By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND
In our last column we considered the nature of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, into which the faithful, through Baptism, are incorporated. This understanding of the Church is found throughout the writing of the early Church fathers. For example, consider these words from the second-century priest and theologian Origen, found in his commentary on the Psalms:
“Christ has flooded the universe with divine and sanctifying waves. For the thirsty he sends a spring of living water from the wound which the spear opened in his side. From the wound in Christs side has come forth the Church and he has made her his bride.”
The Jerusalem Catechesis was one of the first catechetical instructions of the undivided Christian Church. These twenty-four teachings, given sometime around AD 350, convey the sacramental understanding of the early Christian Church. They offer a powerful explanation of the effects of Baptism — and of all the sacraments — and offer an ecclesiology of communion in the Church as a participation in the life of the Trinity.
In these teachings we also find the bedrock belief in the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the instruction given to those preparing for Baptism, the catechumens. In his first lecture Cyril explained what we call the epiclesis (a word that means invocation), as it occurs in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:
“The bread and wine before the holy invocation are ordinary bread and wine, but after the invocation the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine the Blood of Christ.”
In this absolute conviction that the bread and wine truly became the Body and Blood of Christ, St. Cyril stood in the unbroken teaching of Jesus Christ, the New Testament, and the earliest teaching of the nascent Church concerning the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the sacramental Species after consecration by the priest.
In his fourth lecture Cyril asked the following question, “Christ himself declared, speaking of the bread, ‘This is my body.’ Who will dare then to hesitate in the future? And when he himself asserts categorically ‘This is my blood,’ who will doubt it and say it is not his blood.”
The earliest records we have from historical sources such as Cyprian of Carthage, Justin Martyr, Basil of Caesarea — and many others — confirm that the Church has been both liturgical and sacramental from the very beginning. She, as the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ the Head, was also understood by the early Christians to be the means though which Jesus Christ continued His redemptive mission.
We speak of the Church as a “mystery” and the sacraments entrusted to her as “mysteries.” What does that mean? Consider this explanation found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“The Greek word mysterion was translated into Latin by two terms: mysterium and sacramentum. In later usage the term sacramentum emphasizes the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation which was indicated by the term mysterium. In this sense, Christ himself is the mystery of salvation: ‘For there is no other mystery of God, except Christ’ (St. Augustine).
“The saving work of his holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of salvation, which is revealed and active in the Church’s sacraments (which the Eastern Churches also call ‘the holy mysteries’). The seven sacraments are the signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ the head throughout the Church which is his Body. The Church, then, both contains and communicates the invisible grace she signifies. It is in this analogical sense, that the Church is called a ‘sacrament’.”
More than an organization or an institution — though she is both — the Church continues the ministry of Jesus Christ. We must remember, Jesus is not dead — He has been raised. He promised, “I will be with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). One of the ways He fulfills that promise is through the sacraments. Every sacrament is the ministry of Jesus the Risen Christ, continued in our midst.
The Church is, in an analogous way, a sacrament, as these words from the Catechism explain:
“ ‘The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament — a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men.’ The Church’s first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God. Because men’s communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race. In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men ‘from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues’; at the same time, the Church is the ‘sign and instrument’ of the full realization of the unity yet to come” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 775).
Through the Church then, the redemptive mission of the Lord Jesus Christ continues. The Catechism explains: “As sacrament, the Church is Christ’s instrument. ‘She is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all,’ ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ by which Christ is ‘at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men.’ The Church ‘is the visible plan of God’s love for humanity,’ because God desires ‘that the whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit’” (CCC, n. 776).
The Church Of The Sacraments
In 2005, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, by a motu proprio (on his own authority) declaration approved and authorized the publishing of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a helpful companion for those who seek to topically study the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
It is not a substitute for the important work all Catholics should undertake in reading the Catechism. It has no substitute. With its rich references to the Bible and the early Church fathers, the Catholic Catechism, along with the Bible, is the one of the greatest resources for any Catholic who wants to grow in understanding the Catholic Christian faith.
In our next few columns we will consider all the sacraments, and their effects, in more detail. But, for our sake in this column, its question and answer approach to the sacraments is a helpful introduction. In the Compendium, the paragraphs which it is summarizing in the Catechism are found before the dialogue. I encourage my readers to prayerfully take the time to look them up, read them, and pray about their meaning.
There is a desperate need for Catholics to come to understand their faith, in a deep way in order to be able to live it and give it away to others. Sadly, the teachers of the Church have too often focused on topics other than teaching the basics of the Catholic Christian faith. And, we are reaping some of the bad fruit of this failure. In my ministry as a Shepherd of souls, I have too often discovered that too many Catholics have not been catechized and do not know some of the very basic teachings of the Church. Often, through no fault of their own. That must change.
In the Compendium’s section entitled “The Paschal Mystery in the Sacraments of the Church” we find a very helpful summary, in question and answer format, on the sacraments. Please see numbers 224-232.
The Division Of The Sacraments
Finally, in her teaching on the effects of the sacraments, the Church often groups them into three categories: the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist); the sacraments of healing (Penance and the Anointing of the Sick); and the sacraments at the service of communion and mission (Holy Orders and Matrimony). In future articles I will touch upon each one of them.
In my next column I will discuss the sacraments of initiation, focusing particularly upon the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains its sublime importance in this summary:
“The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’ ‘The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.’
“ ‘The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.’
“Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.
“In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: ‘Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking’” (CCC, nn. 1324-1327).
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