It\u2019s a Sunday morning after a long, busy week of facing a thousand demands that have pulled you in as many directions. The alarm goes off, beckoning you to get out of our warm, comfy bed to get ready for Mass. Haven\u2019t we all been tempted at some point to turn off the alarm and choose sleep instead? To listen to that little voice trying to justify our choice by telling ourselves we can just \u2018go direct\u201d to God by praying from our nice, warm bed and reading Scripture at home? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or maybe this is a struggle you face with your children who resist going to Mass. If God is everywhere, why do I need to go to Mass? Or maybe they challenge the sacraments altogether. Why do I have to formally confess my sins to a priest rather than just confess them directly to God? In an increasingly informal world, why does the Church impose the structure and formality surrounding the sacraments? Do we really need these rites?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sacraments are Christ\u2019s invitation to us.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you wanted to deepen your relationship with someone and they invited you to join them in an intimate meal in which they poured themselves out to you in a way that nourished you physically and spiritually, is that an invitation you would accept?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus has extended that invitation to us. Throughout salvation history, He has made it clear that He yearns to meet us exactly where we are. God became man. The Divine humbled Himself in the most extraordinary way- by assuming a human nature- all so that man could encounter Him in our humanity and know Him more fully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That self-emptying love of Christ and His desire to be fully present to us did not end with His death and Resurrection. Jesus instituted the sacraments as an open invitation to enable all of us to encounter Him and receive His graces while we are still in this world. As our Creator, God knows that one of the most fundamental ways we connect is through a communal meal. There\u2019s just something about breaking bread that brings people together. In His Wisdom, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the divine communal meal. By calling us together to receive the Bread of Life, God assembles His People, nourishes and strengthens us with His very Being, and deepens our union with Him and one another. We are changed for our good and the good of all the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sacraments are set apart from the rest of the world by design.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some might criticize the Church for not evolving with the times. The world has gotten informal. The sacraments are anything but. Why hasn\u2019t the Church changed the sacraments to conform to the world\u2019s expectations? The answer is simply that the sacraments are celebrated in accordance with God\u2019s design and purpose, not the world\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think for a moment about what our human existence has become- how much chaos and noise currently permeate every aspect of our being. Through the sacraments, Jesus has called us to leave that chaos and enter into a space, a time, and most importantly an action, which is set apart from the rest of the world and is focused entirely on Him.[1]<\/a> Anyone who participates in a sacrament should be struck by the reality that they are encountering something that is not of this secular world, but which transcends it. They are encountering the sacred, in which man can find \u201can experience of being overwhelmed by a power that he can neither summon nor control.\u201d[2]<\/a> There is something profound happening, not merely words being spoken by a priest, but a Mass being \u201ccelebrated\u201d.[3]<\/a> And it isn\u2019t celebrated in isolation, but is a social function, a physical event, manifested in visible forms. We come together to profess that we believe what Jesus revealed in His teaching, His death and Resurrection, that He is the bread of life that comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die. (Jn<\/em> 6:35, 48, 49.) \u201cThe liturgy expresses in concrete images what for the mind is difficult to grasp.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In entering into these sacred actions, by separating ourselves from the common routine of everyday life in order to come together to worship God, we accept God\u2019s invitation to transcend the confines of our own ego-centric lives and acknowledge the truth that He is calling us to union with Him in ways that we simply cannot achieve on our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sacraments Aren\u2019t Just a Pretty Ceremony- They Effect Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One undeniably beautiful aspect of the Sacraments is that these outward signs direct us towards God and enable us to glimpse the spiritual and eternal.[5]<\/a> But they are so much more! The sacraments aren\u2019t merely religious ceremonies to symbolize God\u2019s love, these signs of God\u2019s grace actually effect change within us. (CCC 1131.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the Sacraments, God dispenses His power and love gratuitously upon us so that they don\u2019t merely point us toward God, but they actually accomplish our sanctification through their effects. Through the celebration of Holy Communion in the Mass, the Bread actually becomes the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord. We receive nourishment through the Lord\u2019s true body as a result of God\u2019s love that is poured out upon the altar every single time Mass is celebrated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are truly cleansed of our sins, forgiveness is actually obtained, not merely signified. By participating in the sacraments and receiving these graces, we are not only directed in the Truth of God\u2019s saving Love for us, but they become salvific forces in our lives.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Danger of Substituting Our Plan of Salvation for God\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if we understand what the sacraments are and what they do, the real question isn\u2019t whether we need the sacraments, but why aren\u2019t we running to them? Why are we trying to meet God according to our own Plan? On our own terms?\u00a0 If we are being completely honest with ourselves, it is because we all struggle with pride, with embracing the reality that we are not God and cannot dictate when and how we encounter Him. God alone determines how He will manifest Himself to us.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 We, the recipients of His love, are fully dependent on that power which is a complete gift to us.\u00a0 No matter how hard we try, we cannot produce it upon our own authority.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Jesus revealed to us through His historical life and suffering, that He would manifest Himself to us by becoming Bread for us, ever present in the Eucharist.\u00a0 His Plan of Salvation has been made clear.\u00a0 Now we need only decide if we want to take our place, play our part, in God\u2019s history with mankind.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 When we accept His invitation in the sacraments, we not only encounter Him most fully, but we also are following the path of salvation God Himself designed to lead us to eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]<\/a> Pieper, J. (1990). In search of the sacred\u202f: contributions to an answer<\/em>. Ignatius Press, pp.14-15, 22-23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Benedict XVI, P. (2014). Theology of the liturgy<\/em><\/a>: the sacramental foundation of Christian existence \/ Joseph Ratzinger\u202f; edited by Michael J. Miller\u202f; translated by John Saward, Kenneth Baker, Henry Taylor, et al.<\/em> Ignatius Press..<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> Pieper, p.26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> Pieper, p.27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> Theology of the liturgy<\/em>, p.158.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a> Theology of the liturgy.<\/em> P.164.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7]<\/a> Theology of the liturgy.<\/em> p. 167.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [8]<\/a> Theology of the liturgy.<\/em> p. 167.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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