Liturgy, sacraments should permeate whole of Christian life

The whole of Christian life is meant to be permeated and marked by the liturgy and the sacraments. The hallmark of the daily Catholic adult life should be that it is a liturgical life.

The reception of these sacraments commits us to live a liturgical life, and this does not mean just going to Mass on Sunday and going to Confession once a year. Each and every day is meant to be a living out of sacramental grace and actual grace. Each and every day there is a wealth of grace available because of the sacraments, and we must respond to them every moment of each day. The question is how this is to be done.

Living the Life

The first thing to realize is that, “the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life.” (CCC 1324) It is the source from which we get the power to live a daily sacramental life, and it is the summit toward which we move as Christians, namely to a more intimate union with Christ. The graces of the sacraments are always available and can be called upon constantly. We are all called to be saints, to be holy men and women. Who are the saints? They are those who responded daily to the graces they received, to God’s life in them.

To live a sacramental life also means to be immersed in the life and prayer of the church. The church’s liturgy is where this is most profoundly done. Full and active participation in the Mass is key. This means being there both in body and in spirit. We must understand where we are, what we are doing and what is really going on in the Mass.

The graces of the Mass are then supposed to be lived out throughout one’s life, as are the graces of all the other sacraments. We should even consider participating in daily Mass.

Liturgy of the Hours

Another way to continually live a sacramental life is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. This prayer is no longer for priests and religious alone. The Second Vatican Council urged us all to pray this prayer of the church. These prayers connect us to the Mass and can help us to extend and respond to the graces received there.

Then there is an entering into liturgical year, which is meant to permeate every day of our lives. The Liturgy of the Hours, which follows the liturgical year, can help us to this.

Our prayer life should reflect our knowledge and participation in the liturgical year. On saints’ memorials, feast days and solemnities, we should ask these saints to intercede for us to help us to respond more fully to the gift of God’s life, which we possess through the sacraments. We need to reflect on the example they give us of responding to grace.

Sacramentals

A further way of living this daily sacramental life is using sacramentals.

The church gives us holy water to remind of our baptism, holy candles to remind us that Christ is the light of the world, and the list could go on.

The devout use of sacramentals is meant to be signs of our worship, and they are meant to be indicative of our intention to receive actual graces and respond to sanctifying grace. So they must not be looked at as something magical, and we should not fall into superstitions with regard to them. For example, if you forget to bless yourself with holy water when you walk into church, it does not mean you are going to go to hell.

All of this means that there must be an intimate connection between our faith, our worship and our daily life. Our faith, worship and daily life must be both public and private, and all of it is meant to be a sacramental living out of our faith. We cannot allow a disconnect between these things. We need to live everyday like we are living in God’s life and responding to God’s life. To live any other way is to live a lie because once we have been baptized we have God’s life in us. To live as if we do not is a lie and a sacrilege.

God’s life in us

Once we have God’s life, it cannot even be taken back, even by God himself. He would not want to take it away; his plan all along was for us to have his life, and to respond to this life on a daily basis, on a moment by moment basis.

The hell of being in mortal sin is that we choose to reject God, yet God does not go anywhere. We decide we do not want God’s life, yet it cannot be erased.

“Where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.” (Romans 5:20)

When we are sinning, God is continually calling us back to himself and giving us the grace we need to do so. Then when we receive the sacrament of reconciliation, our relationship with God is restored, and he increases the grace in us to not commit those very sins that were confessed.

Those who have received the sacrament of matrimony also need to daily ask God to help them respond to the grace of this sacrament. Things might not be made any easier, but there is the grace to persevere in times of difficulty. God has not left us orphans.

We need to learn to see life through the eyes of the church. This will occur as we devote time to personal prayer and as we form our minds and hearts with the Scriptures, Catholic teaching and the liturgical life of the Church.

Central to Christian maturity and this “sacramental outlook” is the renewal of our thinking and attitudes (cf. Romans 12:2). The more we see things as God sees them, the easier it is to recognize his will and follow it. As we pray, read the Sacred Scriptures and seek to live a sacramental life, the Holy Spirit will renew our minds and help us to see everything through the eyes of Christ and his church.

Understanding the sacraments as signs. By Brian Pizzalato

What is a sacrament? A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.”

Does this question and answer sound familiar? It should ring a bell for at least some. It is a question and answer from the Baltimore Catechism.

In this article, I would like to dwell a bit more deeply on the fact that each of the sacraments is a sign. To aid in this, I would like to bring to your attention the thought of Dom Cyprian Vagaggini, OSB, as reflected in his nearly 1,000-page book “Theological Dimensions of the Liturgy” (The Liturgical Press, 1976).

Vagaggini helps us to understand that each of the liturgical signs of the sacraments has four dimensions, which bring together the past, present and future.

The four dimensions of the sacraments as signs are: a sign demonstrative, a moral sign obligating, a sign commemorative and a sign prophetic.

First, each sacrament “is a sign demonstrative of the present invisible sacred realities . . .” (p. 74). Another way of saying this is that each sacrament is an efficacious sign; the visible sign actually effects in us the invisible reality that it signifies.

For example, the visible sign of water in baptism indicates cleansing. When someone is baptized, there is a cleansing of the flesh when the water is poured. But that indicates the cleansing of the person of sin by the invisible reality of Christ’s sanctifying grace being poured into our very being.

We also know that water is necessary for life, but can also bring about death. This natural sign signifies the fact that “we were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Second, each sacrament “is a moral sign obligating even now in the present to the future actions in the life of him who receives the sanctification and renders worship” (p. 74). When we receive the sacraments, we swear to God to a life in imitation of Christ.

St. Paul urges us “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received” (Ephesians 4:1).

Speaking to the Christians in Rome, those who have been baptized, St. Paul also says, “By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness” (Romans 2:5-8).

In relation to the Eucharist, St. Paul says: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also of the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21).

In the sacrament of reconciliation, we swear to God to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. In matrimony, we swear to God to a lifelong fidelity to our spouse and to openness to children. In confirmation, we swear to God to spread and defend the fullness of the Catholic faith in word and deed.

Third, each sacrament “is a sign commemorative of Christ’s saving action, especially of his Passion and death . . .” (p. 74). When we speak of a sign commemorative, this should bring to mind the institution of the Eucharist when Jesus says, “Do this in memory [or remembrance] of me” (Luke 22:19). We must also recall that this was said during the Passover liturgy, and the Passover was said by God to be “. . . a memorial feast for you . . .” (Exodus 12:14).

Scripturally speaking, remembrance is the celebrating of a past event, but not merely as past. When the Passover was celebrated, the past event of the first Passover and exodus from Egypt was celebrated as actually occurring in the present, as a sign of what is to come in the future. So remembrance is a past event, made truly, really and actually present, as a pledge of future glory.

The Passover of the old covenant is brought to fulfillment in the Last Supper and Jesus’ Passion, death, resurrection and ascension. We know that “. . . our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). St. Paul goes on to say, “Therefore let us celebrate the feast . . .” (1 Corinthians 5:8). We too are supposed to “do this in memory of me.”

Therefore, in the Mass the past event of the Last Supper and Christ’s death on the cross is made actually present. We are at the cross of Calvary as much as those in the early first century. This is possible because he who died is now risen and sits on the throne of glory at the right hand of the Father, where time and space no longer have significance.

This also goes for the other sacraments as well. They are all an actual, real participation in the saving action of Christ.

Fourth, each sacrament “is a sign . . . prophetic of the heavenly glory and of the worship in the future Jerusalem” (p. 74). In the New Covenant, each of the sacraments is also a pledge of future glory, not merely a pledge that we sit and await, but a participation in future glory. Christ gives us more than just words about what is to come, he gives us here and now a share in what is to come. Analogously, someone can give you their pledge by saying that they will give you a million dollars in the future, but they can also give you a pledge by giving you a share of what is to come now.

Speaking of baptism, St. Paul says: “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:9-11).

In conclusion, as Vagaggini says, “The liturgical signs . . . gather into one place the whole reality of sacred history, present, past and future” (p. 75). Let us praise God for the glorious gifts of the liturgy and the sacraments.

Covenant, sacraments divinely linked. By Brian Pizzalato

At the Last Supper, Jesus “…took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you’” (Luke 22:19-20).

Here we have Jesus instituting the Eucharist and the sacrament of holy orders, and in this context he definitively links the sacraments to the new covenant.

We must ask what the relationship is between these two seemingly odd words: sacrament and covenant.

In understanding the covenant we discover the deeper meaning of all of the sacraments.

Covenants are how God the Father fathers his family throughout salvation history, beginning with Adam and Eve.

On the seventh day, God covenants himself to Adam and Eve. We are told in the Gospel of Luke that Adam is “the son of God” (3:38). There is an intimate familial relationship established by the covenant.

God the Father continues to father his family by means of the covenant, even after its having been broken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God establishes a covenant with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and finally Jesus. In these succeeding covenants we see God expanding his covenant family until there is a one, holy, catholic (universal) and apostolic Church.

However, one crucial element of covenant-making is oath-swearing. In the Canticle of Zechariah, this is made clear. God has promised to be “mindful of his holy covenant and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father …” (Luke 2:72-73). The amazing thing is that God himself swears oaths, thus binding himself to his children forever.

When one swears an oath there are a few things involved. First, there is the invoking of God’s name, e.g. “I swear to God.” Second, there is an exchange, not of goods and services as in a contract, but an exchange of persons: “I am yours, and you are mine,” or “I will be your God and you will be my people.” Third, unlike a contract, covenants are permanent. Finally, covenants invoke blessings and curses. We see this, for example, when someone says, “so help me God” (blessing), or “I’ll be damned” (curse).

It is interesting that the Hebrew word for swearing an oath is, “sheba.” Sheba literally means “to seven oneself.”

On the seventh day, God covenants himself to humanity when he rests, blesses and makes holy the seventh day, and by that act enters into a covenant with Adam and Eve (cf. Genesis 2:1-3). (Interesting, as well, is the fact that in Hebrew the three sentences that make up Genesis 2:1-3 are each made up of seven Hebrew words).

What connection might this have with the sacraments? The answer lies in realizing that the Latin word for oath is “sacramentum,” from which we get the word sacrament. It also just happens to be the case that Christ instituted seven of these “sacramentum.” So, Christ instituted seven covenant-making, and covenant-renewing, oaths.

Even the Romans could see this connection back in 112 AD when Pliny the Younger, while filing a report to the emperor says, “They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, and they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath (sacramentum), not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up. Afterward, it was their custom to…partake of food, but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”

Of course, he is here describing the Mass. However, the food, though seemingly ordinary to five senses, is none other than the Bread of Life, the flesh and blood of Christ.

Like other oaths, the sacraments involve the invoking of God’s name, an exchange of persons, permanency and blessings and curses.

Let’s take the Eucharist as an example. At the beginning of Mass, we invoke God’s name: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” We have thus put ourselves under oath to fulfill the terms of the covenant.

There is an exchange of persons when the priest says, “The body of Christ” and “the blood of Christ,” and we respond, “Amen” and receive the Lord into our very bodies.

He obviously gives himself to us, and through our “amen” and reception of the Lord we are called to do exactly the same thing. We are to give ourselves as completely to the Lord as he gives himself to us. He gave himself up unto death for us so that we might receive him; so, too, we are called to give ourselves up unto death so that he might receive us. This exchange of the totality of the divine person of Christ and the totality of ourselves is to be permanent.

We know that God cannot break the covenant, but we can. This is where the blessing and curse come to the fore.

Throughout our lives, we are to call upon the blessings of the Lord to aid us in fulfilling the covenant. But when we do not keep the covenant, when we do not live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called in Christ, the covenant curses come to bear upon us.

St. Paul makes this clear when he says: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).

In the sacraments we swear to God that we believe, and that we will live a faithful life to the Lord, giving ourselves completely to him. This means every aspect of our life: Sunday’s and Monday through Saturday, the boardroom, the family room and the bedroom. There is to be no picking and choosing which part of our lives we give to Christ.

He did not pick and choose which part of his life to give to us; he gave it all on Calvary, and continues to give it all in the sacraments.

Wonders of the sacraments. By Brian Pizzalato

When it comes to the wonders of the mysteries of the sacraments, our Lord, through his church, wants us to understand that the sacraments are: of Christ, of the church, of faith, of salvation and of eternal life (cf. “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” 1114-1130).

First and foremost, the sacraments are the sacraments of Christ. They are of Christ because he instituted all seven.

In essence, the sacraments are gifts of Christ to his people throughout the centuries, so that the reasons he became like us in all things might be made accessible to us.

What are those reasons? “The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God…so that we might know God’s love…to be our model of holiness…to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’” (CCC 457, 458, 459, 460).

These reasons for the incarnation are definitively accomplished in the Paschal Mystery, and made available to us through the sacraments.

The sacraments are participations in Christ’s own life, love and work. He didn’t come to do everything so that we do not have to do anything. “Sacraments are ‘powers that comes forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church” (CCC 1116).

This leads us to the second point, namely that the sacraments are the sacraments of the church.

Christ formed the Twelve to be what he was and do what he did when he walked the earth. They have an intimate share in the body of Christ through the sacrament of holy orders. They are in persona Christi capitas (in the person of Christ the head), as do their successors, the bishops.

“The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church…The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments” (CCC 1120).

Through the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist, we all become members of the body of Christ. “Forming ‘as it were, one mystical person’ with Christ the head. The Church acts in the sacraments as ‘an organically structured priestly community’” (CCC 1119).

The sacraments are of the church because they are by her and for her. “They are ‘by the Church,’ for she is the sacrament of Christ’s action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are ‘for the Church’ in the sense that ‘the sacraments make the Church…” (CCC 1118). In a preeminent way, “the Eucharist makes the Church” (CCC1396).

The third point is that the sacraments are the sacraments of faith. This doesn’t mean that the bread and wine, when the priest pronounces the words of consecration, become the Body and Blood of Christ because I believe it. They become the Body and Blood of Christ whether one believe it or not.

They are sacraments of faith because, “they not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it” (CCC 1123).

So they do presuppose belief in all that the church teaches, including what it teaches about the sacraments.

The sacraments are not to be given to those who do not believe. The reception of all of the sacraments concludes with the response “amen,” which is a way of professing belief. When the priest, in the Communion rite, says, “The Body of Christ,” the response is “Amen,” which is like saying, “Yes it is.” Someone who does not believe but still responds, “Amen,” has just lied. One who does not believe should not receive, and then go and seek out the reasons to believe.

However, for those who have faith, they are sacraments of faith because they nourish, strengthen and express faith. We are all called to have our faith go ever deeper into the mysteries of God. We cannot do this on our own, and the sacraments are given to us by Christ to nourish that faith and make it ever stronger.

A fourth important point about the sacraments is that they are the sacraments of salvation. Christ came to save us by reconciling us to God.

Salvation is not only about being saved from sin; it is also about being saved for sonship, and living a life as a son or daughter of the heavenly Father.

“The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior” (CCC 1129).

They are sacraments of salvation because “…for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation” (CCC 1129).

So, if we believe, and do not fully participate in the sacramental life of the church and the living out of that each day, then most definitely our salvation is in peril. If we decide to substitute hunting, fishing, camping, football, sleep, etc. for participating in Sunday Mass, then our salvation is in jeopardy, through the committing of a potentially mortal sin. What silly things to put in place of the goal of life, eternal glory in the midst of the life-giving love of the Trinity.

These leads to the final point: The sacraments are the sacraments of eternal life. I would like to sum up this fact with a prayer after Communion, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas: “I give you thanks, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, that you have vouchsafed, from no merit of my own, but of the mere condescension of your mercy, to satisfy me, a sinner and your unworthy servant, with the Precious Blood of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ. I implore you, let not this Holy Communion be to me an increase of guilt unto my punishment, but an availing plea unto pardon and forgiveness. Let it be to me the armor of faith and the shield of good will. Grant that it may work the extinction of my vices, the rooting out of concupiscence and lust, and the increase within me of charity and patience, of humility and obedience. Let it be my strong defense against the snares of all my enemies, visible and invisible; the stilling and the calm of all my impulses, carnal and spiritual; my indissoluble union with you the one and true God, and a blessed consummation at my last end. And I beseech you that you would vouchsafe to bring me, sinner as I am, to that ineffable banquet where you, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, art to your saints true and unfailing light, fullness and content, joy for evermore, gladness without alloy, consummate and everlasting bliss. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Sacraments give us God’s life, call for response. By.Brian Pizzalato

I would like to look at some profound truths that relate to all of the sacraments.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” draws our attention to what is known as the “sacramental economy.” First, we must note that the catechism is not referring to money when it talks about economy.

What then does “economy” refer to? “The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). ‘Theology’ refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and ‘economy’ to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life” (CCC 236).

So when the terminology of sacramental economy is used, it is referring to how God reveals himself and communicates his life to human persons by means of the sacraments, which are the “works of God.” When we talk about the sacraments and the sacramental economy, we are talking about the history and accomplishment of our salvation and sanctification.

What is God’s plan for the accomplishment of our salvation? God’s plan for our salvation is, of course, very Trinitarian.

Liturgy and the sacraments are first and foremost works of the Holy Trinity.

God the Father is the one with the plan, which is nothing less then our participation in divine, Trinitarian, life both now and in eternity.

God the Son is the one who makes the Father’s plan effective through the Incarnation and his suffering, death, resurrection and ascension.

God the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son and is sent upon the church at Pentecost, is the one who effects the plan in our lives.

God the Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is poured out on the church Christ established. And it is the church that is the dispenser of the mysteries of salvation.

The church then makes the Trinitarian life – which the Father planned to give us, the Son died to give us and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church to give us – abundantly available in the liturgy and the sacraments.

It is through the sacraments that the salvation wrought by the Paschal Mystery of Christ is made accessible to us here and now. We, too, can have a real share in Christ’s life, work and love. It is first and foremost through the sacraments that we do so.

We must always keep in mind that the Father, not human persons, is the source and goal of the liturgy. Liturgy is Christ’s work, not humanity’s. The Holy Spirit, not man and woman, is the “artisan of ‘God’s masterpieces,’ the sacraments of the new covenant” (CCC 1091). God is the author of the sacraments and liturgy. They are not humanly instituted rituals.

This being the case should change the way we respond to these mysteries, and indeed understand that this demands nothing less than a response of faith. What comes to us from the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit to the Church in the sacraments is meant to elicit in us a response to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The sacramental economy includes such a response, what St. Paul calls “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26).

We are given nothing less than Trinitarian life in the sacraments. As participants in the church Christ established through the power of the Holy Spirit, with the authority given to him by the Father, we are called to give a very Trinitarian response of faith. “…The Church, united with her Lord and ‘in the Holy Spirit,’ blesses the Father ‘for his inexpressible gift’ in her adoration, praise, and thanksgiving” (CCC 1083).

In our lives, we are to give the response of adoration. “Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator…homage of the spirit to the ‘King of Glory,’ respectful silence in the presence of the ‘ever greater’ God. Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications” (CCC 2628). The response of faith, in adoration, must, by necessity, include a humble disposition because “…humility is the foundation of prayer” (CCC 2559).

In our lives we are also to give the response of praise. “Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds [praises] God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who love God before seeing him in glory” (CCC 2639).

Further, in our response of faith we are to give the response of thanksgiving. St. Paul tells us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As the Psalmist says, “Give thanks to the Lord who is good, whose love endures forever! Let that be the prayer of the Lord’s redeemed, those redeemed from the hand of the foe…” (Psalm 107:1-2).

The response of faith must also include, living a life “…worthy of the calling you have received…” (Ephesians 4:1). Our daily life must be lived out worthy of the Trinitarian life we receive in the sacraments, a life of faith, hope and love. Let’s us not deceive ourselves like those in Isaiah’s day, being ones “…who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!” (5:20).

Prior to our next reception of the sacrament of sacraments, the Eucharist, “a person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:28).

We must always remember to “be on your guard, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Your every act should be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

Sacraments: gifts that ‘matter’ By.Brian Pizzalato

Have you ever wondered where your body came from? The answer comes after asking another question: Where did all matter come from?

In Genesis we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Then we read: “The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life...The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man…” (Genesis 2:7, 22).

God made our bodies from the material world. Should it be so hard to believe that he would redeem us through the instrumentality of matter? Because that is what he has done, wants to do and does at the Easter Vigil through the sacraments.

Man is unique in the entire material world by virtue of the reception of God’s breath of life. In this creative act God communicates to man both natural (body and soul) and supernatural life (Trinitarian life).

Many have said that matter is evil and the spirit is good. The fact is, “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good” (Genesis 1:31). The sad fact is that Adam and Eve lost the gift of supernatural life they were created with by committing the original sin. After this, all of humanity is born without the gift of divine life. Each person is created at the moment of conception with a body and an immortal soul, but void of grace.

However, God promised us a redeemer (cf. Genesis 3:15). He also promises to put his Spirit back into us. Ezekiel prophesies, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities…I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you…” (36:25-26a).

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…so that we might receive adoption…God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:4-6). John’s gospel says, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (1:14). God the Son became a man, flesh and blood, body and soul, so that the sons of men might once again become sons of God. By becoming man he took on a human intellect, a human will, a human soul, and, yes, a human body.

God has thus decided, irrevocably, to save us through the instrumentality of matter. The Second Person of the Trinity from the moment of the Incarnation has a body, and it is through his body that he saves us. It is a body that he would keep after the Resurrection. Jesus says to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side…” (John 20:27). For all eternity, Christ reigns on the throne of glory with the body he assumed at the Incarnation.

During his life, Jesus made it possible for us to be saved. He did so taking into account how he made us. Some Christians say that the sacraments are not necessary for salvation, because they involve matter (e.g. water, oil, laying on of hands, other human persons) and God is just worried about saving our souls. However, God is not worried about saving souls: he is worried about saving human persons, and human persons are, by virtue of God’s creative act, a unity of soul and body.

God created us through spirit and matter; it is not a stretch to believe he has redeemed us through both. To lend support to this, we must recognize that Christ, during his earthly life used matter to communicate the spiritual. Consider the woman who touched the hem of his garment, the blind man who was healed through spit, and the laying on of hands. Another man who was blind was cured through spit mixed with dirt, and then only after he washed his eyes with water could he see. He healed lepers by touching them. He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead by taking her hand and speaking to her. We even see the disciples doing similar things. Jesus sends them out two-by-two and they cast out demons and heal the sick through anointing with oil.

God seeks to heal and redeem us through spirit and matter. Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). Jesus commands the apostles to go therefore and baptize (cf. Matthew 28:19). The apostles also give the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands to those who have already been baptized, thus administering the sacrament of confirmation (cf. Acts 8:14-17).

On another occasion, Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53). In is also no coincidence that he says, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me” (Matthew 22:19). At this very moment he gives us his flesh to eat and ordains the apostles as priests of the new and everlasting covenant.

The sacraments are the means by which Christ, in his glorified, resurrected body, seeks to communicate the gift of divine life to humanity, to make us part of his mystical body, the church. They are the fruit of his passion, death, resurrection and ascension. They were instituted by Christ, so if we reject any of them, we reject him.

There are many each year who prepare to receive the gift of divine life through the sacraments. They are preparing and anxiously anticipating this great gift. May they be a reminder to all Catholics not to neglect these gifts of love from the Father. Let us all rejoice when the Father and Son pour forth into their bodies and souls the Holy Spirit, and give them nothing less than his own glorified body and blood.

Printed with permission from the Northern Cross, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota.

Brian Pizzalato is the Director of Catechesis, R.C.I.A. & Lay Apostolate for the Diocese of Duluth. He is also a faculty member of the Theology and Philosophy departments of the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, England. He writes a monthly catechetical article for The Northern Cross, of the Diocese of Duluth, and is a contributing author to the Association for Catechumenal Ministry's R.C.I.A. Participants Book. Brian is currently authoring the regular series, "Catechesis and Contemporary Culture," in The Sower, published by the Maryvale Institute and is also in the process of writing the Philosophy of Religion course book for the B.A. in Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition program at the Maryvale Institute.

Brian holds an M.A. in Theology and Christian Ministry with a Catechetics specialization and an M.A. in Philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

The Seven Sacraments

The [seven] sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.[17]

Baptism[18]

By which we are born into the new life in Christ

The fruits of this sacrament are:

• Remission of original sin.
• Birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
• Incorporation into the Church, the body of Christ, and participation in the priesthood of Christ.
• The imprinting, on the soul, of an indelible spiritual sign, the character, which consecrates the baptized person for Christian worship. Because of this character, Baptism cannot be repeated.

Confirmation[19]

By which we are more perfectly bound to the Church and enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit

The fruits of this sacrament are:

• An increase and deepening of baptismal grace.
• A deepening of one's roots in the divine filiation, which makes one cry, "Abba, Father!"
• A firming of one's unity with Christ.
• An increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• A strengthening of one's bond with the Church and closer association with her mission.
• Special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as a true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and to never be ashamed of the cross.
• The imprinting, as in Baptism, of a spiritual mark or indelible character on the Christian's soul. Because of this character, one can receive this sacrament only once in one's life.

The Holy Eucharist[20]

By which Christ associates his Church and all her members with the sacrifice of the cross

The fruits of this sacrament are:

• An increase in the communicant's union with Christ.
• Forgiveness of venial sins.
• Preservation from grave sins.
• A strengthening of the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ.
• A strengthening of the unity of the Church as the Mys­tical Body of Christ.

Reconciliation or Penance[21]

By which sins after Baptism are forgiven

The fruits of this sacrament are:

• Reconciliation with God: the penitent recovers sanctifying grace.
• Reconciliation with the Church.
• Remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins.
• Remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin.
• Peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation.
• An increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.

Anointing of the Sick[22]

By which a special grace is conferred during grave illness or old age

The fruits of this sacrament are:

• Unity with the passion of Christ, for the sick person's own good and that of the whole Church.
• Strength, peace, and courage to endure as a Christian the sufferings of illness or old age.
• Forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance.
• Restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of the soul.
• Preparation for entering eternal life.

Holy Orders[23]

By which the task of serving in the name and in the person of Christ is conferred

The fruits of this sacrament are:

• The mission and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in persona Christi.
• Configuration to Christ as Priest, Teacher, and Pastor.
• The imprinting, as in Baptism, of an indelible character that cannot be repeated or conferred temporarily.

Matrimony[24]

By which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love

The fruits of this sacrament for the spouses are:

• The grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church.
• A perfecting of their human love.
• A strengthening of their indissoluble unity.
• Sanctification on their way to heaven.
• The grace to "help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children."
• An integration into God's covenant with man: Authentic married love is caught up into divine love.

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[17] CCC, 1131.

[18] Cf. CCC, 1277-1279.

[19] Cf. CCC, 1303-1316.

[20] Cf. CCC, 1407, 1413, 1416. The holy Eucharist is really, truly, and substantially the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, under the appearances of bread and wine. The holy Eucharist is not only a sacrament; it is also a sacrifice-the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

[21] Cf. CCC, 1486, 1497. Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

[22] Cf. CCC, 1527, 1532.

[23] Cf. CCC, 1536, 1591, 1598. It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and dia­conate. In the Latin Church, the sacrament of Holy Orders for the presbyterate is normally conferred on only those candidates who are ready to embrace celibacy freely and who publicly manifest their intention of staying celibate for the love of God's kingdom and the service of others.

[24] Cf. CCC, 1638, 1639, 1641, 1660, 1664. The marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved.