Fanning the Flame at 2620 Lebanon Avenue, Belleville, IL 6221 US - The Paschal Mystery (14)

Quick Reflection:

Our annual celebration of the Paschal Mystery begins on the evening of Holy Thursday and concludes three days later with the dawn of Easter.  It is only then that we realize this has been one continuous celebration of the Death and Resurrection of the Lord.  The Triduum of the Lord is liturgy “par excellence.”  Sadly few Catholics ever take the time to experience it all.  Having not followed Jesus in His dying and rising, is it any wonder then that we walk away from the empty tomb on Easter morning, still searching for the Lord?

      When we hear other Christians speak of “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ”, Catholics often feel left out, as if the Church offers us no such Faith experience, and begin to look elsewhere for the Lord.  The great treasury of the Sacraments celebrated in the Liturgy of the Church are overlooked or dismissed as ineffective.  We presume that because we have tried them and haven’t experienced an intense relationship with Christ as a result, they are not working.

     But it is precisely in the liturgical celebration of the Sacraments that we come to encounter Jesus Christ.  They are the great gift of Christ to His Church.  But liturgy takes work on our part.  It is only through our full, conscious, active participation in the liturgy of the Church, that our hearts and minds are opened to experience the risen Lord. If we truly want to encounter Jesus Christ, it is not less, but more participation in the liturgical life of the Church that we need.  Alleluia! Alleluia!

Commentary

“A Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ”

      At a parish town hall meeting held recently, a parishioner commented, “We are an above-average Catholic parish, but other non-Catholic Christian churches are much more successful in leading their members to Jesus Christ.”

     We Catholics, like everyone else, are influenced by the world in which we live.  Our world today places an extreme emphasis on the individual.  The community on the other hand is seen as important only insofar as it furthers individual interests.  Otherwise it is often viewed as hindrance.  This thinking applied to religion reduces the role of faith to bringing the individual into a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”  And many Catholics have unwittingly adopted this understanding of their faith.

     All Christian denominations believe that it is through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that we are saved.  From that point on, Christians differ.  “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior?” has become the questions most frequently asked today.  After that we are advised to go and find a church (“there are a lot of good ones out there”), as if it is a non-essential option.

     For Catholic Christians it is through the Church, the Body of Christ, that we are joined to Jesus Christ.  Ours is not only an individual relationship with Jesus Christ.  Our relationship with Christ is mediated in and through the Church.  It is joined together in a community of Faith that we encounter Jesus Christ.

     The Paschal Mystery-the Death and Resurrection of the Lord-is the starting point.  We refer to it as a “mystery” although it was witnessed by many who went so far as to give their lives in testimony of it.  In what sense then is it a mystery?  It also occurred two thousand years ago.  How is it still effective in our lives today?

     In the world of Sherlock Holmes a mystery is something that is hidden and will remain hidden forever until some detective discovers the clues that will reveal it.  Then it is no longer a secret.  In the language of the Church, a “mystery” is a reality that is at the same time both visible and hidden – even revealed, something remains hidden.  Such is the eternal plan of God for our salvation revealed to us in “the fullness of time.”  When we speak of the Paschal “Mystery” we are referring to the Death and Resurrection of the Lord as a visible sign that is at the same time an invisible act of God.  The Death and Resurrection of Christ is the visible; the saving grace of God, the invisible.  It is through the celebration of the Sacraments in the Liturgy of the Church  we are enabled to enter into it today.

     The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sacraments as “efficacious signs of grace” – visible signs of God’s invisible grace.  God, who first chose to reveal His eternal plan for our salvation through the visible sign of Jesus His Son, continues His work in our midst through the visible signs of the sacraments of the Church, the Body of Christ.  Jesus Christ, the visible sign of God’s love for us, said, “I will be with you always, until the end of time.”   The community of the Church established by Him is the visible sign of His abiding presence with us.  And the Sacraments celebrated by the Church are the visible signs of the Body of Christ in our midst.  They are our connection to the Paschal Mystery; our channels to God’s grace.  The Catholic Church leads its member into relationship with Jesus through the visible signs of the sacraments which bring us God’s invisible grace.

     While most Christian denominations accept Baptism as a sacrament, it is the Catholic Church that celebrates the fullness of the sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, anointing of the sick, Matrimony and Holy Orders – and thus brings us the fullness of God’s saving grace.  Joined together in the Liturgy of the Church we enter once again into the Death and Resurrection of the Lord.

     The term “liturgy” embraces not only the sacraments, but all the public prayer of the Faith community.  Liturgy is the work of the entire community.  There is no such thing as a “liturgy of one.”  It is at the same time both personal and communal.  By full, conscious, active participation in the liturgy of the community the individual encounters Jesus Christ.  The Sacraments are a truly effective means of bringing us into “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” so long as we open ourselves to enter into the celebration of the Liturgy.  The signs are there; the grace is there.  It is often we who are missing.


Discussion Questions

 
1.  Before reading the answer that follows from the youth catechism, YOUCAT, remember what you have learned and consider, question #173:  Why do we need sacraments in the first place?

…We need sacraments in order to outgrow our petty human life and to become like Jesus through Jesus:  children of God in freedom and glory .  In Baptism the fallen children of men become cherished children of God; through Confirmation the weak become strong, committed Christians; through Penance the guilty are reconciled; through the Eucharist the hungry become bread for others; through Matrimony and Holy Orders individualists become servants of love; through the Anointing of the Sick the despairing become people of confidence. The sacrament in all the sacraments is Christ himself.  In him we men, lost in selfishness, grow and mature into the true life that has no end.

2.  How can I better prepare myself to enter more fully into the sacramental life of the Church?

Suggested Prayer Intentions