In his 1966 book The Church Inside Out, J. C. Hoekendijk noted that various churches allow intercommunion in what are considered abnormal situations. The traditional language that applied to such practices was for situations considered to be “in extreme.” (in extremis). Roman Catholic theology traditionally applied the notion of in extremis to situations near death where one had passed a point of no return, but Hoekendijk noted that the concept was also applied to missionary contexts and to times of social crisis. Hoekendijk went on to argue that the current social context was such a situation of in extremis that called for us to engage in ecclesiastical actions otherwise considered irregular. Following Hoekendijk’s own arguments elsewhere in the book, however, I argue that it is not the times we are living through that are in extremis. Rather, it is the nature of the Gospel itself to render any age or context in extremis.