Presence as Sacrament

Schillebeeckx sees man as "a process of becoming man." (19) He sees him as a historical being, who becomes what he is meant to be in relationship with others. For "man is with himself, present to himself, a person, only when he is present to something else, and especially when he is present to someone else." (20)

Man's interactions with others have a divine and a human dimension. On the divine level, there is his relationship with God, in which God has the initiative. By his very nature, man longs for personal encounter with God, yet he is free to answer or not to answer God's call. When he does open up, he is in a state of sanctifying grace which may be defined, according to Schillebeeckx, as "the relation of reciprocity between God and man. (21)

On the human level, man needs contacts with his fellow men. These contacts proceed in and through man's bodiliness, because when a man affects another man in a truly human way, this is necessarily done through his body, which is a sign of his full human life.

These human contacts of persons among themselves are signs of something greater. According to Schillebeeckx, "human relationships in this world have a sacramental meaning: that of the offer of God's gift of salvation in a sacramental form." (22)

If human relationships have a sacramental meaning, it is because they are a sign of God's offer of salvation, and if they have a value in our lives, it is because Christ gave them a sacra-mental value. Christ, in His humanity, is a link between our vertical relationships with God and our horizontal relationships with our fellow-men.

Christians believe that God sent His only Son as a proof of His love for the world. Through faith, they know that Jesus is the Word of God; He is also the Word who came to tell us that God is love. Moreover, " …the man Jesus is personally a dialogue with God the Father; the supreme realization and therefore the norm and the source of every encounter with God." (23) Since we are speaking of sacrament as an effective sign of grace, we can say, therefore, that Christ is, for us, a sacrament of the love of God.

During His life, Christ was present in visible form to all those who were living with Him. His presence had a transforming effect on the lives of His disciples and of all those who came in contact with Him. Not only did He cure the lame and heal the physically ill but He also worked miracles in the souls of those who believed in Him. Sinners became apostles, doubters were granted a strong faith, and those who suffered were comforted.

Now that Christ is risen, the world is no longer gifted with His physical presence, but His spiritual presence is still at work in his Church--that is, in the community of believers as well as in the Eucharist. It is not less personal presence than that which the disciples of Emmaus ex- perienced and which made their hearts burn with longing to see Him again and to do something for Him. For believers, contact with the man Christ occurs in the Church. This means that for most Christians, "growth in religious intercourse with God will go together with a personal growth in the already given religious community of human beings, the Church." (24)

Presence as Gift

What are the qualities of the love that Christians should have for one another? What are the conditions under which man will become more himself as a result of his interacting with his fellow-men? Schillebeeckx says that this development will take place in a dialogue, which is the material and verbal revelation of the other. All human contacts occur through one's bodiliness which is the expression of one's inwardness, yet this expression is often ambiguous. We cannot re-ally know what is inside another person's mind unless that person chooses to disclose himself to us. And even this disclosure can be accepted or rejected, so that is through an act of trust in the other's verbal revelation that we can begin to grow, that is, to change our perception of reality. One's growth in a human community, therefore, takes place in a context of self-revelation and of acceptance, that is, of listening surrender, and this process is essentially the same as that which takes place in one's relationship with God. It is by freely opening up to God and neighbour that man works out his salvation.

What is the word that comes to us in our conversations and calls us to new life? Gregory Baum says that:

The Christian who has met the Word of God in Scripture and who experiences life with presuppositions determined by his faith recognizes this special word available in human dialogue as God's Word present in history. (25)

In sum, while the non-Christian may hold that the word which summons a man to become more truly human is a gift of man to man, the believer holds that there is more in the interaction of two human beings than just the two persons involved. He perceives in the relationship a gift which surpasses him, for it seems to him that people give more than what they have. All human relationships are ambiguous, yet somehow, in spite of the ambiguity, growth takes place. Man needs others to become himself. He receives from them what is offered from beyond them. The Christian, through faith, discerns in this gift the saving presence of God. The gift that helps a man to go beyond himself, to transcend his limitations, is ultimately, according to Christian theology, God Himself -- the Holy Spirit. Thus we can say that God is redemptively involved in man's making of man.

Implications for Community

From the question that was posed, at the beginning of this essay, on presence as a condition to growth and as a sign of God's love, we could draw out many implications for human relationships, and especially for life in community.

Growth is a never-ending process. In every walk of life, man needs to grow, that is, to change his perception of the world and of himself. Man needs others in order to be himself, and in today's technical society, which is making him less than human, he seeks the companionship of others to provide meaningful encounters. People in our global village seek for community in many forms, from the Kibbutz to the Basic Christian Communities. But just as marriage does not always bridge the gap that separates two solitudes, so community life does not always provide meaningful encounters. Yet, reflecting on the role of presence, as well as experiencing the benefits of a genuine presence, cannot but provide hope.

What are communities for, if not to be witnesses of Christian life, not only in the eschatological sense, but as a here-and-now sign of the love of God. If members are truly present to one another, it should reinforce them to be present to the world, and to be dynamic signs of God's love.

(19)Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter With God, London, Sheed and Ward, 1966, p. 19.

(20)Ibid., p. 19.

(21)Edward Schillebeeckx, God and Man, London, Sheed and Ward, 1969, p. 185.

(22)Ibid., p. 195.

(23)Schillebeeckx,Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter with God, p. 18.

(24)Schillebeeckx, God and Man, p. 197.

(25)Baum, Man Becoming, p. 55.