February 27, 2009
The Christian Journey
Sacraments: Drawing us into mystery of God’s love in Jesus
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
Have you ever said, “I’m going to the Mass program next Sunday morning,” “Our parish is having a Penance program during Lent,” or “Our Wedding program is being celebrated next weekend.”
We never speak of the Mass, a Reconciliation service or a wedding ceremony as a “program,” do we? It even sounds odd to speak of the Mass, a Reconciliation service or a wedding ceremony as “programs,” does it not, because they are Sacraments! Then, why do many of us call the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) a “program?” The RCIA is NOT a program. The RCIA is a liturgical rite! The RCIA is described in the official ritual’s Introduction as “This rite includes not simply the celebration of the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist, but also all the rites belonging to the catechumenate” (paragraph 2).
The RCIA is an example of a “paradigm shift” or a new blueprint of how the Church understands a sacrament today (again, it is an ancient vision). The RCIA urges us to think differently about the seven sacraments. They are not solitary celebrations. Rather, each sacrament involves a gradual process within the Church community.
If we can arrive at this understanding of sacraments, Catholics may eventually change their “consumerist” attitude of the sacraments. Crassly put, a euphemism for a “consumerist attitude” is a “grocery store” mentality. When we need something from the Church, we come and “get it.” Unfortunately, anyone with a consumerist attitude of the sacraments fails to recognize how the sacrament initiates us into the life of the Church (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist – B-C-E), or re-connects us to the community (reconciliation and anointing of the sick — R-A), or deepens our union with the Church in a particular ministry (marriage and ordination — M-O). The sacrament becomes an isolated “thing” devoid of any connection with the faith community.
The RCIA emphasizes how the Sacraments are like a “spiritual journey” that “varies according to God’s grace, the individual’s free cooperation, the Church’s action, and the circumstances of time and place” (RCIA, par. 6). Any journey has various elements — modes of transportation, the number of miles driven daily (depending upon weather; or a desire to sleep in or hit the road early), advance hotel reservations or “taking our chances,” a good atlas and map-reader. Each element is crucial if we are to arrive at our final destination, which is likewise influenced by unforeseeable things happening along the way — we may arrive later/sooner than planned (due to a flat tire, minor accident, good weather; new roads).
The RCIA is attempting to restore a beautiful understanding of God’s grace gradually unfolding and working in our lives — all along the way — leading to the celebration of a sacrament, which then ushers us either into a new relationship with God and God’s People (B-C-E), a deeper relationship (M-O), or a renewed one (R-A). Vatican II has returned to the Church’s “storeroom” and has restored this precious awareness of “Sacrament,” which can change our attitude of the sacraments from “things” to “encounters with the living Christ in the Church.”
If we dare to examine the underlying RCIA blueprint of sacrament, the Holy Spirit will lead us to other major changes in the Sacraments, which will renew the understanding of ourselves as Church. Many changes to our Sacraments will probably not occur during our lifetime. The sacraments have experienced many changes during the Church’s long history. The Church’s attentive care to any future changes in her sacramental celebrations must ensure that above all else they express and draw us ever more deeply into the “mystery of God’s love in Jesus” (RCIA, par.37).