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catholicherald.org February 28, 2019
My name is Fr. Peter Berger. I was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2005. Currently, I serve as pastor of St. Mary Visitation Parish in Elm Grove. In this Catholic Herald column, I would like to focus on the sacraments of the Church. It is the sacraments that are the primary means by which God grants us his grace to grow and develop into the men and women he has created us to be and, through them, to conform us into the image of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Over the course of the coming months, Id like to examine each of the sacraments individually. In order to begin, we have to take a step back and consider what a sacrament is. For those of you old enough to remember your Baltimore Catechism, you will recall that a sacrament is defined as, an outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace. The glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church definesasacramentasanicacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. CCC 774, 1131). It is important to see these two complementary definitions and see the emphasis they make in defining a sacrament. he first emphasis these definitions place upon a sacrament is that it is instituted by Christ. A sacrament, in order to be a sacrament, must be instituted by Christ himself - it is not up to us to create or dispense with a sacrament, because they flow from the divine mandate of the Son of God himself. In fact, each of the sacraments carries on in the life of the Church one of the essential aspects of Christs ministry. The second important thing to point out about these definitions is that a sacrament is a signin other words, it is something visible. This does not mean that one can always see the effects of the sacrament, but it does mean that its celebration can be seen. This is why every sacrament uses something material in its administration. These physical realities become, thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit, vehicles which can bring about spiritual realities. For instance, the oil used in the Anointing of the Sick, is the vehicle for the graces of that sacrament to be conferred on a person - we can see that oil, it can be touched and felt, and for that sacrament to be conferred, oil must be used. We will look at this more in-depth as we examine each sacrament individually. For now, its important to point out that this is what is known as the matter of the sacrament, the physical reality used in the sacrament is called the matter,whereas the proper prayers that accompany the sacraments are called the formof the sacrament. Its part of our Catholic understanding to see Gods creation as imbued with the gifts of God, which can be used to reveal him. his is known as a sacramental understanding or worldview. This is why Catholics love to have tangible reminders of their faith - statues and religious images and rosaries and incense and pilgrimages - physical realities manifesting and making more clear spiritual realities. he third thing these definitions point out is that sacraments are given to us to confer grace. Grace is defined by the Catechism as the free and undeserEed gift that God gives us to respond to our vocation to become his adopted children. In this sense then, we see that grace is nothing less than a share in Gods own life. here are different types of grace, in the case of the sacraments, we are speaking of sacramental grace which are gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us to live out our Christian vocation. Finally, the definition of the Catechism shows us that the sacraments are integral and foundational part of the life of the Church. They have, in fact, been entrusted to the Church.he Church then, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, regulates the celebration of the sacraments and guards them. In our next article, we will look at the number and types of sacraments. (This article is part of a series of articles on The Sacraments, which will appear in the Catholic Herald during the coming months.)
An Introduction to the Sacraments
THE SACRAMENTS
FR. PETER BERGER
FROM our OWN
COLLEEN JURKIEWICZ CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF
Fr. Peter Berger was ordained in 2005 and is the pastor of St. Marys Visitation in Elm Grove. He previously served at Lumen Christi Parish in Mequon and as the vocation director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. His series on the sacraments of the Church was originally published in the St. arys isitation bulletin. I thought that writing the series in the form of bulletin articles would allow people to digest the information in small, easily read articles that would, taken together, give them a nice picture of the sacramental life of the Church and, hopefully, a deeper understanding of it, said Fr. Berger. What was your purpose in writing these articles? I started writing this series from the approach of lex orandi, lex credendi - the law of prayer is the law of belief. As Catholics, we believe what we pray and pray what we believe, so we are able then to approach the rituals of the sacraments themselves in order to understand more fully that which we believe is unfolding in them. What do you hope the reader takes away from these articles? I hope that the readers walk away with a deeper understanding of the sacraments themselves and, through that understanding, grow in their understanding of the centrality of the sacraments for their lives as well as a deeper understanding of what God is doing in and through them. Is there a certain aspect of the sacraments that, in your experience, all Catholics can better understand? One of the first things that I would say is that while we may be familiar with the sacraments, be very careful of becoming oEerly familiarwith them,
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