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Catholicism 101– Class #11
Introduction to Sacraments
Marcel LeJeune
INTRODUCTION
All Sacramental theology is based on the two most fundamental mysteries of the faith: THE BLESSED TRINITY
and THE INCARNATION.
-God chose to take on human flesh, become one of us.
-Incarnation is concrete & material.
-Jesus is the Sacrament of the Father.
-He reveals to us what God is like.
Paschal Mystery – Passion, Death, Resurrection
Passion – Suffering, extends back through Jesus’ whole life
Born in cold, laid in feeding trough
Death – Demonstrates: His love, and the nature of Love itself
Resurrection – Glory of Resurrection extends also; seen especially in Ascension and
Pentecost
The Paschal Mystery
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Paschal Mystery
o Very center of our spiritual lives
o Gives power to the Church
o Definition: the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
 You could say that it extends to His birth: He was born into a life of suffering, a life of
poverty
 You could say that it extends beyond His resurrection: 40 days of appearing to disciples
and the sending of the Holy Spirit
Why call it the Paschal Mystery?
o “Mystery”
 Something hidden to be figured out, but deeper: we can choose to participate in the events
of the life of Jesus Christ
o “Paschal”
 “pascua” -> Easter AND Passover in Spanish (and other languages)
 The Passover is an older tradition than Easter so…
o Why would we use the term associated with Passover to name Easter?
 The Eucharist would be the new Passover
 In Egypt, Moses was sent to the Pharaoh to ask that God’s people be let go. Each time that
Pharaoh refused, God sent plagues. The last plague was the killing of the first-born sons. So
that the Hebrews might not be affected by this plague, God gives them a ritual to make a
covenant with them. Each family is to take an unblemished lamb (literally, no broken
limbs), slaughter it, roast its flesh and eat it, and apply the blood of the lamb with a hyssop
branch to the doorpost. The Angel of Death passed-over. Pharaoh decides to let the
Hebrews go but then changes his mind and pursues them. Moses parts the Red Sea and the
Hebrews pass-over. The Hebrews experience a pass-over from slavery to freedom, from no
life to new life, from being nobodies to being somebodies.
 This is the name we give to the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus
passes over from death to new life and He invites us to pass-over from slavery to freedom
by participating in His Paschal Mystery.
o The Mass
 “Behold, the Lamb of God…”
 Comes from John the Baptist
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“Lamb of God”: when John said this, the Jews would know that he was referring to the
Lamb of Sacrifice
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says “I thirst” and they offer him drink from a hyssop
branch
The Last Supper: Jesus and His apostles were celebrating the Passover
When Jesus was stripped of His clothes before being nailed to the Cross, He was
stripped of seamless cloth, which is what the priests of sacrifice wore during Passover
“It is finished.” Jesus’ last words echo the words used by the priests of sacrifice at the
conclusion of the Passover
Jesus was pierced with a lance: Because it was a feast, the soldiers wanted to end the
crucifixions and so it was custom to break the legs of the victims to expedite the death.
Coming to Jesus, they perceived that He was already dead and instead of breaking His
legs, pierced him with a lance. He is the unblemished Lamb (with no broken limbs).
From His side flowed blood and water. Early Church Fathers recognized these as signs
of the Eucharist (blood) and Baptism (water). We can also see this as the birth of the
New Eve, the Church. Christ, the New Adam, from His side comes forth the life of the
Church, the bride of Christ.
Jn 6: Christ stresses the eating of His flesh and there was “murmuring” amidst the
disciples. Each time Jesus reiterates it, His verb for eating becomes more intense in
literal meaning (ex: the first time: eat; the second time: consume; the third time: gnaw/
chew). He is stressing that these are not merely symbols. We literally eat the body and
blood of Jesus Christ at the Mass.
“The feast of Passover is near”: the beginning of Jn 6.
o Referring to Passover and the new Passover
At the Eucharist, we are on the hill of Calvary. Jesus calls our name, just as He did
Mary Magdalene at the tomb. At Mass, time stands still. We sing the Holy, Holy, Holy
(the song of the angels) and they surround us.
In the Eucharist, we become what we eat. We become like Christ. If you receive the
Eucharist in your hands, make a throne for your King.
Mass is not just an obligation. It is the greatest privilege. We are receiving Jesus Christ.
And we respond, “Amen,” meaning- so be it, I want it. You are saying “Amen” to Jesus
Christ and the participation in the Paschal Mystery
o Your life becomes united with the life of Christ
o Your suffering is a sharing in the Cross
o Your triumphs are united with the Resurrection
o Jesus suffers with us. He doesn’t necessarily take suffering away. He wants to
draw us to the wellspring of Salvation- His Heart- that we might pass-over.
-Jesus established his Church, and left the Church as his Body on earth after he ascended into Heaven.
-Sacrament: “An outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace” Baltimore Catechism
-Definition of Sacrament (sacramentum: to swear an oath; making a covenant with God)
“The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which
divine life is dispensed to us.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1131).
-Not all signs are sacraments but all sacraments are signs
-Nature of sacraments
A. Sense-perceptible (Recall Catholic understanding of “Both/And”)
1. Matter (bread, wine, water, laying on of hands, etc.)
2. Form (words used, liturgy, etc.)
B. Communitarian (We are born into a community, only truly know ourselves in relationship, God Himself
is a communion of persons).
-Goal = union w/ God
SACRAMENTAL VIEW OF REALITY:
-Two levels: the visible and the invisible, the material and the spiritual.
-The outward sign points to a deeper reality.
-We meet Jesus through the normal means by which He chose to give Himself to us - through the
Sacraments of His Church.
-All sacraments are rooted in the Incarnation.
SYMBOL AND SACRAMENT:
symbol vs sacraments:
-symbol merely represent
-sacrament delivers the goods…they are what they symbolize.
In the Scriptures: Jesus uses bodily, concrete stuff –whether words or actions-to bring about His glory in others.
Example: He uses spittle and mud and real human touch in restoring a man’s vision.
He could have done it without the physical action, but he chose to use it.
Mark 5:25-34
Mark 7:30-35
John 9:1-11
Acts 5:15
He chose to use material world because He knows humans…our need for signs and concrete actions.
Sacraments of Initiation
 Baptism
 Confirmation
 Eucharist
John 3:5
Acts 8:14-17
John 6
Mk. 16:16
Matt. 28:18
Acts 19:5-6
1 Cor 10 & 11
Sacraments of Healing
 Reconciliation
 Anointing of the Sick
James 5:16
Mark 6:13
John 20: 21-23
James 5:14-15
Sacraments of Vocation
 Marriage
 Holy Orders
Matthew 19:6
John 20: 19-13
-Four Dimensions of the Sacramental Signs
A. God’s action of pouring out sanctifying grace
B. Man’s action of receiving grace to be made holy, thus giving glory to God
C. Memorial: recalls to mind the Pascal Mystery of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
D. Eschatological: foreshadowing and foretaste of the future; hope of the final effect of the sacraments: our
final salvation
-Efficacy of the Sacraments
A. Ex opere operato: the worthiness of the priest nor of the recipient does not affect the power of a
sacrament.
B. Disposition of the recipient affects the fruits of the sacrament.
-Purpose of the Sacraments
A. Give glory to God
B. Sanctify (make holy) humans
C. Build up the Body of Christ