The church is not a refuge for our own salvation but a place where we all work to collaborate with God in the building of authentic human beings, where we become sacraments for the salvation of others. Every sacrament we celebrate gives a mission in service of the community. This process of collaboration happens through the Sacraments. When we think of Sacraments we think of all the external things: symbols, rituals, etc. and that is right because that is what we see, but that is not the whole reality. These symbols, rituals, etc., are meant to help us through our senses become aware of a reality that is happening in us. God lives in us and is constantly working to make us like Jesus, so we can show the world through our words and deeds that God cares, that God is love, that God forgives, etc. We need to become aware of this reality so we can help God. God always respects our freedom so his work will not be effective in us, if we do not say yes, if we do not collaborate. In each Sacrament we celebrate we are called to collaborate with God in making us like Jesus and changing the world. So we have 7 sacraments that celebrate this reality inside us with external symbols and rites. We also say that the Church is a sacrament of Christ in the world, because if we al-low God to work in us and we become like Jesus, then as the community of the Church we make Christ present in the world, we show the world that Jesus is love, service, forgiveness, unity. We become that external symbol that people can see, like we see fire, water, etc. and that helps them become aware of the deeper reality of God’s work and presence in the world.
The mystery of God lives within us, gives us existence and is always at work to transform us into his children, into who we are. We become aware, celebrate and commit to collaborate with this mystery through the rituals of the Seven Sacraments. Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, the Sacraments of Initiation, guide us through the initial stages of life to build in us faith. This is, to call us to surrender our whole self to God’s work in us. In Baptism we are plunged into Christ’s death and resurrection and become aware that through this identification with Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit we can defeat the tendency to sin in us. In Confirmation we make a commitment to collaborate with the grace of Baptism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so our selfishness can truly be defeated and we can be true disciples and bold witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist, we are nourished and made whole, we become one with Christ and one with others so that by our unity and our care for others we can collaborate with God in the process of making the Church into a sacrament of Christ in the world. In the Sacraments of Service: Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders we find specific ways to live out our discipleship and to reveal the universal and unique love of God to the world. In life we face challenges, both physical and spiritual, through the Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick we are healed and helped along the journey. All the Sacraments celebrate the ways in which the likeness of Christ is being accomplished in us through the work of the Holy Spirit and our collaboration. All the Sacraments are meant to help us realize that reality and dispose us to better collaborate with this mystery.
Can you remember when you celebrated the Sacraments of Initiation? What was that experience like? Did you experience God in a special way?
What is your experience of the Sacraments of Healing?
Have you experienced throughout your life this process of being transformed into Christ?
What does the Eucharist mean to you?
How can you help God in this process of transforming you into Christ?