Chapter d31 Sacrament

2.  Seven  (quantity) expanded to seven (quality);  seven shoe boxes to concentric ripples in a pond; seven things to multiple manifestations of the Mysterion (God's Great Dream for the World).  From:  Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, etc...  To:  Jesus, Church, Eucharist, Sacraments, Hours, Year, etc...

3.  (Matter and Form).  Matter  expanded from a specific material object (water, bread, oil, etc) to the entire sensible experience of the celebrating community (which includes the experience of the very community celebrating).

3.  (Matter and Form).  Form  expanded from the "essential words" to the entire "story" of the Jesus event as proclaimed in the Scriptures and the lived witness of the community.  This remembering (anamnesis) makes us present to the mystery celebrated.

4.  Causality   expanded from "efficient cause of grace" (grace often understood quantitatively)  to the work of the Sanctifying Spirit (epiclesis) which enables the celebrating community to be divinized, i.e. taken into the remembered mystery.

These elements are not only applicable the eucharist but to all sacramental celebrations.

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The First and Greatest Sacrament

Eucharist Jesus With Us #2, March 2005, Q0305

The following is a draft of a published article ©2005 by St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28 w. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.  1-800-488-0488.  The article may not be reproduced or sold without written permission from the publisher.

The First and Greatest Sacrament
Fasten your seatbelts for a really quick trip through history, Scripture and theology because in these four short pages I want to explain the meaning of life! But before we begin this overly ambitious adventure, please complete the following sentence: “The Eucharist is...”

Typical of the responses I receive when I ask this question are: “The Eucharist is Sunday Mass.” “The Eucharist is the sacrifice of Calvary.” “The Eucharist is Holy Communion.” These are all accurate statements. But the issue I want to treat in this article is this: Can you fit all the various correct responses together so that when you think about the Eucharist the multiple meanings of this mystery come together into a unified, consistent vision? That’s what I want this article to help you accomplish.

Creation as God's work of art
Let’s start at the beginning—the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. Now, as we know, God didn’t have to create anything. God created freely out of love. God, who is the very essence of love (I John 4:16), planned from Day One to share the love, harmony, communication and unity of God’s own inner Trinitarian life with the persons and things that God would create. (After all, isn’t that what love does? It wants to propagate itself.)

Just as an artist is always embodied in his or her work of art—we can look at a painting and say “that’s a Monet” or hear a piece of music and say “that’s Mozart”—the Divine Artist is embodied in the beautiful universe we see around us. And of all God’s works of art, God’s masterpiece is Jesus! If God’s inner Trinitarian life and love spill over into creation, nowhere is this more evident than in Jesus who is “the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

God's plan for creation
Usually when we make something, we have some plan in mind. For example, imagine you are building a house and you begin to measure the land, dig the foundation and pour the footings. If someone were to ask you, “What are you doing?” you wouldn’t say, “Well, I don’t know yet; I’m just pouring concrete. We’ll see what happens.” No, from the very beginning, your mind’s eye is on the finished project: “I’m building a house.”

Similarly, God had a plan for all of creation. Little by little that plan was revealed in the history of God’s people. As we read in the Letter to the Hebrews: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son...the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being” (1:1-3). When the time was ripe, God’s plan was revealed in all its wonderful mystery in the birth, life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The plan God had in mind from the very beginning was Jesus Christ!

Jesus: sacrament of God’s plan
When the inspired authors of the New Testament describe this amazing plan of God for the world, the word they use for plan (they were writing in Greek) is “mysterion” (“mystery” in English). They tell how this mystery, this wondrous plan of God for the world, is “summed up” in Christ. “I want [your] hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that [you] may have...the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself (Col. 2:2, italics added).

When the Greek New Testament was translated into Latin, the Greek word “mysterion” was often translated into the Latin word “sacramentum” (“sacrament” in English). St. Augustine taught that a sacrament is a “visible sign of invisible grace.” Today, when we Catholics think of sacraments we usually think of the seven sacraments —but in Augustine’s broader understanding of sacrament, we see that of all the visible signs we have of who God is, the best, the most complete, “visible sign” (sacrament) is Jesus himself. For Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15). In Jesus “we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see” (Mass of Christmas, Preface I). It is in this sense that we can speak of Jesus himself as a “sacrament.”

Unity of mind and heart
At Mass we pray: “You sent Jesus Christ your Son among us / as redeemer and Lord. / He was moved with compassion / for the poor and the powerless, / for the sick and the sinner; / he made himself neighbor to the oppressed. / By his words and actions he proclaimed to the world / that you care for us / as a father cares for his children” (Mass for Various Needs, IV).

The love that is the inner Trinitarian life of God is revealed in everything that Jesus said and did, but nowhere is this love so clearly expressed as in his passion, death and resurrection. Jesus Christ empties himself on the cross to be in perfect union with the will of his Father through the Holy Spirit.

Perfect union of mind and heart! This is the goal, the purpose of sacrifice: joyful union with God. Nothing could separate Jesus from the Love of God, not even Death. Victorious over death itself, Jesus “rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures.” This is Christ’s Paschal Victory!

Christ's reconciling sacrifice
The events of the days we have come to call Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are at the very heart of God’s mysterious plan to embody his own Trinitarian love and harmony in creation. This plan is perfectly accomplished in the self-offering of Jesus by which he reconciled all things to himself.

And while Jesus accomplished this reconciliation once and for all on the cross, his sacrifice is not something that only happened in the past—as is the case with ordinary past events that happened once and now are over and done with. By means of the sacred meal which Jesus celebrated with his disciples before he died, we are enabled to participate in, and indeed to be mysteriously present to Christ’s offering. The Eucharist is the sacramental “door” though which we can personally enter into Christ’s reconciling sacrifice.

Transformed by the Spirit
Each time we gather for the Lord’s Supper we ask God to send the Holy Spirit to transform our bread and wine into that sacrament of reconciliation, communion and love, which is Christ himself. And that same Holy Spirit comes upon us who eat and drink and takes us up into the sacrifice of Christ. “Lord, look upon this sacrifice which you have given your Church; and by your Holy Spirit, gather all who share this one bread and one cup into the one body of Christ, a living sacrifice of praise” (Eucharistic Prayer IV).

This Holy Spirit—the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of right judgment and courage, of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of wonder and awe, which the prophet Isaiah said would be the hallmark of the Messiah (the Christ) —permeated and sealed the life of Jesus of Nazareth. It is this same Spirit which Christ gives to us. After his resurrection, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said “Receive the Holy Spirit…As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21-22).

Eucharist makes Church
We receive that Spirit in Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. Through these sacraments Christ commissions us to continue his work. Christ, through the Holy Spirit has “given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18). We are to free creation from slavery by working to improve the quality of life for all, to alleviate hunger and disease, injustice and conflict. We are to be ambassadors of reconciliation until that perfect union of Creator and creation, which was planned by God from the beginning of the world and achieved by Christ on the cross, extends to the ends of the earth.

We cannot accomplish this alone; we cannot accomplish this divine plan together with the help of other people, even thousands of other people. We can only carry on the mission of Christ together with Christ. When we celebrate the Eucharist, we become Christ’s Body; we become Church. The Eucharist makes the Church. That is why the Church is so much more that merely the sum total of its members. The Church itself is a sacrament, “a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #1). And that sacrament which is the Church is never more visible than when we are celebrating the Eucharist. The Eucharist “is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #2).

One unified vision
I have friends who returned from a visit to Russia with one of those Russian nesting dolls (matryoshka). I always enjoy watching the amazement on the faces of their grandchildren as they open the doll to find another slightly smaller doll inside, and another inside that, and so on until all 10 are displayed on the table. Perhaps this can serve as an image for an integrated vision of the Eucharist.

Picture the dolls as being transparent so that you can see through the outer one to the next and the next and the next. Look at the Eucharist and see not only the consecrated host but see your own mystery and the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ. See Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost. See the mystery of Christ, the sacrament of God, God’s plan for the world, and the Trinitarian love of God’s very self. All of this is really present in the Eucharist.

When we view the Eucharist as the embodiment of the whole mysterious plan of God for the universe, then we can understand why the Eucharist is the first and greatest Sacrament, indeed, the “Sacrament of sacraments” (CCC, #1211).

The meaning of life
Many years ago when I was a high school religion teacher, I used to tell the sophomores that in order to find the meaning of life you have to answer three questions:

1) Who is God?
2) Who am I?
3) What am I going to do about it [that is, questions 1 and 2]?

These are the three questions that will be on the final examination. (I mean the very final examination when we stand before the throne of God in judgment.)

The Eucharist is the key to the answers to these questions.

1) In the Eucharist we experience the presence of Christ, who reveals to us who God is.
2) In the Eucharist we are incorporated more and more into the Body of Christ, and in that Body we find our true identity.
3) And through the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit empowers us, as Church, to continue the mission of Christ. We become ambassadors of reconciliation, ministers of healing, sacraments of God’s love.
In the Eucharist we find the meaning of life.

In the Eucharist we come into contact with the mysterious plan of God. In the Eucharist we become Church. This is why the Eucharist (as Pope John Paul II has proclaimed) is the “source and summit of Catholic life and mission.” [Next:  The Community Gathers]

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Definitions of Sacrament

1. St. Augustine. A sacrament is a visible sign of invisible grace.

2. Baltimore Catechism. A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.

3. Basil of Caeserea.. Worship is a mystery in which, through the light of the Spirit, Christians contemplate the revelation of the Father in the icon of the Son, and then through the Son in the Spirit render glory to the Father. (Basil of Caeserea. Treatise De Spiritu Sancto, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. 8. New York: Christian Literature, 1895, pp 1-50.)

4. Theodore of Mopsuestia.  Every sacrament points to invisible and ineffable realities by means of signs and symbols. (Doors to the Sacred. Liguori/Triumph, 2001, p 3.)

5. Pope Leo the Great.  What was visible in the Lord has passed over into the sacraments. (Doors to the Sacred. Liguori/Triumph, 2001, p 3.)

6. Pius XII. The sacred Liturgy is consequently the public worship which our Redeemer as Head of the Church renders to the Father as well as the worship which the community of the faithful renders to its Founder, and through Him to the Heavenly Father. It is, in short, the worship rendered by the Mystical Body of Christ in the entirety of its Head and members. (Pius XII. Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, Mediator Dei 1947, Nov 20. NCWC translation, number 20.)

7. Søren Kierkegaard. "Many Christians tend to view the minister/priest as the actor, God as the prompter, and the congregation as the audience. But actually, the congregation is the actor, the minister/priest merely the prompter, and God the audience." (Søren Kierkegaard. Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, New York: Harper & Row, 1956, pp 180-181. Quoted in Erickson, "Liturgical Participation" Worship 59 (1985) p 232.)

8. C. S. Lewis. "As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning how to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you do not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect liturgy would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God." (C.S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm, London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1964, p 4.)

9. Robert F. Taft. Christian liturgy is a religious rite of the Church in which the whole Church renders visibly present and publicly celebrates the mystery of our salvation already accomplished once and for all by Christ i.e., the mystery of his life in us, thanking and glorifying God for this gift of divine life in order that this life might be intensified in those that participate in the sacred mysteries of the liturgy for the remission of their sins and the fulfillment of the kingdom to come, and in order that this life might be communicated to all men and women, for the building up of the Church into a kingdom of salvation for all, to the perpetual glorification of God according to God’s own express will. (Robert F. Taft S.J. Unpublished lecture notes, University of Notre Dame, 1981.)

10. Tad Guzie. A sacrament is a festive action in which Christians assemble to celebrate their lived experience and to call to heart their common story. The action is a symbol of God’s care for us in Christ. Enacting the symbol brings us closer to one another in the church and to the Lord who is there for us. (Tad Guzie. The Book of Sacramental Basics, New York: Paulist Press, 1981, p 53.)

11. David N. Power. The liturgy is an action wherein the testimony of God is heard and appropriated, the experience of the community is transformed, and a godly presence disclosed. (David N. Power. Unsearchable Riches: The Symbolic Nature of the Liturgy, New York: Pueblo, 1984, p 146.)

12. Richard M. Gula. Sacraments are symbolic actions manifesting the offer of God’s saving love for us in Christ and through the Spirit in the Church. In the sacraments, we respond to God’s self-giving and draw closer not only to God but also to one another in the Church. (Richard M. Gula, S.S. To Walk Together Again. Paulist Press, 1984, p 77.)

13. Paul Tillich.  Any object or event is sacramental in which the transcendent is perceived to be the present.  Sacramental objects are holy objects, laden with divine power. (Doors to the Sacred. Liguori/Triumph, 2001, p 3.)

14. Second Vatican Council. For the liturgy, "making the work of our redemption a present actuality," most of all in the divine sacrifice of the eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church. (Vatican Council II. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, article 2.)

Second Vatican Council. "The purpose of the sacraments is to make people holy, to build up the Body of Christ, and finally to give worship to God; but being signs they also have a teaching function. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called ‘sacraments of faith.’ They do indeed impart grace, but in addition the very act of celebrating them disposes the faithful most effectively to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God rightly, and to practice charity." (Vatican Council II. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, article 59.)

The Second Vatican Council defines liturgy by the very way the chapters of the text are arranged: Christ, Eucharist, Sacraments, Hours, Time, Music, Environment.

1. General Principles for the Reform and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy
2. The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist
3. The Other Sacraments and the Sacramentals
4. Divine Office
5. The Liturgical Year
6. Sacred Music
7. Sacred Art And Sacred Furnishings

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Michael Himes
Principle of Sacramentality

Example:  Mother's Day.  Because we love mother always, on all days, we have one day when we notice, accept and celebrate that love. 

Example:  Birthday

Example:  Sacred Place   A place (a church, Lourdes, etc) is not holy as opposed to other places which are not holy.  All places are God’s places.  All places are equally present to God. But if all places are God’s places, there must be a sacrament of God’s place.  There must be some place where we notice, accept, and celebrate God’s Presence.

Example:  Sacred Time  All time is God’s time.  Sunday is the day of the Lord.  Sunday is the day we notice, accept, and celebrate the fact that all time is God’s time.  Sunday is the sacrament of God’s omni-presence. 

[Notes from a lecture "Jesus Yesterday, Today and Forever: A Christology Update, (Pathways to the Third Millennium Breaking the Catechetical Impasse) by Rev. Michael Himes. Father Himes is here speaking of the universal salvific will of God and the specificity of salvation through Christ; he sets out to update Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo with the Second Vatican Council’s enlarged vision of sacrament.]

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To Think About

During the 2007 summer course "Introduction to the Sacraments" I asked the participants write an essay (of between 800 and 1200 words) in which they would define “sacrament” and defend their definition showing its richness theologically and its usefulness pastorally and catechetically.  After reading the 15 essays, I have the following observations:

As I read the essays I was struck by how operative (even if unconsciously) the teaching of Trent is after 500 years of theological development!   When speaking of "theological development" the Second Vatican Council stated: 

This tradition which comes from the Apostles develops in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down. This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts (see Luke, 2:19, 51) through a penetrating understanding of the spiritual realities which they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through episcopal succession the sure gift of truth. For as the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her.  (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, #8.   Emphasis added)

Look into your "unconscious" (under the iceberg) and see if -- despite the definition you elaborated in your essay -- the operative definition of “sacrament” is "1) an outward sign 2) instituted by Christ 3) to give grace.”  If so, examine each of those three elements.2. Is the definition large enough to include “Jesus in his humanity” and “Church” as sacraments? 7 meaning of seven, 3 orders, etc.

1.  an outward sign    The "sign" function of the sacrament is key.  The definition must include a visible and an invisible element and a "bridging" between the two.  

1.2.  A mechanical worldview or an interpersonal worldview   Trent received its vocabulary from the scholastics who spoke a language which they received and adapted from the ancient Greek philosophers.   Vatican II uses a more biblical vocabulary.  This has many implications for the sacraments:

1.2.1.  Noun / verb   Ask:  Is “sacrament” envisioned as a dynamic event/interaction (e.g. verb) or envisioned as a static “thing” (noun)?   How is “sign” understood?  It is in some way a “bridge” activity uniting two persons (here: Church & God).  In my own reflections on sacrament, the most helpful metaphor I have found is sexual intercourse between two loving persons.

1.3.  God   The God of Aristotle:  pure being, removed from creation, etc.  God of Jesus:  Abba, Father.  For many Catholics, "getting the Bible out of the Attic" involves rethinking "where God lives" and will cause God to "move" to a new address.  [This refers, of course, to the immanence / transcendence issue.  Many Catholics find that the God of the Bible is much more immanent than the God of Aristotle -- and the God of the Catechism of Trent.]

1.4.  Rooted in Scripture  Vatican II uses a biblical vocabulary.  This has many implications for the sacraments:

Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from scripture that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning. Thus to achieve the restoration, progress, and adaptation of the sacred liturgy, it is essential to promote that warm and living love for scripture to which the venerable tradition of both eastern and western rites gives testimony.   (Constitution on the Liturgy, #24.  Emphasis added.) 

In the definition of scripture which you posted for homework, how often do you quote Sacred Scripture as one of your principal sources?  Does your definition include key biblical concepts such as "mysterion" "anamnesis" "epiclesis"?  Or is your definition primarily philosophical?   Is your definition large enough to include "Jesus in his humanity" and "Church" as sacraments?

2.  instituted by Christ   Here you should once again look under the iceberg and see how operative are your studies in Church history and your understanding of the development of doctrine which you have studied in systematic theology.  "For as the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her."  (For example, ask yourself why Ordination to the deaconate is a sacrament and why the Solemn Profession of Religious Vows is not a sacrament.) 

2.1. Historical development   The historical development of the sacramental rites is important for understanding the sacraments today.   “those who learned directly from the Apostles...” Did any of the apostles do sacraments? E.g. hear confessions, perform marriages, etc? 3) move grace to a more personal encounter.

3.  to give grace   Is grace envisioned as a thing, or quantity of something or as the interpersonal relationship of love with God? E.g. Is grace seen as God or as something apart from God? Has God moved?

3.1.  Metaphor: Grace is like Electricity

3.1.1.  Council of Trent Grace: There is an electrical socket in the wall. And I have a lamp I want to light up. I plug the lamp cord in the wall and electricity flows from the socket in the wall through the cord to the light bulb and the bulb lights up. When the sacraments are properly administered – when the proper minister puts “matter” together with “form” – grace flows from God (the wall socket) to the recipient (the lamp) and the recipient receives grace (lights up).

3.1.2.  Vatican II Grace: A young couple is celebrating the first anniversary of their marriage. He tells her that there will be a surprise and when he arrives home from work he shows her reservations at her favorite little restaurant where – over great wine and good food – they remembering their wedding day and reminisce about the wonderful life they have together. They return home and have awesome, ecstatic sex. It’s electric!

3.2.  Who receives this grace?   Question:  When we speak of "giving grace" who receives the grace?  Answer:  the one receiving the sacrament.  Question:  and who is "the one receiving the sacrament"?  As you answer that question, look again under your iceberg.  For example, infant baptism.  Is the one receiving the sacrament the infant being baptized or the entire parish?   [Until this development in understanding of the "recipient" takes place, parishes will not understand why we baptize infants during Sunday Eucharist.]

Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the "sacrament of unity," namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops.  Therefore liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the Church; they manifest it and have effects upon it; but they concern the individual members of the Church in different ways, according to their differing rank, office, and actual participation.  (Constitution on the Liturgy, #26.  Emphasis added.) 

It is to be stressed that whenever rites, according to their specific nature, make provision for communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful, this way of celebrating them is to be preferred, so far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and quasi-private.  (Constitution on the Liturgy, 27.  Emphasis added.) 

3.3.  Private / Personal  In our American culture we tend to equate "personal" with private (individual) and things which are group activities, communal activities we often consider "impersonal".   However sacraments are always both personal and communal -- they are never private or individual. 

A culture which is oriented to efficiency and production has made us insensitive to the symbolic function of persons and things. Also, the same cultural emphasis on individuality and competition has made it more difficult for us to appreciate the liturgy as a personal-communal experience. As a consequence, we tend to identify anything private and individual as "personal." But, by inference, anything communal and social is considered impersonal. For the sake of good liturgy, this misconception must be changed. (USCCB, Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, #16.  Emphasis added.)

3.4.  Do the sacraments do more that just "give grace"? 

The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify us, to build up the body of Christ, and, finally, to give worship to God; because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called "sacraments of faith." They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity.  (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, #59.  Emphasis added.)

3.5. To build up the body of Christ  The "mission" dimension of each sacrament needs to be given its proper emphasis and value.  The Eucharist has four movements:  Gathering / Story Telling / Meal Sharing / Commissioning.  The Eucharist is the first sacrament and gives its shape to all the sacraments; consequently the MISSION element (commissioning) is important in each and all of the sacraments.  (Refer to 3.2 above –too many think the sacraments are “for the recipient”, meaning one person.)

3.6  Catechesis  In today's overly busy world, if we are to hand on the faith to the next generation, we have to make every word, gesture, moment "count".  

3.6.1  In our celebration of the sacraments, the signs must communicate clearly and efficiently.

Although the sacred liturgy is above all things the worship of the divine Majesty, it likewise contains much instruction for the faithful. For in the liturgy God speaks to His people and Christ is still proclaiming His gospel. And the people reply to God both by song and prayer.  (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, #33.  Emphasis added.)

3.6.2.  In our catechesis of the sacraments, we must select those elements which are of most importance to the fruitful celebration of the sacraments.   In your definition of sacrament, which elements are important and which are merely "interesting"? 

4.  June 17, 2007 "Thoughts"

4.1  While it is relatively easy to receive new facts and to rearrange our information on top of the iceberg.  It takes much longer for a similar revision of our subconscious categories.
For example:  after having read the assignments for the course which concludes today I wonder if Catholics think of sacraments in a unified way or whether they are still in the seven "shoe boxes"?  This became especially apparent in discussing the order of the sacraments and the role of the Holy Spirit.

4.2  While the function of the Holy Spirit is now evident in the epiclesis of our current Eucharistic prayers in the Roman Rite, I believe a similar change has not happened under the iceberg where the focus is still on the words of Christ in consecration.  The Eucharist does not seem to have much relation to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is still associated with confirmation.

4.3  Ministry:  it is difficult for Catholics to "think outside the box" in relation to ministry.  Even if 40 years ago the Second Vatican Council "took Baptism out of the attic", Catholics still identify the Catholic church with clergy.  They are the ones who make the decisions, they are the ones called to holiness, they are the ones formed in the image of Christ, etc.

4.4  In the discussion on Marriage it became clear that there are no uniform definitions of sacrament.  There are times when sacrament has a juridical definition and there are times when sacrament has a very fluid definition.  The discussions that take place on top of the iceberg seem to have little influence on our subconscious.

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© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 12/05/07 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at webmaster2@tomrichstatter.org.