Slide 1

The Reform of the Sacraments

Vatican II

Slide 2

What is a Sacrament?

Catechism from Trent:

“An outward sign

instituted by Christ

to give grace.”

Note: Until the Council of Florence, there were hundreds of sacred rites - all called sacraments!

• We begin by helping folks recall what they learned early in their lives. The old definition still holds! But it has been refined by Vatican II.

• At the Council, there were no debates about the various signs and symbols used in celebrating the sacraments. They weren’t discussing whether to use bread and wine, or water for baptism.

• There was no discussion about whether or not they were instituted by Christ. All the sacraments rise out of the ministry of the Lord, even if he did not intentionally or formally institute them in the church.

• But the whole debate centered on how the sacraments could be reformed in such a way that they effectively help Catholics live more fully in the life of the Trinity, encounter Christ more fully, and live lives filled with the power of God (grace).

• Until Florence, there were hundreds of sacraments, such as almsgiving, forgiving one’s enemies, assisting the sick, etc. Many would now be corporal or spiritual works of mercy. Florence reduced the list to 7.

Slide 3

The 1994 Catechism:

A sacrament is an efficacious sign of grace through which divine life is conferred to us (# 1131)

“Powers that come forth” from the Body of Christ Which is ever-living and life-giving… (see Luke 5:17)

They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in the body, the Church.

They are the masterworks of God in the new and everlasting covenant.

(# 1116)

• Spend a little time with the current definitions. It is important to understand that God’s own life is conferred to us through the sacraments. God gives his own life to us in a generous outpouring of love for us.

• The sacraments come from the Church. The priest stands in the place of Christ, but it is Christ who acts in each sacrament.

Slide 4

BaptismConfirmation

EucharistReconciliation

MatrimonyAnointing

Holy Orders

• Not all the sacraments are of equal weight. If we were to write them by their respective importance, the list would look something like this, with Baptism and Eucharist having clear prominence among the sacraments.

• In the Constitution on the Liturgy at the Council, the first several chapters deal with baptism and Eucharist. Reconciliation got a few lines in a later chapter, for example.

Slide 5

Baptism

Remove original sin from the soul

Only the baptized will see God in Heaven

Official naming

Hidden sacrament, after Mass in the back of the church

Joining the church community where grace is shared

Initiation!

Begin the “journey of faith”

During Mass with the community present

• For each of the sacraments now, we will give the pre-Vatican II stress or focus which was dominant in church practice (though not always in our theology) and compare that to the new focus emerging from the reform and restoration of the sacrament at the Council and in post-conciliar documents.

• Invite participants to share their own memories. • An excellent outside resource that lays this all out in more detail is an e-Book called

Rethinking Sacraments. It’s available on the web site and comes as a PDF so you do not need any special e-Book reading device. You can read it right on your computer screen.

Slide 6

Confirmation

Soldiers of Christ - a paramilitary idea

The slap!

Memorize the catechism to prepare

$3 and a card - for most it’s really a sort of graduation

Confirms what happened in baptism

Learn how to live the Way of Christ: forgiveness, a love for the materially poor, and all the rest!

• Ditto the previous slide.

Slide 7

Eucharist

Focus very much on the Host

The priest was the only one who reallyhad to be there

Mass in Latin with people in the pews praying missals and rosaries

Focus very much on the Body of Christ

Christ is really present (1) in the Word, (2) in the Community, (3) in the Person of the Priest, and (4) in the Bread and Wine

• Ditto the previous slide.

Slide 8

Reconciliation

Focus on sins

And on the sinners

Very private rite

Dark confessional, slightly scary, a bit of “magic” in the forgiveness

Focus is on the mercy of God

God’s unconditional love for us

Much more of a community center: sins separates us and this restores us to life in community

• Ditto the previous slide.

Slide 9

Healing

Extreme Unction (circa 1237)

When you saw the priest coming, you knew you were at the end!

Focus is on getting rid of those last sins

The focus is on healing - in the context of the community

God does not want us to be sick

Connects to viaticum

• Ditto the previous slide.

Slide 10

Marriage

Great focus on procreation and raising the kids as Catholics

Not much room for divorce, even when love was gone

Marriage laws of the 17th Century

Focus is also on the mutual love of the couple

The domestic church is where we live

Can we support love wherever we find it?

• Ditto the previous slide. • Here we refer to the marriage laws of the 17th century. In this period, when most of

our current marriage law was written, young people married within a few months of puberty. There was no “waiting period” during which sexual morality had to be governed. Today that waiting period if often ten years or more.

• This forces us to ask the question about a proper sexual morality for such a long period of time and whether we need to examine this as we help couples prepare for marriage.

Slide 11

Ordination

Focus was on having a sacred power which no one else has

The old ordination rites help us see this

Focus is on bringing “holy order” to parish life

A gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church

Not the same as the baptismal priesthood

The new rites help us see this

• Ditto the previous slide. • In the old rite of ordination, the ordinand knelt at one point before the bishop who took

his hands and said to him, in Latin, something like this: Receive the sacred power to forgive sins and to confect the Eucharist.”

• Today in the revised rite, the bishops says instead at that point, “Receive the gifts from the people of God and order them as you should.”

• Priesthood is seen as the “holy order bringer” to the community, the executive role without which we would be in chaos. As such, it is a ministry of service and support for the ministry of the baptized.

• When a priest visits the sick, he is carrying out his baptized, not his ordained, priesthood. We’re all called to visit the sick. And so forth. It is when he presides a public prayer and orders the life of the community that he carries out his ordained priesthood.

Slide 12

Other sacramental moments

Almsgiving

Care for the materially poor

Campaigning for Social Justice

Profession to religious life

Getting pregnant or adopting a child

Sharing supper with someone

“Neighboring”

• There are other sacramental moments in life. Invite participants to name others that they experience. Recently, one woman said, for example, that caring for her mother who has Alzheimer’s disease is a sacramental moment for her.

Slide 13

Other sacramental moments

Times of great awe

Being in touch with the inner voice of God

Burying the dead

Caring for the environment

Moments of friendship

Spontaneous acts of goodness and kindness

• Ditto the previous slide.