Autor: Ormerod, Neil

Buch: Creation, Grace, and Redemption

Titel: Creation, Grace, and Redemption

Stichwort: Gnade - Erfahrung; Konzil von Trient vs. Reformatoren; Thomas: absolute Gewissheit - Zeichen der Gnade

Kurzinhalt: Aquinas distinguishes between an absolute certainty, which is simply not possible, and knowledge "by signs":

Textausschnitt: CAN WE EXPERIENCE GRACE?

123b Given the emphasis we have placed on grace in terms of conversion and its consequences, it may seem a strange question to ask whether we can experience grace. Conversion is a powerful experience, indeed sometimes overpowering, not something one is likely to miss. However, we should also note the following from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Since it belongs to the supernatural order grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified or saved" (CCC no. 2005). There seems to be a suggestion here that grace is not part of our human experience; it is something that "escapes our experience." Should we then cease talking about grace in experiential terms?
123c It is important to identify the concerns that this teaching reflects. The Catechism itself footnotes the teaching of the Council of Trent (DS 1533-34, 1562-63), which was attempting to counter the "brash presumption" of the "heretics" that unless one were certain of being saved, one was not in fact saved. According to the reformers, faith gave one a firm conviction of one's own salvation, and so that conviction or feeling was itself a sure sign of being saved. The council fathers did not accept this position, perhaps fearing the ways in which human self-deception might misuse it:

If anyone shall say that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us-anathema sit. (Fs)

If anyone shall say that in order to obtain the remission of sins it is necessary for every man to believe with certainty and without hesitation on account of his own weakness and indisposition that his sins are forgiven him-anathema sit. (DS 1562-3)1

124a Such a conclusions is in itself unexceptional, but coupled with a theology that thought of grace as extrinsic to human nature, a theology that could not provide an integrated account of human ends deduced from this position of Trent that grace was completely outside the range of human experience. While this was not a valid conclusion to draw from that teaching, it became an entrenched position in Catholic theology. Grace became like a heavenly bank account, "out there," beyond our mundane existence with little or no impact on our day-to-day existence. As a consequence, the vital connection between grace and conversion and the Augustinian insight on the healing nature of grace were largely lost. Among other things this led to bad pastoral practice, especially in relation to the sacrament of confession. (Fs)

124b It is instructive, then to turn to Aquinas to see how he deals with the question whether one can know that one has grace (STI-II q. 112, a. 5). Aquinas distinguishes between an absolute certainty, which is simply not possible, and knowledge "by signs":

Things are known conjecturally by signs; and thus anyone may know he has grace, when he is conscious of delighting in God, and of despising worldly things, and inasmuch as a man is not conscious of any mortal sin ... because whoever receives [grace] knows by experiencing a certain sweetness, which he who does not receive it, does not experience. (Fs)

124c It is clear from this that Aquinas held that we do in fact experience grace, as a "certain sweetness" or what Augustine would call "delight," and that this leads to a level of self-knowledge, though not absolute certainty. To some extent this is acknowledged also in the Catechism when it goes on to conclude: However, according to the Lord's words-"Thus you will know them by their fruits"-reflection on God's blessing in our life and in the lives of saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty. (CCC no. 2005)

124d So we may conclude that we can indeed experience grace, though it always retains an element of mystery. After an initial conversion experience, it becomes more and more an undercurrent in our lives, an unseen presence, a consolation in hard times, a delight in the truly good, difficult to pin down as it becomes more and more integrated into the fabric of our life. (Fs)