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English
The
Seven Sacraments of The Church
The Most Important Signs --- Sacraments
-- an Introduction
The
word 'sacrament' comes from a Latin
word 'sacramentum', Within the Roman
army, recruits had to take a military
oath, called a Sacramentum, which
was an oath of loyalty. Then they
were often branded or tattooed with
the emperors mark — this was
so that if they deserted they could
be identified easily. For some reason
the early Church Fathers began to
use the word sacramentum in a Christian
context, perhaps seeing a similarity
between the soldiers oath of loyalty
and the commitment of the newly baptised
Christian's baptismal vows.
The permanent change which took place
in the life of the newly baptised
mirrored the oath of fidelity of the
new recruit and the brand on his skin.
The
History of Sacraments
The seven sacraments of the Church
are: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist,
Penance, Anointing the Sick, Holy
Orders and Marriage. The process by
which the Church recognised these
seven sacraments took place over many
centuries. St Ambrose, for example,
who lived in the fourth century, saw
both baptism and foot-washing as sacraments,
while St Augustine thought of the
creed, the Our Father, baptism and
the Eucharist as sacraments, and St
Peter Damien (eleventh century) thought
that the anointing of kings, the dedication
of churches, funerals and the monastic
habit were all sacraments. Sacraments
were seen as tangible signs of something
holy, and so included what we today
would refer to as 'sacramentals' —
the blessing of a house or a person,
for example. It was only in the middle
ages that the term 'sacrament' was
narrowed down to the more precise
meaning that we think of today. The
first Council to officially name the
seven sacraments was the Fourth Lateran
Council in 1215, but it was not until
the Council of Trent in 1547 that
it was defined as being a matter of
faith that there are seven sacraments.
Revelations
of Love
Sacraments are signs which point us
to the forgiveness and mercy of God.
They reveal God's plan to save mankind
from sin and death. Sacraments bring
us into fellowship with each other,
they offer us healing and forgiveness
and they join us to each other in
love and service. They are signs of
God's love for us, revealing the tremendous
goodness of God and his concern for
the salvation of the whole world.
Sacraments are signs of God's love,
but they are also more than just signs.
God is at work
in the sacraments, making what they
signify a reality. Most signs tell
you something but they don't make
it happen. A sacrament is a sign of
salvation which brings about the very
salvation that it signifies. This
is what the Church means when it speaks
of the sacraments as 'efficacious'
signs. An efficacious sign is a sign
which has an effect!
A non-churchgoer
was invited to Greece by a friend
who took him along to a service in
the Greek Orthodox Church. He was
fascinated by all the words, symbols
and gestures and especially taken
by the way the priest, with a flourish,
waved a white cloth dramatically over
the gifts of bread and wine before
the consecration. After the service
he tried to find out what this particular
gesture symbolised. The first person
he asked confidently told him: 'Ah
well, now each wave of the white cloth
over the gifts symbolises each of
the different stages in creation.'
The next person he asked said to him:
'Ah, now, the white cloth announces
the arrival of the Holy Spirit coming
down to consecrate the bread and wine.'
Finally he asked the priest himself,
'Well now,' the priest said, 'Its
like this: its very hot here and I
have to keep waving the cloth to keep
off the flies!' One sign can have
several meanings.
"St Thomas
sums up the various aspects of sacramental
signs: 'Therefore a sacrament is a
sign that commemorates what precedes
it — Christ's Passion; demonstrates
what it accomplishes in us through
Christ's Passion — grace; and
prefigures what that Passion pledges
to us — future glory'
(Catechism of the Catholic Church
1130)
In most of
the sacraments the Church takes material
things — water, wine, bread,
oil — and uses them as a vehicle
of the Spirit. In this way the sacraments
reflect the incarnation, when God
took on material flesh and became
a human being. The sacraments are
a combination of outward, visible
signs and inward, invisible, spiritual
grace. At Baptism, we have water poured
over us and are at the same time cleansed
inwardly from sin. At the Eucharist
we receive what appears to be bread
and wine but which is in reality the
body and blood of Christ.
What
is a sacrament?
A sacrament is a saving act of Jesus
Christ. In the celebration of every
sacrament it is Jesus Christ who makes
the first move in coming to lift up
the person in need of salvation, just
as he came to lift up his friend Lazarus
in the village of Bethany.
It is an act celebrated in and through
the Church which unites us with Christ's
worship of his Father. In the celebration
of every sacrament of the Church Jesus
Christ lifts up the one who believes
in order to unite that person with
the Father; just as he revealed the
glory of God when he raised up Lazarus
with the words, "Father, I thank
you for hearing my prayer." (John
11:41)
It is an act
by which we receive the Spirit of
Christ and so are formed in the image
of Christ when he emerged from the
tomb with new life.
"Since
the Lord is no longer visible among
us, everything of him that was visible
has passed into the sacraments"
(St. Leo the Great).
Perhaps it
may seem obvious to say that Jesus
Christ was the first to live the Christian
life. But it does bring home to us
that it is meaningless to talk about
a Christian life which is not an actual
sharing and participation in Christ's
life. That is where the sacraments
come in. Christ is continually seeking
to share his divine life with us,
to be born again in each one of us.
And the place of our meeting is in
the sacraments. As St Ambrose expressed
it, "You have shown yourself
to me, Christ, face to face. I meet
you in the sacraments."
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