Jonathan T.

Raagas

AB 1 St. Bonaventure

Other religion also makes use of sacraments, and Catholics would be utterly surprised to
know this. In order to have a clear understanding of the statement, one has to historically trace
how the meaning of word sacramentum evolved over time until the present. As a common
ground with other religions, the sacraments are defined as any ritual or object, person or place as
a symbol of the sacred or the mysterious. The generous application of this term leads us to
conclude that all the religions of the world are full of sacraments. Of course, sacred or
mysterious does not necessarily imply the supernatural but can mean the important or the
humanly meaningful.
At first, various perspectives in viewing the sacraments such as psychological, social and
theological may seem contradictory. Nevertheless, one could arrive at a synthesis by considering
each of these perspectives as complementary to each other. By understanding the sacramental
ritual as social rituals that publicly dramatize some change in social status, one has to affirm that
this is in no way contrary to the traditional understanding of the sacraments. In fact sacraments,
particularly Baptism, Matrimony and Holy Orders signify a change in status. In baptism for
instance, one becomes an heir of heaven, a child of God and a member of the Church.
Indeed, rituals are intensification ceremonies by solemnizing some permanent reality or
value. Catholic sacraments as they are uniquely anamnetic for through the operation of the
Holy Spirit, they make present in the Church the saving works of God both in the past and in the
future and converge them to the present. This holds true especially in the proclamation of the
Word and in the liturgical signs of bread and wine, water and fire, oil, etc. Moreover, the
sacraments strengthen ones identification with Christ and intensifies communion with fellow
Christians, bringing about a heightened sense of gratitude that impels one to lift up the heart.
Sacramental rituals as symbolic expressions of sacred realities can only be recognized
and accepted by those who have faith. Faith serves as a key to be able to enter through the doors
of the sacred since it enables one to grasp and value what the sacraments signify and thereby
benefit from them.
Materiality plays an essential role in the concept of sacrament. Gratia supponit naturam.
Grace does not supply a new nature, but works in the nature it finds. It is a supernature, but it
does not supersede nature. In order to communicate his divine life to us God, so to say, uses
whatever is available in the order of nature such as space, time and matter. When used at the
service of the sacred, these take upon new meaning, as if flowing from another order of reality,
so that in the sacramental rituals, one could say that the tangible intermingles with the intangible,
and the temporal meets the eternal.

What makes Catholic sacraments unique is their source which is the mystery of the Word
made flesh. In the fullness of time God sent his Son (Ga. 4:4). With the mystery of the
Incarnation, all that pertains to humanity and the cosmos acquires a whole new meaning and
dignity. Everything is sanctified through the coming of Jesus Christ, Author of the sacraments. In
fact, he is the Sacrament par excellence the Sacrament of God. St. Paul refers to Him as the
visible sign of the invisible God (2 Co. 4:4; Col. 1:15) All the power that the sacraments
possess flows from himself as from a single inexhaustible source. "What was visible in our
Savior has passed over into his mysteries" (Pope Leo the Great).
Above all, the role of the Church as dispenser of Christs mysteries is indispensable in knowing
how sacraments operate. In fact, the Church herself is a fundamental sacrament the
sacramentum salutis. In space and time, especially in the liturgy, the memory of the Church,
she makes it possible for people throughout history to come in contact with the Risen Christ and
receive the pledge of an indestructible life by means of signs and symbols.