Elsewhere I’ve given some thoughts on the Gospel claim that “those who do the truth come to the light” (Jn 3:21). I’ve also given some thoughts on our actual economy of salvation. I think both of these themes are very important for the contemplative in the world.

All those who do the truth are already living, in the manner that their life is truly oriented towards the Truth, gifts of grace. There is an inner dynamic in that living. It really and truly has as its term a visible or manifest “coming to the light” – whether in this life or the life to come, all grace tends, by itself, towards clear, unmistakeable integration into Christ’s Body, which is the Church, which is the Gentile graft onto and the unbroken branches of the root of Israel. Why? So that we can look and see and not miss the fact that this has been God’s plan: to draw all to himself (see Jn 12:32), to make it clear that what has been done that is true has been done in God (see Jn 3:21 or this post).

Meanwhile, we know that – as Vatican II and the whole of the Catholic tradition teach – the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.

What is the relationship of the Eucharist to non-Christians, or to Christians who may be dissident, in our actual economy of salvation, where the Church is centred upon the Eucharist? If we are living a Eucharistic life in the world, a contemplative life in the world, or a Christian life in the world, this question has a certain immediacy. How do the two poles go together: Eucharist and neighbours? Charles Journet writes,

It must be said that, in the Christian economy of salvation, nonsacramental grace is itself salvific only because it is a distant anticipation of eucharistic grace…

In other words, in the Christian economy of salvation, the Mystical Body, which is formed around the Eucharist, is itself the centre of convergence of all the grace bestowed on the world – even the graces that sanctify but are not sacramental – so that, if the Mystical Body were ever to disappear (which in reality is impossible), all graces would disappear at the same time. Hence it is impossible to conceive of the salvation of the world without the Eucharist and the grace that flows from it.

The Church, which is the Mystical Body, has a heart of love, and all its life is the life of grace. It is entirely a grace: a gratuitous gift for Israel to be chosen, a gratuitous gift for the gentiles to be grafted on. At the centre is, of course, the Eucharist. At the centre is God; at the centre is the Cross; at the centre is heaven.

Where there exist non-Christians accepting God’s knocking at their doors, it must be that the knocking, knocking, knocking – the unceasing invitation from Jesus – is fundamentally oriented towards an unmistakeable inclusion in the Church. It is not to justify or give value to the human good in itself. It is for the greater good which is the Church, a created person of the order of grace, a true miracle, a true miracle centred on the Love of God and on its manifestation in the Eucharist. It is for the sake of all, not just for the sake of the one outside the Church, that grace is offered to those outside the Church. The law is no different for Christians and for non-Christians: we are given grace for ourselves and for the sake of whole Body.

The lines of the community of grace cut across our hearts. We are not always sure where the lines are drawn. But God’s plan is that the lines become manifest. God’s plan is that all that is hidden, but true, come to the light; and for that, the Eucharist is the orientation, the source, and the summit in this world.

What a wonderful inner dynamic that we cannot judge from afar! We can only live it, in, through, and by God, who is Love. We can only love and live the Eucharist, and love and live with our neighbours.