Transcript Sacraments - CCRS @ Brighton and Bexhill

Sacraments
Outward sign of inward
grace
Session Three
Today’s session




Outward sign of inward grace...recap
Daily rituals which achieve what they signify
Sacraments as signs of the Church
Baptism
Sources

CCC – n1077 and n1213

SC n29
Sacramental Principle – Divine
Perspective



Everything is, in principle, capable of
embodying and communicating the divine.
God is at once everywhere and all powerful.
There is no finite instrument that God cannot
put to use.
Sacramental Principle – Human
Perspective




human beings have nothing else apart from
finite instruments to express our own
response to God's self-communication.
the divine reaches us through the finite
we reach the divine through the finite.
This is the sacramental encounter
–
for Christians the ultimate sacramental encounter
with God is Jesus Christ.
Relationships


Primarily God relates at a communal level not a
private and individual one
Never simply transactions between the divine and
this person
–

clearly that as well – but not primarily or exclusively
God touches all of humankind, and the human
community as a whole responds to its experience of
the divine through a sacramental mode.
Sacramental Definition

Widest Sense:
–
Any finite reality through which the divine is
perceived to be disclosed and communicated,
and through which our human response to the
divine assumes some measure of shape, form
and structure.
Ecclesiological events

Finite realities
–

Sacraments are directly ecclesiological in character.
–
–

through which God is communicated to the Church and
through which the Church responds to God's selfcommunication.
Christ is mediated through the Church.
The Church is the sign and instrument of God’s Reign
Christian moral life is Christian existence, i.e., our
way of being Church.
Actions of Christ through the Church

The Church is “The Sacrament of Universal
Salvation” (LG 48)
–

The sacraments are acts of God
–

the fundamental sacrament of God's promise and
deliverance of the Kingdom of God in Jesus
Christ.
acts of Christ
Immediately acts of the Church
Manifestions of the Church

Sacraments are expressions of the nature and
mission of the Church.
–

The sacraments are not simply actions which the Church
performs, or means by which the Church makes grace
available. They are moments when the Church becomes
Church, manifesting itself as Church to itself and to others.
Sacraments do not only relate participants to God
they also relate them immediately to the Church.
–
The lasting effect of the sacrament is one of relationship to
the Church.
Baptism

Baptism allowed Christians to break with
their life histories up to that point.

The newly baptised felt that their lives were
starting all over again.

In baptism they surrendered their old identity
and discovered a new one in Jesus Christ.
Baptism – a new birth





A new self – defined by God
A liberation – from everything else but God
An immersion into God’s redeeming love
So a totally changed person and...
A new family of brothers and sisters
New Testament origins

Within Judaism there were initiatory rites
associated with water. When gentiles
became Jews part of the ceremony was a
water bath (and circumcision for males)

John’s baptism emphasised repentance to
prepare for the coming of the Messiah – and
he saw it as temporary
Jesus’ baptism

By water and the Holy Spirit

Mt 3:11 and Lk 3:16
Transition from Judaism to
Christianity

Pre-paschal baptisms - see Jn 3:22 and 4:
1-4

An apparent rift between disciples of Jesus
and those of John

Pentecost: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2: 1-39
Early initiatory experience




Water baptism remained as well as baptism
in the Spirit
Normal initiation followed a sequence...
Gospel proclaimed; conversion; water bath;
post-baptismal teaching; fellowship in the
Spirit; breaking of bread; prayers
Acts 2:42
Early practice of baptism




Didache ; Justin’s Apology; Tertullian;
Hippolytus d c 236 - Apostolic Tradition –
Baptism 3 years preparation; evangelisation,
moral formation, sponsorship; gradual
inclusion in the liturgical life of the community
Ceremony: fasting, prayer, scrutiny, oil of
exorcism, profession of faith, water baptism
by immersion, imposition of hands, anointing
by bishop
Baptismal ceremony





Preparation: severe fasting, intense prayer
Examination by the Bishop
Oil of exorcism, profession of faith,
water baptism by immersion, imposition of
hands,
anointing by Bishop
Theology of Baptism





Is a later development in Paul and 1 John
and 1 Peter
Col 2:12; Eph 2:1-6; Phil 3:10-11
Baptism incorporates us into the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus
1 Cor 12:12-14, 27
And into the Body of Christ
Theology cont

Acts 2:38 - a baptism of repentance

Acts 8:37 – expresses belief in the Good
News
Eph 5:26 – baptism purifies
Rom 6:11 - we become dead to sin and alive
to God in Christ Jesus


And it requires of us

Rom 6:12-23 - we must lead a different kind
of life, ‘not under law but under grace’

2 Cor 4:10 - the Christ life is a living out of
the Paschal mystery that our baptism
celebrates
Council of Trent 1547 - doctrine






Baptism is valid whoever administers it
Necessary for salvation
Imposes obligations to lead a holy life
Its grace can be lost though serious sin
It can never be repeated – indelible
Can be administered to infants and children
Vatican 2




LG – Baptism incorporates us into the
Church
Orients us to the worship of God
Gives us rebirth as sons and daughters of
God (LG 11)
Is our initiation into the Paschal mystery (n7)
Vatican 2

Calls us to witness as a priestly , apostolic
and holy people (Decree on the Laity n11,2,3)

Baptism is a bond of unity and a source of
potentially full unity among the divided
Christian communities (Decree on Ecumenism n
22)

Reintroduced the Catechumenate - RCIA
Ceremony today






Ideally Holy Saturday night
Instruction by the celebrant
A litany
Blessing of the water
Renunciation of satan
Anointing with the oil of catechumens
profession of faith
Ceremony cont






Profession of faith
Pouring of the water
Invocation of the Trinity [name] I baptise
you in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit
Anointing
Clothing with white garment
Presentation of lighted candle
Baptism



Uses symbols of oil, water, light, white
garment
Links with the story of the Pasch, Jesus’ life,
death and resurrection
Engages us in themes of rebirth, new life,
forgiveness of sin, worship of God, the
mission of the Church
Baptism and the Church




Is also about the Church which shows itself
as a community, the Body of Christ rather
than an institution
Identified with the suffering and death of
Christ so that it can point the way to Christ’s
glory
A forgiving community in need of forgiveness
“ a holy people”
A sharing in God


The glorious goodness of God shines forth in
Jesus “It is through him that God’s greatest and
most precious promises have become
available to human beings, making it
possible for you to escape the inevitable
disintegration that lust produces in the
world and to share in God’s essential
nature” 2 Pet 1:4
Baptism




Makes us free to seek God
Enables us to become partakers of the
divine nature
To become fully human
To share in the life of God
What is the challenge today?

Infant baptism?

A meaningful ceremony ?