Meditation Nineteen, Third Week of July 2003

The Church and The Sacraments

Readings: Matt 26: 26 - 29; Mark 14: 22 - 25; Luke 22: 14 - 20 John 6: 32 - 40; 1 Cor 11: 17 - 30

The Holy Eucharist, the other sacraments, and the New Testament are the greatest treasures of the Catholic Church. Together they justify the Church's existence and provide the strongest reason why we must remain faithful to the Church in good times and in bad. Although baptism should always be given as the bath of redemption, it is also the initiation into Church membership, the incorporation into Christ. Nevertheless, the grace of baptism can be conferred apart from the Church, as we know. So can the sacrament of marriage, although both of these sacraments properly belong to the life of the Church. However, the other sacraments can be shared only in the Catholic Church or in the Orthodox Churches, which have a special sacramental relationship with each other, since they have a valid priesthood and by their very nature should be more united than they are at present. The sacraments, which are called the divine mysteries in the Eastern Church, actually bring Christ to minister to us, His people. He is the one who really baptizes and confirms, who gives His flesh to eat and takes away our sins. He is the one who strengthens the sick and prepares the dying. He ordains the bishops, priests, and deacons and He blesses the marriage and makes it a sacrament, uniting the couple in Himself. The sacraments are so necessary that even a priest who is excommunicated, if he is present when someone is dying, can legitimately administer the sacraments. Recently Pope John Paul has stressed the fact that the Church itself flows from the Holy Eucharist. We shall consider this truth in our next meditation. The mystical reality of Christ's presence with us, the representation of His sacrificial death, and His nourishment of us by the grace of Holy Communion are three gifts from Our Savior. What an astounding motive for prayerful gratitude we have in the Eucharist and in all the sacraments! We will spend several weeks on the sacraments in our later meditations. Now we rejoice in the fact that one of the principal reasons for the Church is that through it rivers of life flow to us from Christ in the sacraments.

Quotation for Meditation

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that 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," since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons. Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community." Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ." The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. 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

Quiet Time and Then Discussion

Questions for Meditation

1. What would I be missing if I had not been given the grace of the Catholic faith?

2. How does the Holy Eucharist instituted by Christ give rise to the Church?

3. Can we ever receive Holy Communion completely worthily, or should we always experience it with some sense of repentance?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, You promised to be with us until the end of the world. How grateful we should be. How astonishing that You are with us, to serve us and care for us! Help me in my life to grow each day in love for the Church, which brings us the bread of life. Amen.