Prior to this reading, when I thought of the word sacrament I always thought of the seven sacraments of the church. I was not aware of the wide scope of our lives that are a part of sacramental theology. This reading has really opened up for me the meaning of sacrament in the Church. In speaking of how the idea of sacrament has changed in the church Mark Searle writes "From speaking of sacraments as a 'means of grace' to speaking of them as encounters with Christ himself; from thinking of them primarily as acts of God to thinking of them mainly as celebrations of the faith community; from seeing sacraments as momentary incursions from another world to seeing them as manifestations of the graces character of all human life" (Johnson 29). This quote really summarized for me what I had read in the first chapter of Vorgrimer. A sacramental theology or view of the world means that we see God's presence in every person, every being, everything we encounter in God's creation. Seeing the world in this way brings about a new respect and awe for creation and all that God has created to show God's love and draw us closer to God's self. "That means that not only the 'official' high points of this life are realization and expression of the presence of God, God's love and God's salvation, but that God is also expressed in the tiniest and most humdrum parts of life" (Vorgrimer 17). This is such a beautiful reminder of the way we are called to see the Divine presence in all that is around us, something I needed a reminder of this week. I think about what this means for me on days when I feel stressed out, in those moments I need to realize and reflect on all the symbols of God's love that surround me. This reminds me of a
song that was one of my father's favorites, he said it helped him to "see the extraordinary in the ordinary". I think that is what sacramental theology calls us to do. What other themes of sacrament did you draw from the readings?
Rose, I appreciate the broader sense of sacramentality that you are pointing out here, and I love this version of the hymn as sung by Cat Stevens. :-)
ReplyDeleteWithout understanding and accepting a greater sense of sacramentality, the official sacraments of the Church miss out on their clear connection to God's self-communication in human life and experience. If I can perceive God's self-communication in creation, in history, in relationships, then the sacramental moments of Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance etc, will become all the more engaging and transformative. They become heightened experiences of divine presence and encounter that connect our lived experience to the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ, and transform us through it toward redemption.
Some might say that looking for God's presence in a sunrise or in the Grand Canyon can become pantheistic and lead one away from authentic revelation. I think the challenge is how to sense God in the sunrise and Grand Canyon so that we can encounter God more fully in Baptism, Eucharist, Penance, etc. In other words, how does sacramentality invite us more fully into Sacrament? Blessings,DZSJ
Dear Rose & Class,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great synopsis. I found it fascinating that in my readings I had also singled out the observations of Mark Searle, hi-lighting them in bright yellow, as those most clear in their thought provoking juxtapositions. This short extract reversed the complexity of the Church’s theological transition from traditional (neo-Thomistic) Scholasticism through the Nouvelle Theologie inspired existentialism of Rahner by transforming concepts into actualities. To remodel the meaning of a sacrament to “an encounter with Christ” is to make it real. This is emphatically expressed by Vorgrimler (17,18), who states, “A separation of reality into sacred and profane realms is impossible within Christian faith.” This serves as affirmation of the incarnate essence of God’s Being-in-the-World, speaking through all of nature, especially in the resonant wood of the cross. Here, what was presumed to be nailed shut by the death of Jesus becomes liberated through the open consciousness of the Christ, allowing one and all initiation and entry into the resplendent mystical body. The author then invites us into Spirit, into “accepting as authentic the theological developments that go beyond the Synoptics and are connected with the names of Paul and John.” These are the Apostles who have “seen the Risen Christ” (last week), who experienced radical conversion by mystical revelation; who would become patterns of the pattern for us. The Church established by both St. Paul and the Johannine community, as ecclesia, as those called out, embodied this spiritualized seeing and was thus able to witness, to gaze upon…the presence of God, which according to the poetic Rahner, “makes a breakthrough within the human heart, and reaches the level of human consciousness.” The manifestation of this collective metanoia can be found in what Sullivan (123) calls, the “ecclesial communion” of peace. Now the church can become “a sign of salvation by being a holy people, since holiness consists in the love of God and neighbor.”
This is Church as Apostolic. This is Church as living Sacrament. This is Church.
Dear class,
ReplyDeleteRose, like you my initial understanding of sacraments was limited to my elementary knowledge that the Church has seven different sacraments to offer me. It represented a sort of Catholic checklist that I might be able to complete throughout my lifetime, with the exception of holy orders. An expanded and more in-depth perspective on sacramental theology has made me very grateful that the Church itself is “a sign and instrument” of such sacraments (Sullivan, 132). The Church is called to be a sign for others of God’s grace and also mediate this grace in visible ways. I really appreciate that Church some distant and exclusively divine enterprise that is passively revered. It seems as though the Church acts as a living and discernible sign of God’s love in which the Church is active in making certain that God’s love and grace is both known and shared with others to the fullest extent possible. I like how Sullivan makes an important note about the people of the Church “as ambassadors of Christ” (121). This has important implications for people in the Church to reflect individually what the Church stands for as a whole. If we take this seriously than our “encounters with Christ” will multiply (Johnson, 29).
The notion of “no salvation outside the Church” is off-putting, yet at least more understandable after reading Sullivan’s explanation of the historical and cultural contexts in which it originated and developed over time. As I read this section from Sullivan I wondered if people outside the Church have experienced any form of sacrament that would mean something for their salvation.
Thanks Rose for writing and sharing that wonderful song with us. I am inspired to think of all those sacramental moments and experiences in my daily life.