Overview of Sacraments

by Fr. Charlie Irvin, M.B.A., M. Div., J.D.

Note: This is only a sketchy outline needing to be fleshed out. I certainly do not represent this as anything at all complete. It is simply an aid to be used in exploring more deeply the subjects and ideas put forth. Hopefully it will provide the user with a contextual framework from in which to develop further the ideas I have set forth here for discussion.

SACRAMENTS: IN GENERAL

1. God - A Community of Persons
   
   
   
   1. In this course on the Sacraments we begin without arguing about whether or not there is, in fact, a God. Likewise, the existence of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is taken as a datum given to us by Jesus Christ. There is no point in arguing about those givens here. That discussion is in another area of theology, namely the nature and content of Revelation.
      
      
   2. Sacramental theology raises to the level of apprehension (but not comprehension) the dynamic relationships between the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. They are distinct but not separate Persons. We can distinguish between them but we can never separate them.
      
      Theological Note: Whenever God acts in and through a Sacrament, He acts triunely. He always acts as He is, namely the Three acting through and in One.
      
      
      
      1. Theology appropriates certain activities to each of the Persons of God, but always holds that they act in their unity as the Trinity.
         
      2. Ultimately God is simple, not complex. (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas). PARADOX: Complexity points to simplicity, to the balanced tension between the simplicity of unity and the complexity of interdependence. For an outstanding example, consider Einstein's famous equation E=mc2.
         
      
      
   
   
2. Scriptural sources for the Persons of the Trinity in their inter-relationships:
   
   Matt 3:13-17
   John 14:23-27
   John 15:26-27
   Mark 1:9-11
   Acts 1:6-9
   Luke 12:1-12
   Luke 3:21-22
   John 5:15-30
   John 14:5-17
   John 6:52-58
   
   
3. Being made in the image and likeness of God, what constitutes "being a person", a person in being, an existential person? What constitutes an existing person whose personhood is sustained and nourished in life by be-ing an "I" in relationship to a "thou"? Note that couching the concept in the present tense active is deliberate because it is a more apt description of the reality.
   
   
   
   
   1. Philosophical insight is like a searchlight piercing into the darkness. In its beam we can see reality that's outside of us. Our minds may then reach out to apprehend that reality existing "out there". Different philosophical systems attempt to give us insight into what it means to be a human person: a) Objectivism, b) Subjectivism, c) Essentialism (Aristotle and Aquinas), and d) Existentialism, and Personalism (Pope John Paul II).
      
      
   2. In Theology we identify two major faculties (facilities or powers) of humans that existentially set them apart from all other living creatures and make them uniquely and specifically persons, namely the powers of KNOWING and LOVING, the qualities of Mind and Heart. These are powers of the human spirit. Our destiny is to know and love God face to face; our first glimpses of Him are seen in the faces of those around us, especially those who know us and love us.
      
   
   
4. What does it mean to have a body? What does a body do for you?
   
   
   
   1. Psychology tells us that we are psycho-somatic beings.
      
   2. Theology tells us that we are body/spirit beings.
      
   3. Our bodies locate us in the material mode of existence in which we measure things by the criteria of time, space, weight, etc. Spiritually our bodies are vehicles of inter-personal communication, of inter-personal communion. Hence community and communion are THE essential elements of the Church. Holy Communion constitutes our faith community, constitutes the Church.
      
   
   
5. The basic reality of our humanity.
   
   
   Theological Questions:
   
   
   
   
   • What does the Incarnation mean?
     
     
   • What does Christ's Resurrection mean in terms of our own humanity? Where is Christ's body after His resurrection?
     
     
   • What does Christ's Ascension "to the right hand of the Father" mean? Is His Ascension a departure or an inauguration?
     
     
   • How are we to understand the term "salvation"?
     
     
   • Explain the distinction between the terms "salvation", "redemption", "justification" and "sanctification".
     
     
   • Explain the distinction between the terms "faith", "religion" and "Church".
     
     
   • Explain the distinction between "belief" and "creed".
     
   
   
   
6. SACRAMENTS
   
   Sacraments (the Great Eastern Churches refer to them as The Mysteries) are the actions of the Person who is God the Son reaching out to touch us and become one with us through His Body in the power of His Spirit. In His humanity He is the Christ - God's Anointed One. He is the Jesus of Nazareth who, raised from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit, becomes the Christ of faith, the Spirit-Filled and glorified Christ whom God has anointed to bring His presence and life to us, to live within is, in our own humanity.
   
   Sacraments are the great signs given off by the risen Body of Christ. They are "outward and visible signs communicating an inner spiritual grace", instituted by Christ to communicate His Holy Spirit into us.
   
   
   
   
   1. Bodies give off signs (body language) revealing the mind and heart (spirit) of the person acting within and through those signs. What is a kiss? Try to define one! Definitions collapse; a kiss is a "sacrament", something that we can only describe, never define. Only symbolic language is strong enough to carry the weight of the Reality within them; definitional language lacks the power to convey the total weight.
      
      
   2. Jesus Christ is continually redeeming humanity both collectively and individually. He has not redeemed us, He is redeeming us. He is always in being, is-ing, in our humanity now. He is always forgiving, sacrificing, and offering Himself to us in His Body, the Church. And, in turn, He is gathering us into one holy union and presenting us to His Father.
      
      
   3. Note the play on these words: present/gift/gratia/grace.
      
      
   4. There is only one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it isn't over yet! We call the Last Supper "Last" because another one can't follow it; it's still happening!
      
      
   5. God is pure Act; He is utterly simple; God is simply is-ing. In Hebrew His name is: I AM WHO AM.
      
   
   
   Theological Note: The Transitus Christi denotes the movement, the transformation, the change and the transition of Christ. In becoming humanity He does not lose His divinity; in His return to divinity ("at the right hand of His Father") He does not lose His humanity. From Abraham and the Exodus until now, pilgrimage and movement and transition and change are all occurring. Sacraments are moments when we can enter (actively and personally) by our own free choice into the dynamic, on-going and never static activity of Christ returning us to His Father in His resurrected and Spirit-filled glorified humanity.
   
   Axiom: We can only respond to God's initiative and God's invitation. He loves us first. In His reaching out to us He has set up the way back to Him. Therefore we cannot chart our own way to God (the Tower of Babel), we can only respond to His invitation and attend His banquet. We are not in control - He is. We can only respond in Christ to His offer.
   
   The Church and the Church's Sacraments come from above, from God, and they retain their own integrity (and truth) apart from any perceptions or decisions on our part. We do not determine for ourselves what their reality truly is. God does! Being invited guests to the Lord's Messianic Banquet we only discover their reality and inner truth.
   
   
7. There is only One Sacrament, namely the one sacrificing Christ.
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Why, then, do we speak of seven Sacraments? In biblical symbolism the cardinal number SEVEN denotes perfection. ("Seventy times seven times..." meaning you can't get any better than that!)
      
      
   2. Sacramental actions communicate the spirit of the person giving them, and these actions allow the spirit of the person giving to enter into the spirit of the person receiving. We will, therefore, never understand sex until we understand Holy Communion! Read, now, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Sexual intercourse creates a bond a part of which will always remain, even though we walk away from the other into whom we have given our spirit. That is why so-called "casual sex" eventually destroys the one engaging in it. Why? Because such persons literally lose their selves in frittering them away. They no longer possess integral (hence truthful) selves worth giving! With the loss of their integrity their currency has been devalued.
      
      
   
   
   
8. The Church as the Body of Christ is the prolongation and continuation of the Presence of God in our humanity, a Presence of the Spirit who transforms our humanity into Christ's transcending humanity, His Spirit-filled humanity risen from the dead.
   
   
   
   
   
   1. The Old Testament's marks of the Messiah are these: He would be King, Prophet and Priest.
      
      
   2. In Christ's Holy Spirit the Church ordains (orients or orders) through Holy Orders. Persons in Holy Orders are the Church's overseers and teachers (bishops) giving ordination (directedness and purpose), in turn, to the faith community.
      
      
   3. The Church is ordered, oriented by God, to bring union and peace, the peace that flows from union. It's mission is "re-ligio" and "at-one-ment". The function of the priest is to bring Holy Communion to us, a holistic and whole-some communion between man and man, man and his world, and man and God. Religion is to "re-ligament" and to restore bonding and oneness in a fractured and broken world. Note the play on the words: (heal=whole=wholesome=holy). Holy Communion means a "whole common union".
      
      
   4. Liturgy is the public act of the People of God, the Body of Christ, bringing Christ's humanity (our humanity integrated into His) back to our Father - His Father and yours and mine. Christ's humanity was Spirit-filled in the resurrection; it is that Humanity into which we are baptized. And it is that Humanity, that Body and Blood, that we receive in Holy Communion.
      
      
      
      
      
      1. The Holy Spirit is communicated through a community. Without genuine community, without openness and wholeness, the liturgy is voided of the Spirit Who gives us the power to transform our lives and be agents of Christ's transforming power in our world. Where there is no community spirit, Sunday worship becomes dull, drab and lifeless!
         
         
      2. The ecclesia, namely the "called out and unified assembly", comes from above; it is not the creation of men and women, rather it is formed in the response of men and women to God's gathering-in Holy Spirit. It is when we open ourselves to God that the Holy Spirit assembles us, unites us, and causes us to be the Ecclesia, the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.
         
         
      3. If Christ is essential to the plan of God, then so is the Church! Without the Ecclesia where would the risen Body of Christ be located and therefore available to us? While it is true that God is everywhere it is nevertheless likewise true that the Church is the privileged locus of the Risen Christ among us.
         
         
      4. The Church is communitarian because God is Trinitarian. It takes several in order to make one-ness, and it takes more than one to know love - and to live in love!
         
         
      5. The Church is the Eucharist and the Eucharist is the Church! The effect of the Eucharist is the corporate reality of our union, our one-ness, and our communion with Christ and with each other. There is no other Church! There is no other risen Body of Christ!