths, we even more radically share the same life of Christ within us. To be a Christian is to manifest Jesus, his self-emptying love, and the victory of his risen life, “being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested” (2 Cor. 4:11). Even as we struggle on towards full maturity, we already have Christ within us as a gift received, “struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within,” for it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27-29). We are already one with Christ but we do not yet enjoy the perfection of that union. Our recognition of each other as Christians entails this recognition of Christ in the other as a gift given and still coming to perfection.
We cannot always put into words the beauty of Christ, the interior spirit of the Beatitudes, or “the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor 2:15) that we perceive in the other. We intuit this with the instinct of faith animated by love, so that our sympathetic disposition and attitude toward another effects our ability to see Christ at work in the other. There is a call to repentance here. Our very closedness to others and lack of love and humility can prevent us from both seeing them as Christians and allowing Christ to speak and show himself to us through them.
There is, moreover, a progressive attunement in our seeking unity among all Christians. The efforts toward Christian unity are not just successful at the endpoint, when all are perfectly one in terms of teaching, sacraments, structure, and love. There is a gradual progression that requires small steps of growth in order for God’s purposes to be more fully realized. All Christians should prayerfully ponder what their role can be in this work of unity, however small it may seem (cf. Jn 17:20-23).
There may be things that God wishes to accomplish on a large scale that require more unity than we have now. For a work of God to be widespread and long-lasting, it almost by definition needs to stretch out over many people and communities. Pockets of powerful revival among Christian communities, here and there, awaken us to such marvelous works of God as real possibilities as salvation history continues today. With greater attunement among Christian communities, we will be more attentive and sensitive to what the Lord is doing in Christian communities not our own, which will stir us to cooperate with special seasons of God’s grace and outpourings—catching and riding the wave of revival with the others. A significant change of our whole culture could occur within months if there were such a sensitive attunement to the work of God, revival spreading to one local Christian community after another until the Lord has renewed the face of the earth. We feel the urgent need, then, because of the hope of God’s marvelous plans, to take even small steps toward greater Christian unity so we will be more of a whole people of God docile and attuned to the work and movements of the Holy Spirit.