Conference at Post Falls, Idaho
7 October 1986

WHAT IS ECUMENISM? It presents itself as a search for unity among all Christian denominations, and even among all religions.

At first sight, this seems a praiseworthy goal: unity is good. Our Lord prayed for unity and so ecumenism seems good, and many engulf themselves in this movement without looking further.

Unfortunately for them, there is a true unity and a false unity. In order not to be misled, it is useful and necessary to contemplate the unity of the Church, as Our Lord has made it, as God has made it. It will then appear clearly that the unity of the Church has existed since the beginning of the Church—it is not to be made, to be searched for—it already exists! Secondly, it will appear that the unity of the Church is a divine, supernatural unity, not a humanist unity. Thirdly, it will appear that the unity of the Church is the fruit of divine and supernatural means, not of human means.

Thus we shall understand that the spirit of the Church is a missionary spirit, fruit of a living faith, incorporating souls into the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ; it is not an ecumenical spirit, dialoguing with all religions on an equal footing unto a humanistic union of all religions.

Unity of the Church

Let us first see the unity of the Church. What is the unity of the Church? To answer this question, we have to contemplate the nature of the Church. What is the Church? Well, if you read the epistles of St. Paul, especially his epistle to the Ephesians, you will see that St. Paul makes two comparisons. First, he says Christ is the Head and the Church is His Body, the Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ; and the second comparison is that of a marriage. Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. In both cases there is a unity and a certain mystery of charity, a mystery of love.

In order to understand deeper this unity of the Church, we have to go to its model. The model of the unity of the Church, which one is it? You have to lift up your eyes over all that is created, lift up your eyes in the very bosom of the Most Holy Trinity: the unity of Three Persons in One God.

Unity in the Holy Trinity

What is God? God, my dear people, Deus caritas est—God is charity. This little word is apt to give us an insight into the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is so much above our frail human understanding that our human words are very inadequate. They are unable, inept, in adequately describing such a sublime mystery. However, God deigned to reveal Himself to us, and these words of St. John—Deus caritas est—will help us to understand a little more this mystery of charity.

What is charity? Charity is the love of God. What is love? Well, St. Thomas gives us two characteristics of love. The first one is to give, to give oneself to another, to give up self. The second characteristic is to make union. In a marriage, true love is a continual relation of giving oneself as much as one can; that makes for true unity in a marriage; true love of husband and wife makes a good, united marriage. But marriage is just at the human level, and the divine level is so much above! God the Father gives to His Son everything, communicates to His Son all His divine attributes; there is nothing that God the Father has that He does not communicate to His Son. Our Lord says: "The Father has life in Himself, and He gave to His Son to have life in Himself." You see, He not only gave Him life, but He gave Him to be the source of life, to have Life in Himself. And Our Lord said again: "All that the Father hath are Mine." There is nothing that the Father did not communicate to His Son, there is not one divine attribute that belongs to the Father and not to the Son; all the divine nature that the Father has, He gave to the Son, so that the Son is perfectly equal to the Father. And again, the Father and the Son still communicate their divinity to the Holy Ghost without any reserve. The mystery is complete with these two communications of the Divine Nature, the Father giving His divinity to His Son, and the Father and the Son giving the divinity to the Holy Ghost. These gifts are so perfect that the Three Divine Persons are absolutely equal. God is Charity. These communications of the Divine Nature in the bosom of the Holy Trinity belong to the very nature of God. Thus, the first aspect of charity is the gift of self.

The second aspect of charity is making union. St. Thomas says: "Amor est vis unitiva—love is a unifying power." In God the love of God, the divine charity, makes such a union between the Three Persons that there is One God, one Divine Substance. Three Persons in One God: mystery of perfect gift and mystery of perfect unity—that is the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

Our little human words, as I said, fail because when we use the word "giving" it implies a certain freedom. We are free to give or not to give, but in God, God the Father is not free to communicate His divinity to His Son, it is a communication that is above freedom, it is the very nature of the Father to give His nature to His Son. A man is not a father unless he has given humanity to his son, and so God the Father is Father because He has given His divinity to His Son; it is the very nature of the Father to give to His Son His divinity. And then it is the very nature of the Father and the Son to communicate their divinity to the Holy Ghost; it is their very nature and it is above freedom, it is impossible that the Father does not communicate His divinity to His Son, it is impossible that the Father and the Son do not communicate their divinity to the Holy Ghost. And also it is impossible that the Father does not love His Son, the Father loves His Son, this love is above freedom. The Father and the Son love the Holy Ghost and this love is above freedom. You see, even the saints in heaven, where hopefully you will be, when you see God as He is, you will no longer be free to accept or reject Him. You will know God above freedom, you will be so captivated by the Divine Infinite Goodness that it will be impossible for you not to love God, that is what makes this union with God eternal. So, this is the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery of complete perfect, divine, infinite communication, the mystery of perfect, divine, infinite, absolutely simple unity of the Three Persons in One God.

Unity in the Incarnation

Now this wonderful mystery that all our human words are so inept to describe, God decided to manifest, to glorify. Thus God manifested His giving love, by giving being to all creatures, by giving life to plants, animals, and men, by giving a spiritual life to men and angels, but there is one creature that God loves above all other creatures, one that He has loved so much that He has united it with Him in the unity of One Person; it is the humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that in Jesus Christ there is One Person and two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. The divine nature of Our Lord is uncreated and exists from all eternity. The human nature of Our Lord was created in the most pure womb of the Blessed Virgin, but there is no human person in Our Lord Jesus Christ, there is only One Person, and it is the Son of God, the Eternal Divine Person. Here again you can see a mystery of giving, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, gave to this human nature, "a Name¹ that is above all names," the Name of Jesus, of the Son of God.

But you might say, "Father, in this mystery of gifts I can see the Divine Nature giving to the human nature its Divine Person, all truth, all perfections above all other creatures, but what did the human nature of Our Lord give to the divine nature?" Well, it is true that the human nature of Our Lord gave only what He had already received from the divine nature, but what is the gift? Our Lord gave His life to restore the honor of His Father, He gave His life in the Sacrifice of the Cross completely and He did not keep anything for Himself, but He gave all. All His human nature was given for the glory of His Father and was sacrificed for the glory of His Father. When "the Word was made flesh," charity came from God to man; when Our Lord offered His Sacrifice and said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," this is the return of charity from mankind to God. By the Sacrifice of Jesus, we returned to God the charity He had for us. This shows how essential the Sacrifice is in our holy religion. This is the second mystery of our faith, the Incarnation, the Divine Nature giving to the human nature to be united to the Word and God, and the human nature given in Sacrifice to the Divine Nature, the mystery of giving and the mystery of unity, two natures in One Person.

Unity in the Redemption

But this mystery of love, mystery of gifts, mystery of unity, did not stop at the human nature of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, it is extended to many souls, and this is the Church, my dear brethren, this is the mystery of the Church! All those who are united with Our Lord Jesus Christ, who have received from Him all grace and truth, and who are united with Him in one body, in one Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that is the mystery of the Church.

Our Lord gave Himself to His Church. St. Paul says it: "Christ loved the Church and delivered Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." Our Lord gave Himself to His Church; in return, the Church (that is, every one of you, my dear brethren), and of all the members of the Church, must give themselves to Him. We must give God the due honor and mostly by the sacrifice of self offered in union with the Sacrifice of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Christ giving Himself to us, we in return giving ourselves to Him. This mutual gift is performed in the unity of one Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is the unity of the Church? As I said, it is the unity of the Mystical Body of Our Lord, all His members sharing His life. Divine Life is coming to us through Our Lord, through His human nature. This life, as I explained in the sermon on Faith (March issue), is the life of faith and charity. Here you have the unity of the Church, as St. Paul describes it, saying: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." The unity of the Church is a unity of faith ("one faith"), unity of government ("one Lord"), unity of sacraments ("one baptism"). This unity of faith is from the beginning of the Church till the end. Faith cannot change. It is now the same as the faith that the Apostles had, that the saints have had, and that we want to have, and that all the good members of the Church will have until the end of the world. One Faith! Here in America, in Rome, in France, in Australia, in India, wherever—one Faith! "One Lord," one government with Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Head, the pope as His vicar, the bishops and priests and the faithful, and within the family, the father who is the head of the family, the mother who is subject to her husband, and the children who are subject to their parents. "One baptism," unity of sacraments; in the history of the Church there has always been seven sacraments, and wherever you are in the world, the Catholic Church has these seven sacraments, whether you are with the Roman Rite, or with the Syrian Rite or the Byzantine Rite—there are seven sacraments.

The Unity of the Church is Not to be Made

This is the unity of the Church, my dear brethren, unity of one life of faith coming from Our Lord through one set of sacraments: "One Faith, One Lord, One Baptism." That unity has always been in the Church. Unity of many members in one Mystical Body, one Body of Jesus Christ. This unity is so great, my dear brethren, that Our Lord will say on the Last Day to those who will go to heaven: "Come to Me, blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world." Why? "Because I was hungry and you gave Me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink. I was homeless and you received Me. I was naked and you clothed Me. I was sick and you visited Me. I was in prison and you came to Me." And the Just will say to Our Lord, "But, Lord, when did we see You sick and in prison, and hungry and provided for You?" And Our Lord will say: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whenever you did these to the least of Mine, to Me you did it." That is the unity of the Mystical Body of Our Lord! When we do something good for our fellow Catholics we do that to Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for the member of His Mystical Body. When we hurt a member of Our Lord, it is the Head, it is Our Lord Himself who says, "to Me you did it." Our Lord will say to those on the left: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels, because I was thirsty and you did not give Me to drink, I was homeless and you did not receive Me, I was hungry and you did not give Me to eat, I was naked and you did not cover Me, I was in prison or sick and you did not visit Me," and the wicked will say to Our Lord: "When did we see You hungry and did not feed You, and so on," and Our Lord will say to them: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you did not do to the least of Mine, to Me you did not do it." This is the same mystery of the unity of the Mystical Body of Our Lord. Again, when St. Paul was persecuting the Church before his conversion, he went on the road to Damascus. A light shone and threw him to the ground and he heard a voice, "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?" And Saul said, "Oh, Lord, who are You?" Our Lord answered, "I am Jesus whom you persecute." By hurting the first Catholics, he hurt Jesus Christ Himself, because they were the members of His Body. Certainly it was because of this word of Our Lord to St. Paul that St. Paul taught this doctrine of the Mystical Body of Our Lord. He understood it because he was converted by these very words. So the unity of the Church is not made for it has been given in the very beginning by Our Lord Jesus Christ to His Church.

When Our Lord prayed for unity in the Church, His prayer was granted. The Father always grants the petitions of His Son. It is inconceivable to think that such a beautiful unity, made by God, would be destroyed by man. When a heretic breaks from the Church, he cuts himself off like a dead branch falls from a tree, but the tree retains its life and unity intact.

1. This gift of a "Name which is above all names," is called "grace of union." It is a "grace" because it is much above the requirements of the human nature, it is a gift (gratia = freely given). However, this grace of union is "substantial" and much above the "sanctifying grace" which is an "accident." There is nothing "arian" in speaking of the grace of union, as St. Thomas did. So much for some calumnies from pretentious unlearned men against Archbishop Lefebvre who spoke of this on June 29, 1976.