In my column for the forthcoming March edition of The Catholic Herald, I suggest some themes to contemplate during Lent through the narratives of several Catholic novels. But preparation and reading for Lent need not be limited to Catholic authors. As Lumen Gentium puts it, “many elements of sanctification and truth are found outside of [the Church’s] visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity”. For Lenten reflection and discipline, Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is among the finest of those gifts.
Born in 1906, Bonhoeffer was a German theologian active in the “Confessing Church”, an ecumenical group of Christians united in resistance to the so-called Deutsche Christen movement, a perversion of Christianity that supported the vile theories and practices of Nazism. Bonhoeffer was implicated in a 1943 plot to assassinate Hitler (though the historical record is unclear about his direct involvement), imprisoned by the Gestapo, and executed by hanging on 9 April 1945, mere weeks before Germany was defeated by the allied forces. Bonhoeffer was a remarkably prolific author in his short life, especially considering the precariousness of his largely underground existence. His most enduring work is the classic book, Discipleship, which makes for ideal Lenten reading for Catholics. (Some readers may be familiar with the book under the title, The Cost of Discipleship from the original 1959 translation. In 2001, Fortress Press issued a new translation, keeping the title closer to the German, Nachfolge.)
“Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church”, begins chapter one of Discipleship. “Our struggle today is for costly grace”.
For purposes of Lenten reflection and discipline two themes (among many) are especially helpful: the problem of “cheap grace” and the call for Christians to bear the sins of others.
“Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church”, begins chapter one of Discipleship. “Our struggle today is for costly grace”. As noted above, Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran, but his discussion of costly grace is highly inflected by a Catholic understanding of the work of grace and the cooperation of the sinner. In fact, a certain irony emerges later in the chapter when Bonhoeffer attempts to rescue Martin Luther from being the progenitor of the problem of “cheap grace”, an attempt that, in my judgment fails. In other words, Bonhoeffer’s reflection on grace brought him closer to a Catholic understanding than Luther’s own.
For example, Bonhoeffer explains that “Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner”. It is “a baptism without the discipline of community; it is the Lord’s Supper without confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession”. And summarising the problem of cheap grace, he concludes, “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the living incarnate Jesus Christ”. This transactional view of grace that Bonhoeffer condemns is the theology that Luther wrought. But it is also the “grace” that too many of us Catholics at least implicitly embrace. And Lent is a good time to think about amending those tendencies. It is a time, broadly speaking, of mortification: of a reminder that grace was costly for Christ, and it calls us to participate in that cost in our own moral and spiritual lives.
Bonhoeffer contrasts this with the costly grace of the Gospel. This is a grace “which must be sought again and again, the gift which has to be asked for, the door at which one has to knock”. It is “costly because it forces us under the yoke of following Jesus Christ”, explains Bonhoeffer; it is grace because Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”. This is grace that requires active, persistent, and prayerful participation of the sinner; a grace that recognises that the call to discipleship is a call to participate in the suffering of Christ. It is grace by which we join Jesus in the desert, in the garden, before Pilate, stumbling under the burden of the cross along the Via Dolorosa, and on the cross suffering for—and assuming the sins of—others.
Bonhoeffer explains that “Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner”. It is “a baptism without the discipline of community; it is the Lord’s Supper without confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession”
This introduces a second theme of Discipleship. In the most famous sentence of the book, Bonhoeffer says, “Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads to death”. Of course, we all understand that this entails dying to ourselves, so that we might live for Christ—or rather that Christ might live through us. But Bonhoeffer suggests a deeper meaning of this call to death. We are not only to die to ourselves, but for others. If we take seriously our participation in the crucifixion of Christ, it must follow that we participate in bearing the sin of our brothers and sisters. As Bonhoeffer puts it, “Christians become bearers of sin and guilt for other people”. We do this by, in the words of the Lord’s prayer, forgiving those who have offended us. “Forgiving sins is the Christ-suffering required of his disciples”.
Thus does this Lutheran martyr call us Catholics more deeply to contemplate the purpose of Lent in particular and our moral lives more generally. Rather than giving up trivialities for Lent, we are called to take upon ourselves the greatest of burdens. But it is a burden—by the costly grace of the crucifixion—for which Christ himself prepares us.
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