Introductory Story
Who is God? What is His character? Is He for us, or against us? The Gospel alone is able to adequately answer these questions. For Mark, the question of God’s character — “Is He for me or against me?” — was a difficult one to answer. Not because it was difficult to find the answer — Mark was blessed to receive a fine Catholic education — but because it was difficult to believe the answer he found. The image of Jesus Christ crucified showed him a God whose character is mercy and love; who is emphatically “for us” to the very end — to death itself. But if God is so loving and merciful, why does suffering and evil still plague the world? Why didn’t the cross of Jesus Christ end it all at once? The faith told Mark that human freedom is able to resist God’s transforming mercy — and so earthly life is not yet paradise. It is a trial, a testing ground, where we choose our ultimate destiny, and where God’s gifts of love are given gradually, according to a mysterious plan. In this plan, the faith told him, “everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.”[1]
Though Mark believed all this, his fears told him that God was always angry with him, and only wanted him to suffer. The promise of heaven was no real promise — on a certain level, experiencing eternal union with such a God was not genuinely appealing to Mark. It was a gradual journey to remove this fear, and to replace it with the firm belief that God is all-good, all-wise, and all-loving. Through prayer, study, and the sacraments, Mark came to a place of loving trust. God has been faithful to him, and he has persevered in the faith until the present day.
An important landmark on the way was a 54-day rosary novena. Knowing the promise of Jesus that God will answer the prayer of perseverance (see Luke 11:5-13), Mark prayed a rosary each day for a breakthrough in God’s plan for his life. This prayer was answered, and God’s love became more concrete and palpable for him. Now, he believes in God’s love for him and for all, and, despite occasional temptations to doubt, is at peace with the mystery of God’s plan, even when it doesn’t make perfect sense to him.
The Economy of Salvation
What is the “economy of salvation”? The Greek word oikonomia literally means “management of a household” or “stewardship.”[2] The “economy of salvation,” then, refers to the ways in which God, as the Divine Creator and Father, manages His household. It’s about how God stewards His creation towards its fulfillment.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines “the economy of salvation” as “God’s activity in creating and governing the world, particularly with regard to his plan for the salvation of the world in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a plan which is being accomplished through his Body the Church, in its life and sacraments.”[3]
What is God’s plan for the salvation of the world? In the previous courses of this series, we considered various elements of God’s plan. Now we get a chance to go a bit deeper.
Let’s start with a very important truth: God’s plan of salvation reflects His infinite Goodness, Wisdom, and Love. Following the Sacred Scriptures, the Church teaches that God IS HIMSELF GOODNESS, WISDOM, AND LOVE – embracing all that He creates. He can’t do anything that doesn’t flow from this. God is “a good, good Father.” He is merciful and just. He is perfect. Whatever God does, He does well.
The Catholic faith teaches us this, but many of us carry a secret fear in our hearts: that God may not really be all-good, all-wise, and all-loving. There are many reasons we might have this fear. Ultimately, however, this fear is rooted in a lie from the Evil One. It was the Devil who sowed doubt about the goodness of God in the hearts of Adam and Eve (see Genesis 3:1-6), and he still does this today (see 1 Peter 5:8).
This demonic fear can color the way that we see various aspects of Christian teaching. Especially things like evil, the narrowness of the road to salvation, the necessity of the Church, divine judgment, and hell. These are difficult teachings in themselves. But they are important elements of God’s plan of salvation in the Scriptures and the preaching of the Church.
Asking Questions, Seeking Understanding
Since we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we must also believe these difficult things He taught. And so it can be helpful to try to understand them better. We can explore the theology of God’s plan of salvation, and, most importantly, stay close to the Lord in prayer, learning from Him.
Here are some of the theological questions we might ask:
Why the Church? Why must people become part of the Catholic Church? What is it about the life of the Church that is so important — even necessary — for salvation?
And a related question: What about non-Catholics? They are Christian, but not members of the Catholic Church. They practice their faith in certain ways that are contrary to God’s perfect plan – outside the unity, authority, faith, and Sacramental life of the One Church – and most of them both live and die this way. … What do we make of this? Can they be saved?
Another question has to do with non-Christians. Faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation. There are many, though, who through no fault of their own, never get a chance to adequately hear the Gospel and respond to it. Since they have gone without the Son of God in life, must they also — of necessity — be without Him in eternity?
Should we say that all these people, who apparently die outside the one ark of salvation, have therefore, without exception, “died in their sins”?
Other questions concern evil, divine judgment, and the eternal punishment of hell. What role do these play in God’s plan of salvation?
“How inscrutable His ways”
In this fifth course of the Theology of Evangelization video series, we will not be able to answer all of these questions fully, but we will try at least to begin to answer them. And we will strive to do so in the light of the teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and of the Church, and with respect for the mystery of God’s Eternal Wisdom which orders all things.
In his Letter to the Romans (11:32-36), after discussing the mystery of sin, and of the economy of grace by which God calls all to salvation, Saint Paul exclaims:
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
In the end, the economy of salvation is a mystery. It is a plan formed in the heart of God from eternity for our good and for His glory. We’ve all tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord; and as we seek Him, we will do so again. So we don’t need to understand His plan fully, nor can we. We shouldn’t insist that we understand His plan fully before submitting to it. Instead, we should abandon ourselves to the All-Good, All-Wise, and All-Loving God. And then glorify Him in faith – trusting Him that everything that He does, He does well.
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? (Romans 11:33-34)
[1] Saint Catherine of Siena, quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), paragraph #313.
[2] Glossary of the CCC, “Economy of Salvation,” page 876.
[3] Ibid.