CHAPTER 15: SACRAMENTAL GRACES

What are the Sacraments?  What are the sacramentals? 

How are sacraments key to man's entering and becoming part of the Kingdom of God?                                    

A Prologue on the Sacraments

    The essence of pious earthly covenant fulfillment in all of humanity and creation consists in all of nature submitting its purposes and expressions as responses of full accord with the divine majestic acts over God's people and creatures, and the suitable "productivity/pro-activity" responses demanded by God of and from natural beings.

With the above statement we aim to loosely but comprehensively define "sacrament" in the widest context of the relationship between God and all his creations, specifically his earthly creature: man. Thus, primordially, sacrament is the meaningful sign of God's Covenant of Love with man; and respectively man's most appropriate covenant response of total obedience to & agreement with his Lord and God in his diverse ways of turning back to God within the complete story of God's caring for man. On the part of God how did God show his divine majestic predilection for his people, initially for his pre-elected children of Israel, and later, universally for all his created mankind? After all, it was not by accident that God made man to his image; and made him reflect back his supreme being. In his omnipotence, omniscience, and absolute gratuitousness God has made men with human attributes and ways that enable them to appropriately copy and link them back to him, their Divine Maker. As essentially connoting both supernatural and natural dimensions, sacra mentality, thus, signifies and posits a recurrent word "an instrumentality" in the signs used for and within God's plan of salvation. It prevalently manifests this phenomenon even from the beginning in all of God's work of creation.

By common sense thinking, let us just realize, for a start, the supremely rich analogy between our earthly "fathers", and the heavenly Father. In all eternity, God has given the human families their earthly fathers. This is another illustration how God created man according to the divine image. For human fathers typify the one heavenly Father. All our earthly "fathers" aim for the provision and the protection of their beloved children. In the face of some sort of threats to their children, these "fathers" seem to exude some hidden fortitude and strength to gather and display in defense of their broods; no matter how insignificant their degree of effectiveness. Whether at least with raised voices, bluffing intimidation, or actual physical engagement, some fathers would not be without some kind of attempt to show forth their instinctive, albeit, put on "face-saving" on behalf of their perhaps aggrieved children. And as regards their basic sustenance needs most fathers/or mothers would not spare human respect or unreasonable fears if warranted of them in order to make even just modicum wages so that their dependents wont starve or go hungry.

In like manner, but in a much more grandiose fashion the heavenly Father in all eternity has planned and has been working so each and every need of all his people, including all other living things of the universe, be covered and satisfied. Jesus Himself said even the little sparrows are not to miss their daily feeding as already provided for by the heavenly Father. Thus, Jesus made certain God will expect and await our calling on Him for all our daily bread if we only are to ask of Him. Ditto over our safety and security; nothing is to happen in all of creation that, as it were, could escape the omnipotence and omniscience of the Heavenly Father where is needed His divine attention and action. It is indeed not coincidental; but is divinely schemed and deigned that God the Father has created for us human fathers, and has by his divine providence inspired human beings to aptly call them "fathers". It is, therefore, sacra mentally so that God has made families call them as fathers to become a "sign" of, or to "sign-ify" God's divine providence and fatherhood.

Another natural 'sacramentality' between the divine and the human is the type of linkage we could ascribe between the beauty in the world and the "splendor of the divine". Whether by some picturesque nature scenery, or a comely face of a beautiful woman, or the sweet innocent youthfulness of children, we are wont to be overwhelmed by beauty. In the world of mess-ups and all sorts of disorders and disorientation, man relishes the pure pleasure from the beauties in nature. Attraction to beauty, like an ultimate panacea, epitomizes man's desires, both lawful and unlawful, for pleasure, wealth, and power. The truth, however, as uncovered for us by Saint Augustine, is that no natural or human good could ever truly satisfy man. All sorts of "gluttonous-like" pleasurable pandering of the senses, and even faculties, if and when satiated to the extreme, inevitably throws the individual into the feeling of either angst, disdain, boredom, or endless anxieties. Rather, as some men have "discovered", in all human beings its human heart is going "... to be restless till it rests...” in God. Hebrews 2:9 states, "...The Lord indeed knows how to rescue devout men from trail, and how to continue the punishment of the wicked up to the Day of Judgment." Thus, while already man is warned of an ever hounding punishment if he persists in making gods of things he desires, (and we shall elaborate on this later), on the other hand, the genuine truth, if humbly and openly allowed to show itself to us, is that only the Divine Splendor is capable of absolutely capturing and satisfying total human quests and wants with most authentic and un-equaled happiness. Characteristically and spiritually this is what is called the "peaceful heart"; or "the peace of the soul". This experience is akin to that degree of contemplative that man experiences upon eventually encountering God personally.

Throughout his lifetime, man will probably attempt to traverse all probable and viable paths that promise some type of happiness or meaningfulness, whether ethereal, mental, physical, chemical, or otherwise. Oftentimes during his lifetime man typically ventures on anything and everything that attracts his fancy. Productively or unproductively, he spins himself into cycles of human dreams. Along the way he finds much fun, and garners quite a few trophies. But, he also bumps into many roadblocks, and accompanying disappointments. Often, with his experimenting and enterprising, are exacted from him his total energy and time; oftentimes, too, the whole exercise is a toil; and in not a few times, a burnt-out ending. But somewhere in his meandering maze-journey he also ends up somehow wondering about stuff of religion, and of God. He would, then, find himself chased by some inexplicably persisting presence, who is also a seemingly "great assist" on his unhappy stiff circumstances. Under such circumstance it is fitting to be prompted with what, in Timothy, Paul writes with respect to God's will, namely that we turn to him, "...Train yourself for a life of piety for while physical training is to some extent valuable, the discipline of religion is estimably more so with its promise of life here and hereafter." 1 Tim 4:7-8 thus, though largely preoccupied; and while in the midst of his mundane ambiance, this positively chasing presence pleasantly melts some men/women into submitting, and surrendering to the reverential promptings. Gratuitously, they wind up with some great "reconnect" experience with the "Something" unknown and mystical, or supernatural. And so St. Paul's advice was, to make sure not to "... grow lazy but imitate them, who through faith and patience are inheriting the PROMISES". (These promises we shall further make Scriptural references below.) At this juncture we posit how the individual would eventually, be unable to escape being inexplicably beholden and in awe of a manifesting all-enveloping divine presence and providence. As St. Paul writes, "God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens. God chose us in him, before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be full of love..." Eph. 1:3-4 some type of existential theology bespeaks of this experience as that pious recollecting about the infinite Power. Our faith, however, refers to this experience, instead, as that grace-threshold opening up of man into the inescapable holy linkage with his God. And this is what brings us up into appropriately pointing to divine-human "inter-sacramentality". How fittingly Michelangelo painted that image of the Divine Father touching fingers with the outreaching man. From the books on spirituality, this, however, is that accord only between God and a man's most pure heart, (made possible only by the grace of God). For the evangelist writes, "Whoever possesses the Son possesses life; whoever does not possess the Son does not possess life." 1 John 5:19 Thus, only the 'Saints' can attest to this kind of experience. These are those individuals who by the grace of God earnestly seek for and submit to God with consummate will, efforts, and self-sacrifice without measure even unto death. John, the Apostle's witness is that, "We know too that the Son of God has come and has given us DISCERNMENT to recognize the One, who is true. And we are in the one who is true for we are in his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 5:20 In other words, this theological awakening is characteristically the work of grace indeed. Here is God, in his absolute and most loving providence and mercy, as ever concerned, watchful, leading on, and permanently awaiting man to open up and reach out. Natural virtues of honesty, sincerity, and true diligence alone cannot pitch man up to the exalted Divine. "Hence," Saint Paul says, "... all depends on faith; everything in grace." Romans 4:16 Probably at the most he could only be honestly sad and woeful; but he could not save himself on his own from his misery and helplessness. Thus, St. John establishes the truth that, "No one has even seen God. Yet if we love one another God dwells in us and his love is brought to perfection in us. The way we know we remain in him and he in us is that he has given us of his Spirit. We have seen for ourselves and we can testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God dwells in him and him in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love; and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him." 1 John 4:12-16

It certainly is not automatic for all men to undergo a supposed eventual religious experience. And when they do, there is no timetable when a man is supposed to experience it. But we do postulate God has for each man his scheduled "visitation", or moment of spiritual awakening; whether man takes notice of it or not. God's mercy will not just desert any man, as it were, without giving him a chance to know and love him. It would be un-divine of God to leave his special creation man in oblivion. Thus, in 1 John 5:19 is written, “We know that we belong to God; while the whole world is under the evil one." We have come to belong on account that, "Whatever promises God has made have been fulfilled in him (Jesus Christ). Therefore it is through him that we address an Amen to God when we worship together. 2 Cor 1:20 This is the promise made explicit in Heb. 9:15, "This is why he is the mediator of a new Covenant since because his death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions (sins) committed under the first Covenant, those who were called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.."

But as we continue our exploring of this aspect of sacramentality, there is one way, at the very root level of every man, which he/she could characterize as a divine-human reconnect "encounter", and which each man is wont to discover quite "accessibly". This consists in his "prayerful inclination to the unknown". E.g. as practiced among Native American Indians, or in many Asian religions, whether Indo-Malayan, Japanese, or Chinese. And praying by man of whatever race, even religion, never fails to call the attention and pleasure of the Almighty. Especially pleasing to God are people humbly on their knees solicitous of heavenly favors, and humbly on their knees sad and sorrowful pleading for forgiveness of their sins. Again our prime example here was the thief at the Cross hung together with our Lord Jesus. He confessed of his sinfulness, and sorrowful for them; and so he smartly asked for help from this reverential innocent Man of God hung beside him, to whom he heard was attributed Kingship over a Kingdom beyond saying, "Lord, remember me when you enter into your Kingdom!". And immediately he received Christ's assured granted favor upon hearing the response from the Lord, "Today, you shall be with me in Paradise!” Men and women of prayer are gifted with that ardent longing and yearning for someone whom they acknowledge could address their undeniable helplessness and inadequacy in their concrete existence in life. Often such individuals of prayer are individuals of poor estate and little renown, who know better to turn to someone greater, the Divine Being who albeit is unknown to them as in most religions, but who by their faith and tradition has provided them time and time again grounds for hope and relief in their moments of extreme need. Indeed, the Lord declared, "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God". Matthew 5:3 "Blessed is the pure in spirit for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8

Another way that leads to that sure "reconnect" with the Divine is by way of mercy and charity for the needy and the poor among us. Many a Saint have disclosed of stories on-record of the Lord's apparitions, where the Lord miraculously assumed the look and the presence, or personality of the beggar, the sick person, or the miserably looking street "outcast", whom these "sainted" believer of Christ helped out in assistance. This just corroborates Jesus' declaring it is really him or for him we take care of whenever we attend to and care for someone in need.

And the third thru-way for that "reconnects" with the above is by way of folks' sacrificiality. This is that mentality of consistently volunteering to offer up either some prayers or "suffering"/mortification for someone's personal intention, whether relief from some ailment, petition for some favors, or a break-through over some conflicts or great misfortune. This sacrificial outlook and habit very much reflects Christ's priestly character and identity. How Christ-like, indeed, are individuals who are accustomed to sacrifice for others. Thus, how could they be ineffective about their aiming to "reconnect" with God?

We could, thus, continue on and on exploring and discovering the vast aspects of preordained human or natural typifying of the divine via some humble proportionality exhibiting by nature of the unlimited divine goodwill and all- encompassing designs.

The Seven Sacraments of the Church

This time now, let us treat of sacramentality in its most proper context: as Divine Initiative, as Christ's heavenly instituting of the sacraments. Specifically we are to treat here of the seven sacraments of the Church as instituted accordingly by Christ. And we are going to treat of them only in their essential sacramental character, i.e. as signs between God and man. We are not to elaborately discuss the sacraments in their formal and actual functions as channels of graces; as we already have done so in the other chapters.

The Sacrament Par Excellence is the Eucharist. (As regards the Eucharist, even if only in a manner of talking, we have been provided this Christ-concocted device, vis a vis his using, and familiarly adopting the species of bread and wine taking on, during the "transubstantiation act", his own Body and Blood, with which he instrumentally feeds us, himself, during the sacrificial banquet. This device prevented us from being accused of cannibalism by Jesus' critics, way from the very beginning). In the Eucharist, the Divine Father reaches out to embrace us back his children, men and women, through sending his Son to become one of us as our sacrificial human ransom for our sins, as well as our, mankind's, sacrificial divine gift back to the Father. In other words, the sacrifice, as a sacrament, is God's human reaching out to his creatures, as well as, also as a sacrament, mankind's atoning gift to the Father and their being salvifically restored as a sin-freed mankind to God. In the sacraments, thus, God signifies his renewed embrace of mankind by sending his Son. On the other hand, by Jesus' uniting and incorporating believing men and women with himself in his Calvary sacrifice to the Father, mankind is able to reach back to the transcendent God through the human-divine Jesus. We are going to elaborate further on the Eucharist later. But our last word here, before we move further on is that the Eucharist, like all the other Seven Sacraments, has its matter and form as a specific sacrament. And with the Eucharist the material elements are the species of bread and wine to symbolize the sacrificial victim, and the Priest, who symbolizes and acts in the person of Christ as the sacrifice. The form is the "transubstantiation words-formula" exactly uttered by the Lord Jesus as re-enacted by the Priest, e.g. THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU..... And ... THIS IS THE CUP OF MY BLOOD WHICH WILL BE SHED FOR THE F0RGIVENESS OF MAN'S SINS.... DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME". Unless the above matter and form elements are in place, there could not take place the sacramental Eucharist. As the celebrating of Christ's sacrifice, the sacramental Eucharist has to be the same act of Christ's offering of himself represented in proxy by the Priest, and the same words of oblation he uttered during the Paschal supper.

Another sacrament is Baptism. It is the sacrament by which God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, marks and welcomes back God's children lost by the original sin of our first parents; and takes them back out of the slavery to sin and out of the Devil's evil clutches by enfolding them back under the Trinity's Lordship and care. In response, men and women who, living up to their confessed fidelity to the Divine Trinity, express to God with the use of the signs of the water their repentance for sins, and with the signs of the oil their acceptance of the Holy Spirit's new life in grace. With baptism, the matter consists of the water and the Priest/minister dispensing the water. And the form consists of the formula invoking the Trinity: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", along with the act of water pouring and blessing upon the child/person being baptized. Again if water is not available, and the words-formula does not correctly state I baptize you and the mention of the three Persons of the Divine Trinity, then no baptism takes place. In other words, if the Priest/minister just states: "I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ"; the baptism is invalid. Why is water necessary? Because Christ stated clearly that in order to be born again into his life of grace in the Spirit, he must be baptized in water and in the Spirit. We are repeating the Scriptural verse we have already quoted and discussed previously in the chapter on Grace corroborating the above essential importance of both the Spirit and water in the sacrament of Baptism. John 3:5 states, "... I solemnly assure you, no one can enter into God's Kingdom without being begotten of water and Spirit." For without the invoking of the Spirit, obviously the supernatural cleansing needed by the mere natural man cannot take place. The Spirit overpowers man's limitation to cleanse himself of sinfulness, which is a supernatural offense and guilt against God. The Spirit gives the NEW supra-human LIFE. The old flesh life that which belongs here down below, is replaced with the new Life in the Spirit of Christ. The earthly is supplanted with something heavenly, from above. This is indeed the more than lofty, or actually the beyond-this-world aspect and element in baptism. God comes down to dwell in the cleansed new man. But water is necessary too. Because water signifies the role-part of the man, namely man's repentance for his sins against God and his firm resolve not to willingly have to do with sins again. Water is the symbol of washing. And so for man to enable the entering in of the Spirit, he must signify his desire and resolve to do away with the dirt of sinfulness. Man must present his free choice to turn away from evil, and to embrace the good, i.e. God Without his free act of will to renounce evil and the devil, and to accept Christ and his precepts, there is no baptism. God is a respecter of man's freedom. God himself requires man's active participation of free acceptance of God.

The next sacrament is the sacrament of Confession. Much like Baptism in its essence, God invariably welcomes back his children lost by their actual sins through Christ's actual forgiving and absolving them of their sins in the person of the priests. And being in persona Christi, person of Christ, the priests dispense the power of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ breathed upon his Apostles/ministers/priests, and efficaciously cleanse the sin infected Christians, and gratuitously give back Christ's life of grace to the confessing repentant sinners. "Whose sins you shall forgive, they shall be forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they shall be retained." John 20:23

Here the matter consists of a really ordained Catholic Priest pronouncing absolution upon a specific penitent. And the form consists of the words-formula of absolution spoken by a Priest: "... by the power vested in me by the Church, I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".

In the Sacrament of the Holy Orders, the Bishop, again in actual persona Christi, in the person of Christ, lays hands upon the head of the Priest as he transmits Christ's Holy Spirit empowering the Priest as again an "Alter Christus", another Christ, who is ordained to care over Christ's flock, teach them, and celebrate for them Christ's very sacrifice of Calvary to the Father for man's sins. When Christ anointed his disciples, he laid his hands upon them and breathed on them the Holy Spirit. This is what takes place when the Bishop, representing Peter, the Vicar of Christ, lays hands upon the would-be-new Priest. Here the matter pertains to a legitimate Catholic bishop, who is to ordain a legitimate Catholic male candidate for the Priesthood. The form consists in the Bishop's laying of his hands upon the head of the candidate as he utters the words of ordination.

We are going to explain later the sacraments of Marriage, and Holy Orders from the point of view of Living One's State of Life. For the time being we are going to cover the Sacraments of Confirmation and the Sacrament of the Sick in a general fashion. The sacrament of the sick is the sacrament which aims for the healing of the body where natural means have been short in application both in time and space accessibility as well as in its potentiality to cure according to the state of its scientific knowing. By no means is the sacrament of the sick not a substitute to concrete and existing medical inventions; nonetheless Extreme Unction, its other name, serves to cure spiritual maladies with the hopefulness it works as well to effect physical recovery. Jesus demonstrated plenty of examples of the power of the Sacrament of the Sick. And Jesus unmistakably commended his disciples, and therefore even our present day ordained ministers to attend to the sick among us, and has given them the power to be able to effect healing. The ministers' work of spiritual healing is very much unlike some hospitals' files of patients, both those who have been made well, and those that have not.  There at the hospitals, in black and white, lay out monitored the doctors' record of turnover of patients, both cured and not, complete with the patients' history. Rather, our situation vis a vis spiritual healing reflect casual testimonies of healing at no predetermined schedule and time; but according to God's good time of dealing with sick people on earth. This does not by any means relegate any divine healing as some sort of second class cure. It does not count out the even greater possibility of the divine cure and the quality of practically their inexplicable recovery compared to well monitored and methodic cure from the applied medical treatment by doctors or applied medicines. The fact is, we have not been short of testimonies of cases, even terminal cases, who had been given up by their doctors or who have given up on their medicines; but later turned out very much outliving their diagnosed sicknesses including their supposed final life terms. With the Sacrament of the Sick the Priest invoking the name of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit apply sacred oil, blessed during Easter Vigil by the Bishop, upon the sick person particularly on the patient's sick area as the Priest prays over the person. The oil symbolizes the divine power of the Holy Spirit which by the grace of God effects the healing desired and permitted by God upon the individual. Essentially, however, the dispensing of the Sacrament of the Sick upon a sick individual is premised on the need of the individual initially and primarily for a spiritual healing, particularly sorrow and contrition for his sins, even as he/she is bogged down by some particular individual sinfulness. Our Church belief is that this might be the grace-opportune moment for the individual by which to encounter God more closely if he/she hasn't had the opportunity in his/her life previously. And whereas the dispensing of the sacrament is usually occasioned by the calling of the Priest due to some physical helplessness or inadvertent situation of personal need; nevertheless such might the moment for the individual at meeting or experiencing the urgency of a divine encounter albeit ultimate or not.  Let us recall Jesus' initial manner when healing the sick: He first announced the healed individual's forgiveness of his/her sins upon the sick person's contrite or repentant submission of his/her sick soul and sick body.  The secular society we live in snobs the cure through Extreme Unction on the sick. Yet believers are witnesses to many healing that have occurred after receiving of the Sacrament of the Sick.

In the Sacrament of the Sick the matter is the holy oil blessed by a bishop during Easter Vigil which as applied by a Priest upon the sick. The form are the words of healing, the laying of hands by the Priest, and the application of the holy oil on the sick.

As regards the Sacrament of Confirmation, whereas we have pushed it for last treatment or discussion; nonetheless it retains its prime importance for reception by the faithful. Under the Catholic tradition it usually is ministered altogether with the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This is because all three are often administered to the growing youths or children who have received their baptism way early on when they were infants. And as it were the giving of the next two sacraments, Confirmation and the Eucharist, only appropriately belong to the children, who are supposedly growing up not only in body and in years, but as well in Spirit. And nothing is ever more precarious for children but that they grow up with their proper mind-set and ship-shaped heart all the early while their body is experiencing and adjusting to adolescent changes. Our Lord himself, according to Scriptures, grew up appropriately in this manner: both in body and in Spirit. And from a psychological dimension, this is only most healthy. Wouldn't it be traumatic, and even perchance for some tragic, that some children got initiated and hardened by extremely vulgar and indecent stuff of the world without their hearts and minds being strengthened priorly about the discernment and resisting of such unwholesome and corrupting stuff?

The matter here is the Bishop laying his hands upon believers being confirmed. And the form is the Bishop's act of laying of hands upon the faithful and the invoking of the Holy Spirit, who is the one actually confirming the believers-persons being confirmed.

As regards, Matrimony or the Sacrament of Marriage, the matter involved are the couple engaged in making the marital vows along with the witness Priest or minister, testifying to the marriage between the couple as they are being married by God himself, whose divine blessings the couple seek to mark the irrevocable union for their lifetime

Appendix to the Sacraments:

A.  Living Our Sacramental Individual States of Life

For the greater many of the believing faithful, it is incumbent upon them to take advantage of the sacrament most advantageously appropriate and helpful to their maximum living of the life of grace, namely the sacrament of marriage. The sacrament of marriage instituted the oldest by God when he created the human beings man and woman; and when he made the woman precisely out of the man, whom he made first. Right from the get-go the Omniscient and Omnipotent God established in his creation the very first copy-cat of the Trinitarian Truth of the God-head. In the Trinity, the paradigm image of loving relationship here describes the paternal love of the Father, and the Filial love by the Son, as absolutely executed by and manifested in the Holy Spirit. This is the essence of unity or oneness within the Divine Trinity. This unity is reflected by the paradigm loving relationship between a man and a woman as it most appropriately denotes the characteristic of a marriage relationship of becoming one. God himself stated the purpose of their union: to unite in marriage so they become one flesh and one spirit. This oneness characteristic is the epitome of God's attribute of LOVE, which is supposed to characterize the relationship between married couples. Conversely, however, we may not and should not appertain to the God-head the man-woman interdependence between coupling marital partners. This is proper for human love; as by God's design the man needs the partnership of his woman, while the woman, having been taken out of man's bones, necessarily complements her husband's needs. Alone a man or a woman is an island; lonely, desolate, and helpless. But a man and a woman, together in love is appropriately fulfilling for each other. This is where the copy-cat image of unity between coupled human creatures is supposed to falter. For this element of dependence of one upon the other, as in human couple, is not logically definitive of an Almighty God-head. As it were, one or the other member of the Trinity cannot by contradiction depend upon another being for its being and action. For then he is no longer God, no longer an absolute being. It does not make sense to imagine a God that needed another being in order to complete his being "God". In all eternity, and in all his being God is and always perfection Par Excellence. No beginning, not transitory in being, and, thus, no interdependence or a couple to belong to. God is presto: Father beforehand, already most sufficient, already the author of all subsistence, and already most full of love. He bestows it upon his Son, which love is reflexively, as it were, returned to him by the Son, without either one person needing it from the other. By concept, a father as a father has the inherent quality of primacy. He, and he alone fathers; no one else does. On the other hand, again only as an attempt at conceptualizing and by no means amply defining the matter, even if the Father, secundum quid - as a manner of human/rational perception, takes precedence over the Son; nonetheless, secundum se- by God's essence of Being, the Son is the only defining person of the Father. In the Divine Trinity, thus, what the Father is what the Son is, God-head-wise; and the Son is of the Father. But that the act of love is not exclusive of either the Father or the Son; but is one Act of the God-head in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Of course, this is just some conceptualizing into the Trinity. 

But the key thought here REFERRED TO ABOVE or previously the element of unity or oneness of the Divine as reflected in and by a loving couple in marriage.  As a unique quality of any particular Sacrament of Marriage between a couple, Jesus in the Gospel echoes the Genesis concept of one body one spirit characteristic as existing in marriage. He confirms the unity aspect of marriage so much so that he declares what God has united let no man separate it. In other words, a couple that has married in real good faith under the witness of God can never be parted or divorced by any power on earth. For it is violating God's authority that confirmed the union between married couple. The Church, however, emanating from Christ-given total authority of Peter, and thus, of the authority of the Pope, has the pastoral ministerial power to uncover, and declare upon investigation where there was in the first place no marriage that took place validly between a man and a woman a public statement of nullity or annulment of marriage. But where marriage is a free and loving transaction between a man and a woman as administered within the Church and formally attested to by witnesses the couple's marriage becomes an opportunity of testimony of mutual fidelity to each other, to the Church/community, and to God. The Church in her pastoral concern seeks and guards the lasting relationship of marriages. The Church commends upon the couples evident labors of loving sacrifices for each other via daily putting up with each one's human differences, and via diligent and devoted embracing of family tasks and obligations, including child-bearing and child-rearing. When the above are worked at and prayed for by all couples they become horizontally strong forces of Church edification and community building among the people. The same thing becomes the common strand which vertically is the one holding up the growing and the building-up of the initially earthly Kingdom of God. Couples, individually need not look elsewhere whereby to fulfill their niche and fulfillment in life. A faithful family life for each one member of the couple's nucleus family serve as their spiritual report card upon the husband's or the wife's moment of final reckoning with the Maker. In effect, notwithstanding the call for the couple to look after each one's spiritual individual goals, their committed accomplishing of their duties and obligations as husband and wife, and as father and mother already predominantly works out and secures for them individually the God ordained call of personal holiness and divine glorification. For as long as the couple reflect in a spiritual way the Nazareth couple's first family in their prayerful and loving togetherness, the couple are fulfilling Christ's promise of presence in their midst according as they are two or three gathered or ever gathering together in his name. For Pope John Paul II said such a couple or family becomes the basic unit of the Church or of Christ's Kingdom. And when their kind of family multiplies; thus multiplies and expands the Kingdom of Christ at its elemental and lowest level. That personal sanctification and God's glorification becomes so accessible to people in the secular world is, thus, a wondrous illustration of the sacramentality of the Church.

B.  Another truly edifying Sacrament: The Holy Orders 

It is the Holy Orders. In the first place, Priests occupy their primary role in the Eucharistic sacrificing of the Body of Christ to the Father for the salvation of the people of God. We already said that the Priest is the ALTER CHRISTUS in the Sacrifice of the Mass. The Priest acting in PERSONA CHRISTI is the sacrifice's victim and sacrificer in that un-bloody sacrifice of Calvary at the altar. The Priest, as Christ himself turns the species of bread and wine into Christ's body and blood, when the Priest says Christ's very words: "This is my body which shall be given up for you.....; this is my blood which shall be shed....." Jesus ordered his apostles to continually celebrate this holy paschal mystery as the way to remember him. Jesus in effect ordered the Apostles and the Apostles successors, the Priests, to literally re-enact, and make present his Last Supper act according as he has wished himself and his sacrifice to be so remembered. Precisely that Jesus himself assured the eternal continuity of his Paschal Mystery of Passover and Sacrifice throughout time and space till the End-Time through our human Priests is sacramental of the highest order.

In a secondary sense, because the Priest is an Alter Christus, i.e. someone who shows himself in Persona Christi; or rather because the Priest declares Christ's words of self-sacrifice of his life virtually every Priest commits his own life, body and soul as his own co-oblation victim with Christ for the people of God. Secundum se, (as the actual voice of Christ offering Christ's sacrifice), the each Priest saying the Mass become themselves instrumental victim with Christ to the Father for the Church. Honorably and courageously, the Priest must be willing to back up those words of instrumental life oblation with Christ. Thus, whether in terms of actual testimonial martyrdom during a moment of persecution, or in terms of vicareal demands for personal physical/emotional/mental and social suffering, each Priest must be willing and ready. Or the words he says at Mass will not ring true for him, being the necessary instrument of Christ's celebrating of his sacrifice of the Cross.

Then in a tertiary sense, because the faithful/the believers share in the Priestly character of Christ and his Priests during the celebratory act of sacrificing their "victim-offering" together with the Priest, who is in the Person of Christ, to the Father. In much the same signification as the Priest's instrumental 'celebrating' the sacrifice in Persona Christi, the faithful as parts/members of Christ essentially incorporate their own body, blood, and soul: lives together with the victim: Christ as one oblation to the Father for Christ's work of salvation. Therefore, just like the Priests, when participating in Christ's celebration of the Mass, Sacrifice of the Cross, the faithful must be able to back up their co-offering of themselves with Christ through the Priest with a willing and ready giving up of themselves during occasions of test. I.e. the believers must prove their oneness with Christ a victim offering when persecuted in the name of Christ. Thus, in this dimension of the faithful being like the Priest, we get to appreciate the sacred and worthy sacrificial character of both the Priest and the priestly people of Christ. NB.

(We have done related treatment on the SACRAMENTS in our other Mission Chapters, namely: Chapter 4, the Call to the Kingdom, to Holiness Chapter 8, RE: The Life of Grace Chapter 6, RE: The Mystical Body of Christ)

In these other chapters we cited and explained Scriptural verses that make references to Christ's institution of the sacraments, particularly in Chapter 10.

C.  Sacramental Phases per historical moments of time within  Salvation Mysteries

So far we have been illustrating the sacramental character in the context of the divine mysteries of God's salvation of mankind. In a generic manner, now, we are to reckon with our faith in the light of the sacramental way whereby God through time and history has reached out to all of his creations, and particularly in his acts of Covenant with men and women within the theistic Jewish and Christian tradition and history. To use Fr. Benedict Grossel's vocabulary phrase: humility of God, it has been indeed per the humility of God that he has many times come down to the level of his creations in order to realize his divine designs of love and providence. And in doing so, God has repeatedly made use of visible signs and instruments in order to express and make sense of his schemes and will for his creatures, specifically man, whom he made after his own image. In Genesis, in order to uncover the darkness of the water and atmosphere, God sends the Holy Spirit in act hovering over them. In initially claiming a people for himself, he personally and directly made his advances to and for the Jewish people; and called them his chosen ones'. He did not just plant inside their hearts and minds his special predilection for them; he actually and individually talked to them, led them, and formed them into a nation precisely to render homage to him as his own subjects. He singled out among others, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, David, and Moses to rule his chosen people. And he literally championed their historic wars and battles against the Jewish enemies. God wasn't just a Pure Spirit-Omnipotent to the Jews. He was their fatherly and kingly God and Lord who had their interest as a people, and nation, and as individuals chosen by him because of his special Divine concern and care for them. Historically by God's promise to Abraham, the Jews were the first to receive of God's fatherly providential love as God's first elect. In Genesis, however, God has promised or foretold Adam and Eve all of their descendants, not just Abraham's children, of his universal predilection for all of mankind to be borne by man's very first forebearers, Adam and Eve. More importantly, God foretold how in his divine vengeance the Son of another woman shall have the dominant and victorious power to crush the head of the serpent, namely the Devil and his evil. For in so far as the Devil tripped the first woman, Eve; likewise this Son of another woman shall be victorious over the first woman & man tripper, the Devil. Thus, Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, who --by the same Divine Revelation, was God made flesh, came and by his life, death, and resurrection avenged victory for Mary -- the daughter of the first woman & man, and for "all her children", the new men and women, (all same children of Adam and Eve, the first parents), redeemed by the new resurrected life of Jesus. And these new men and women in Christ include, thus, all of humanity from the time of Adam and Eve down to the last human species to live before the End Times, Jews and non-Jews alike.

Thus, most relevantly, within the Story of Salvation, while inclusively using the Jews as beginning types or foreshadowing of characters and images leading to his sending of his Son-Savior to and for the world, step by step through the process of God's Incarnation, through the announcement of a Messiah, through the immediate heralding by St. John the Baptist, and through Christ's bringing forth of the Gospel and consequent pioneering establishment of his eternal Kingdom initially on earth God has dealt and treated with the people in the visible, tangible terms to his dear lowly subjects: the human individuals. And like Jesus, his own Son, did, God made his messenger-angels deliver his messages to men under human form or appearances.

But it is most notable that as Jesus himself was all the time ministering to the people in the preaching and establishing of his Kingdom, the Church, he always used some medium or object by which to complete his particular ministering of healing, feeding, ordaining his disciples, and teaching. He healed the sick with his blessed saliva. He intended to feed us with his life giving body and blood by previously illustrating it with his miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. He empowers his disciples while laying his hands on their heads. And he taught using all kinds of parabolic images and symbols. E.g. the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the leaven, the parable of the buried treasure, the parable of the pearl, and the parable of the net. All the above images and signs appropriately symbolize Jesus' words, and deeds, or his very life, person, and his Kingdom.

Now for our own faith understanding of the Mysteries of Christ's Salvation of mankind, let us appreciate the myriad sacramental phases of our faith in Christ, our Savior and God.

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D.  Further sacramentality or divine-human linkage found, and witnessed between Human Justice and Divine Justice

All over the world and in all generations of mankind people have set up rules, regulations, and laws to stop crimes of the society, and abuses from other people. These human laws make sure some kind of punishment has been in placed both to make amends and to deter future infractions of their laws. Yet these attempts at earthly justice retribution by the court system or any semblance of upholding of rustic authority for basic protection and defense of the aggrieved are nothing but copycats of the daily and moment to moment eternal plan of retribution being enforced by the heavens upon all creatures of the earth, specifically upon humans. Thus notwithstanding the supposed law evasions or loopholes games with the laws by rampant law trespassers, both outwardly and inwardly these law breakers one way or another end up paying up for their direct or indirect violations of the laws or corrupt dealing with the laws. And even if outwardly a good many of them supposed "criminals" dodged the long arm of lawful authorities, inwardly or by their lifestyles such lawbreakers end up confused and disoriented about their lives, while some of them live lives in hiding, or forever in exile. How come? Because they cannot escape the relentless convicting and hounding by the Spirit of Truth, i.e. convicting and hounding by their consciences, or by the voice of God within them. Ultimately, for the worse of these offenders against society and against God, their lives typically end in brokenness and tragedies, and disgraceful deaths. Thus, men and women of different generations throughout all of history consistently behaved like they were free from all ethics and morals; and acted like there is no authority whatsoever they were accounted to. Then with most of them it was too late to reckon and escape an "unseen hand" eventually closing in on them and sealing their fate. What constraints they seemingly got away from and ignored they eventually experience hounding and confronting them. Habitual and lifetime frauds and deceits ultimately winded up unable to make sense and unable to make with the law. We are touching here on this aspect of the sacramentality displayed and realized between God's laws and allegedly non-existent natural laws with respect to the necessary accompanying and interplay between God's justice and human or natural justice.

"The wages of sin is death." Christ said he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The sacramentality of our faith reminds us of the truth of this statement of Jesus. In the Old Testament books of Proverbs and the Psalms repeatedly are verbalized how God exacts, and is pleased by individuals who fear and follow all divine statutes or laws. God also said that even from the beginning of times he makes sure men know of his commandments by his planting within the heart and soul of every man the very law of God. St Paul writes in Rom 2:14-16, "... When the Gentiles, who do not have the law, keep it as by instinct, thereby they serve as the law for themselves; although they (really) were without the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts. Their conscience bears witness together with that law, and their thoughts will accuse or defend them on the day when in accordance with the gospel I preach God will pass judgment on the secrets of men through Christ Jesus." As a matter of fact this is the condition Jesus has declared that before one's world shall come to pass for anyone -- that his world shall not pass until the last iota of the law is fulfilled. This must explain the purgatorial phenomenon for each faithful who has not quite finished his/her run for the faith while yet alive on earth. Also in so far as Jesus said nothing unclean shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven only connotes this legal complying by every faithful that has passed away. We, thus, infer the unseen law and justice often shows itself seen and very real. And what is according to Divine justice and law often manifests and translates itself into some natural and human justice and law. Hence the divine-human or supernatural-natural linkage with respect to moral laws; and therefore the sacramental-it between what is "heavenly" and the "mundane".

E.  Sacramental Spirit of God within Us: Our  Collective Bodies, Temples of the Holy Spirit

With the becoming flesh of THE Word in Christ's Incarnation and work of Salvation, Jesus declared to the Jews, specifically the Pharisees and the Judaist Priests the metaphorical allegory on the new wine vis a vis the old wine skins. He said nobody pours a new wine in old wine skins. As Jesus introduced himself, and the new Kingdom he was announcing to the world, and while also addressing the Pharisees and their Priests, he implied to them he could not just content himself to and with the teachings and practices of the Pharisees. We remember how early on when Jesus was a baby and a youth how he assiduously was devout and obedient in the practice of the Jewish faith. He said as a youngster his primary business while at the Synagogue in Jerusalem was to attend to the business of God the Father. And he demonstrated his zealousness at protecting God's Temple by whipping out of the Temple vendors and money changers inside the Temple. Back then also, even as a 12 year old he impressed upon the Temple Priests his diligence and advanced understanding of the Jewish doctrines of faith. In other words, Jesus amply witnessed to his fidelity to the Jewish faith. Yet, as the God-come-down-from-heaven, he gave a Gospel message that was so much more true and good, way above the total system of the mere Mosaic and Abrahamic Jewish beliefs and faith. His is the message of himself, the Son of God made man as sent by the God the Father to save not only the Jews but all of mankind; even if he initially called the Jews number one in-line among the human race to receive of his special call. Under our sections, Mission 7 on Holiness, and Mission 4 & Mission 6 on the Kingdom, and Mission 8 & 12 on Grace, and in most of the rest of the Mission pages we have discussed some details how Christ's Kingdom on its own is to be uniquely understood in anti-thesis and contrast to human natural desires and inclinations, as well as to man's conventional types of kingdoms or movements or governments, or cultural values or principles held in allegiance to by human beings. Moreover, Christ's Kingdom or teachings are also to be seen as being in contrast even to some types of theistic beliefs, including pure Judaism, or Judaism per its strict nationalistic and politics signification. And as Jesus implied to the Pharisees his Gospel cannot be limited, for instance, to mere ritualistic and external accenting in the Jewish faith. Christ is necessarily teaching his Gospel as an absolutely novel or new message. His message comes as the direct will of God the Father; and is transmitted directly in person by himself, the God-made-man. The essence of his message is the Fatherly LOVE, to which love, in comparison, there is no greater love, wherein the Father sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross for the salvation of mankind. On earth, there might have been some monarchs or kings who had sent their best lieutenants or generals or emissaries as their representatives to transact most delicate kingly business, or kingly mission. But no King dares sacrifice a very heir to his throne at great risk on his behalf, especially if he is the only son. In other words, the belief and the practice in the Christian faith are a uniquely radical and often no secular way of believing and living. It is radical for the Father's call for a total personal change, specifically inner change of heart and mind. And it is mostly un-secular on account of the believers' essential fidelity to the highest divine authority to whom is often opposed secular authorities in the world. In the light of our present discussion, the most unique and sacramental about the Gospel of Christ is the "within time and space process" of divine and eternal reaching-out "to man" for love of mankind. Most magnificently the Father sacrificed his Son Jesus for others; likewise, most awesomely the faithful through Christ sacrifice themselves for the others, which include individuals' temporal and material sojourning on earth spent in participatory redemptive and therefore saintly converted living in Christ, which entails the sacramental character of the sacrificing. They do this via the Christ-united sacrificial suffering and atoning of each member-faithful for the procuring of "indulgential" graces mutually benefiting all the needy souls/member-faithful in the Body of Christ, or in the Church, or in Christ's Kingdom. In other words, for the faith in the name of Christ and by the power of the Spirit there works in action non-stop the phenomenon and reality of the Communion of Saints. John 16:5-16, I did not speak of this with you from the beginning because I was with you. Now that I go back to him who sent me, not one of you asks me, >Where are you going? = Because I have had all this to say to you, you are overcome with grief. Yet I tell you the sober truth: It is much better for you that I go. If I fail to go, the Paraclete will never come to you, whereas if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin, about justice, about condemnation. About sin - in that they refuse to believe in me; about justice - from the fact that I go to the Father and you can see me no more; about condemnation - for the prince of this world has been condemned.= I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. When he comes, however, being the Spirit of truth he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his won, but will speak only what he hears and will announce to the things to come. In doing this he will give glory to me, because he will have received from me. Within a short time you will lose sight of me, but soon again after that you shall see me again.@ This promise of the sending of the Spirit to the Apostles taking place after Christ=s death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, materialized in Acts 2:1-12 .., And when the day of Pentecost came it found them gathered in one place. Suddenly from up in the sky there came a noise like a strong, driving wind which was heard all through the house where they were seated. Tongues as of fire appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as the Spirit prompted them.

Staying in Jerusalem at the time were devout Jews of every nation under heaven. These heard the sound, and assembled in a large crowd. They were much confused because each one heard these men speaking each of these foreigners own language. The whole occurrence astonished them. They asked in utter amazement, >Are not all of these men who are speaking Galileans? How is it that each of us hears them in his native tongue: We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites. We live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the regions of Libya, around Cyrene. There are even visitors from Rome B all Jews, or those who have come over to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs too. Yet each of us hears them speaking in his own tongue about the marvels God has accomplished. = They were dumbfounded, and could make nothing at all of what had happened. @

F.  Sacramental Church Liturgies

Again the most involving sacrament we participate in among the sacraments is the sacrament of the Eucharist. For by the Eucharist God directly feed the communicants at Mass or at Christ's sacrifice of the Mass with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by which, according to Jesus himself, the recipients of the Eucharist receive the spiritually life-giving body and blood of Christ. With the reception of the Eucharist the believing recipient receives within himself/herself the eternal life of Christ and with Christ. It was his promise and word that the only way we shall live forever with him is if or when we receive his life into our lives. But that he enables to make this happen through the Eucharistic banquet is the precise sacramental character and power of the Eucharist. Thus, we are not cannibalizing Jesus; we are consuming directly into our person his eternal living power or the eternal en-livening character of our soul. God the purest of Spirits took it upon his own, in the person of Jesus, to gift us with his divine life in a manner most concrete and physical to us, earthly human creatures. Hence, the reality of the Eucharist in the life of Christians or Catholics is already, thanks be to God, fulfilling truly as our summit Sacrament even if we are only here initially yet on our earthly journey. On the other hand, precisely, even from the mere human level, it is an insult and an affront to the Almighty God that men ignore and do away with this gift of the Eucharist. (This is going beyond the sacramental topic, nevertheless, from them who do away with the Eucharist, or who completely shun away from the Christian faith will not be taken away their human soul's immortality. As God's special creature created after his image, the human soul per its spiritual substance, i.e. as a spirit like the angels, gets to outlast the human body; and after physical death stays immortal. But the sheer immortality their souls possess does not afford them the pathway to eternal living, or to an after-death meaningful and rewarding existence. The soul after death, that is without Christ or his life of grace, is without a ratio d’être {a reason for living}. Hence such a soul at the minimum is a soul forever in limbo, in suspended mode. Actually, however, a soul that refused to believe and accept Christ's life of grace during his/her life on earth before death is a soul that is sadly without Christ's promise of happiness and glory of the Christian after-life reward or fulfillment. In effect it will be an existence in the state condemnation. By the Christian faith, such a state is the state of being cast out into an unending existence of punishment; in other words, the fate of being in hell. And it is not an unacknowledged or un-talked about fate for human spirits. For after all, it is the equivalent fate for the bad angels, the angels from heaven that rebelled against God. Faith teaches us that during and by the Last Judgment of Christ the bad angels too shall be cast into hell. Condemned souls, thus, go to a destination that is not at all just speculatively contrived; but by revelations is a state or a place where the damned shall go: e.g. condemned souls along with condemned demons and the Devil.) And this has become their fate precisely because they did not get to see, experience, nor taste of the physically made present and accessible God-made-man, whom they rejected both in Person and as a Sacrament.

The Eucharist is the centerpiece in the Mass, the same non-bloody Calvary sacrifice of Christ. We say the Eucharistic celebration is the celebration of the same Last Supper, when Jesus pre-enacted what 3 hours later he underwent at Calvary: his self immolation to the Father as a ransom for the sins of men. This act of self-sacrifice of his life to the Father for men is the essential act we celebrate at the Mass, by the person of the Priest and in corporate priestly participation by the people in worship. This paschal sacrificial act of Christ is what the parts of the Mass from Offertory Part to Communion Part celebrate in words and in acts. In the Offertory Christ offers to the Father the sacrifice of himself as he takes our individual sacrifices along with his. He actually offers it up during the moment of transubstantiation when by the power of the Holy Spirit upon the Priest's utterance of the words of Jesus, Christ gives up his body and blood, along with ours' ,(i.e., the genuine personal suffering and acts of charity and mercy of devout and faithful Christians co-celebrating with Christ in the Mass). Christ's immolating act of sacrifice of himself and of his mystical body, (i.e. the co-celebrating Church faithful) finishes its climax upon Communion time, when Christ is given back to us by the Father as a result of his death and resurrection; thereby delivering to the faithful the fruits of Christ’s ransoming act, and enabling the faithful to receive and enjoy his new-life generating grace upon the Faithfull’s faith-filled consumption of Christ's body and blood. Indeed this moment is preceded directly by the Priest's elevating of Christ's Body and Blood with the words: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" And appropriately the faithful responds before receiving the Lord's Body and Blood with the words: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you; but say the word, and I shall be healed/made worthy to receive you."

Christ's ultimate moment of his redemption of mankind did not take place right away. He waited some 3000 years before he finally came down from heaven, and was made flesh through the Virgin birth by Mary of Nazareth. This interim period of years was a period of God's "signaling" his sending of a Savior of men, in the person of his only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He intimated his will to take back into his embrace the fallen mankind beginning from the Genesis prediction of a Son of a Woman crushing the head of the serpent, namely Jesus the Son of Mary destroying the Devil, the main originator of evil who tempted our first parents, and who has been continually tempting men and women of all ages to sinfulness. But since Adam and Eve, and all generations of men and women born of them had consented to the serpent's temptation, they had since then become in need of a Savior to free them from the bondage of sins. God had wanted man back to his union. And he spoke "words signaling" his desire to bring man back to himself. He has been absolutely for bearing and patient with man's generations of defiance of his call to a Covenant with him; even as he punished them along the way. This was repeatedly illustrated by the events surrounding Noah and the Great Flood, Lot and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with sculpture and salt, Abraham's being promised in his old age countless descendants & blessings upon nations by way of his descendants, Joseph's & his family's good fortune in the foreign land, Egypt, Moses' liberation and exodus of the Jews from Egyptian slavery, David's anointment as King of Israel, and his majestic Kingship over Israel, the Jewish exile in Babylon, etc.. God had given Moses the Ten Commandments, inspired David the Psalms, and let some writer’s author with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit further divine revelations of his words in the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom. Finally, right before the public ministry of his Son, who was to announce the Good News of Salvation from God, he sent John the Baptist to herald in joint participation by angels from heaven the Coming of Jesus, the Savior of the world. Then with Christ's coming down from the Father, Jesus delivered the Gospel of salvation to the Jews and to all people of the world.

All of the above revelation and historical context comprise the revealed words of God, or the contents of the great book, the Bible. Now introducing the Eucharist part of the Mass, the mass begins with the Liturgy of the Word, or the celebration of the word of God. Thus, in the part called Readings are recalled to the people of worship words from the Old Testament recounting the above events of God's call of Covenant to his people; as well as parts of the New Testament featuring Christ's early Church, and Letters from the Apostles, particularly from St Paul. Then in the part called the Proclamation of the Gospel is recalled the very words of Christ's Good News of salvation for both the Jews and the rest of the people on earth. In the Mass, thus, are celebrated God’s continuing spoken words since the events of Genesis down through the last day of Jesus on earth, and through the beginnings of the Church/Kingdom he founded before returning to the Father in heaven. The Mass makes the God of the past, and the God of the present, as well as the God of the End-times & Glory altogether alive and active for his faithful and people. This wondrous and awesome experiencing by the faithful-in-worship of God's ever present words and act of salvation in his Son Jesus Christ through the Mass again epitomizes the Church's gift of the sacrament of Calvary, and salvation story. Luke 22:14-20,  When the hour arrived, he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. He said to them >I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. I tell you I will not eat again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. = Then taking a cup he offered a blessing in thanks and said: >Take this and divide it among you; I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the coming of the reign of God. = Then, taking bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying: >this is my body to be given for you. Do this as you remember me. He did the same with the cup after eating, saying as he did so: >this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.

G.  Sacramental Body of Christ, the Transcendental and Immanent God-with-us: The Emmanuel Within & Among the Communion of Saints

Finally, by the sacramentality of our faith the Church brings us to that most mystical aspect of our faith in Christ. Through the phenomenal reality of the Body of Christ, namely all the faithful believers, we are to be awed by this dignity given to us members of that Body of Christ called the Church; also called the Kingdom of Christ. It is on account of this truth of incorporation with Christ by all the faithful, both in heaven and on earth, that we are called to be and made holy via the process and entity which is the "Communion of Saints". The Saints' share with us their grace holiness that glorifies them as Saints. This is the same grace that characterizes the life of grace, which is lived by faithful believers on earth. With this life of grace the faithful are in the state of a looking-forward to the even greater fullness of grace they hope to later enjoy in heaven with all the Saints and Angels. Let us marvel, thus, that firstly, Christ in his resurrection and ascension to heaven unites gloriously as he sits at the right hand of the Father. Secondly, the Saints, with their indelible mark of baptism, show their heavenly fullness of grace for being united with Christ, and for sharing in the glory of Christ. Thirdly, like we state above, by virtue of our fraternal affiliation with all the Saints in heaven via the Communion of the Saints we get to partake of the glory already possessed by the Saints. These consist in our moments of saintliness which we experience and enjoy every each time of piety, and devoted & blessed, attentive Liturgical worship of God. Ditto during efficacious or fruitful loving and caring for our neighbors, especially for those in need by which we faithfully obey God's injunction that we love one another. After all Jesus said this is how we shall be known as his disciples, i.e. when we show our love for him in our loving one another. Altogether the above inter-relating through Christ and with Christ with one another by the faithful in heaven and on earth bears on us this awesome reality of the divinity within us. 1 John 4:7-8, Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten of God and has knowledge of God. The man without love has known nothing of God, for God is love. The same reality bespeaks of God's Immanence right here within and among us faithful of this side of the universe because we are faithful. John 15:22-23, Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said to him, >Lord, why is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world? = Jesus answered: Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him; we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him.@

And we are not to forget that partners in this holy "communion" in the Church's "Communion of Saints" are the souls in Purgatory. For purposes of clarity, we are going to elaborate again how they ask, need, and avail of the 'indulgential' graces/merited graces within the depository of graces within and among the members of the Body of Christ. We also do not belittle the type of beneficence these "suffering souls" of Purgatory afford the mutually benefiting "militant members" in the Body of Christ, namely us, faithful believers, still in journey on earth.

In other words, with the faithful on earth, and the faithful in Purgatory not done with their journeying and purification, respectively, the heavens remain for both yet a sought-for-destiny. Thus is awaiting both the final dispensation by the Spirit through the Church of the needed graces to enjoy that incomprehensible and beholdened 'yet-unreachable' final fulfillment of glory. For as the distance between the earth and the heavens is an impassable distance for all humans, thus is the unworthiness that yet separates the un-cleansed and un-purified souls from union with the Transcendent Creator and absolutely loving Being. Yet like the distant stars that permanently lighten the darkness of the universe, this Transcendent God forever beckons on to believing souls towards their final welcome to that glorious union with him in the heavens.

This marvelous 'sacramentality', however, with respect to the dead does not benefit everyone. Lamentably excluded are those that unfortunately were in the state of mortal separation from God when they died. We hopefully assume our folks to be in the state of grace when they passed away. If fortunately, at least, were administered the dying the last sacraments right around before death; it would be the least indicator these souls expired their physical life prayerfully, and peacefully by instrumentality of the administered sacramental grace. We thus pray for the grace of a sacramental dying, i.e. fortunately dying receiving the last sacraments. But whereas this is not likely with all deaths, it is always the wiser and more pleasing death preparation to God that we habitually by grace stay close to God. After all Jesus said, "... Be on guard therefore, the Son of Man will come when you least expect him." Lk. 12:40

To belabor/repeat what we already referred to above the dead did not accomplish fidelity or union with God by themselves alone. Originating from Christ's ultimate redemptive merit, all the "Saints & saints" of heaven and the Church aid our dead relatives in their fidelity and persevering union with God. This is what we believe to be the reality of the "Communion of Saints". The saints of the past, i.e. those pioneer believers/followers of God, and of Christ received initially of the graces of Christ's salvation act. They used these graces to reach their own salvation in Christ. Together they were helped out by the inexhaustible graces from Christ's work of redemption. In effect, they passed on these graces to the later generations of faithful believers/followers including our dead relatives. Christ ransomed all mankind from their indebtedness in sins. And Christian believers/followers who have become saints after becoming transformed by the graces of Christ themselves extend these same graces to all the needy new believers/followers. 

We stated this passing on of generation of graces take place not only betweenthe heavenly living and the earthly dead. It takes place universally and eternally between and among all members of the Church: namely inclusively among the Church Triumphant of heaven, the Church Suffering souls of Purgatory, and the Church militant members on earth who are still on their journey of faith. This is the total scope of the reality of the Communion of Saints with God.

Individual believers are therefore never alone in their struggle and striving for salvation in Christ. Each believer is moving forward along with all Christian soldiers, whether from the heavens, the purgatory, or from earth. What an awesome reaching out and linking, by the God almighty to finite souls from Purgatory and the earth. What a marvelous manifestation, thus, of divine-human 'sacramentality'.

But what is sacramental in all these is the fact that God in all his absolute magnificence reaches to us through his incarnate Son, and embraces us into his mystical divine essence by the reality of the gift of the life of grace we already presently, and while yet on earth receive and enjoy in the salvation through Christ, his Son.

As regards these men and women that passed away, we claim they are now living an afterlife despite their physical death. We believe and claim they are alive; and do live in a new way? If and as we hoped for our folks passed away, by the grace of God, in a state of union with God; they did not die an absolute death. For by their contrition for their sins, and their use of the sacraments, prayers and 'sacramentals'; then they had not severed themselves from God, who is Life himself. God, in the person of Jesus, says, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me shall live, and never die." This is the assurance of life even after physical death.

Unfortunately for others that died the absolute death after physical death their death signifies both the permanent stoppage of physical breathing and the permanent loss of the union with God for their un-repented and thus un-forgiven sinfulness. Unrepentant sinners met real death in so far as they had lost both a physical life, and the spiritual life per its irrevocable separation from God, who as the very essence and source of life, could have prevented their absolute death at the moment of their death. Ultimately, their condemnation means eternal separation from God. Whereas the only positive Eschatological Reality is the permanent UNITY with God; the fate of the condemned has no positive signification. Etymologically not being united with God is equivalent to a metaphysical absence of the essence of reality. In other words, not having the unity with God is to be left out, or to have nothing. And that is exactly their fate: having nothing to make any sense of their existence. No pleasure, no satisfaction, no execution to any end, no coordination & order of whatever, no agreement, no peace. I.e. hell, exactly: chaos, disorder, disagreement, hatred & violence, misery and unending sadness. And if they are eternally condemned, will they have had "some resurrection" of their corrupted bodies? Surely not, for resurrection belongs only to the "just"/rewarded souls. Yet because they have received "souls"; what they get is an immortal-forever lasting disgust, torment and misgiving: "unquenchable burning fire", or eternal suffering of their souls.

These unfortunate souls did not believe in Christ's sacraments, e.g. baptismal new-birth, by which are channeled the graces of God. They did not have the faith in Christ. As a consequence, they failed to take advantage of the God-pro-offered 'sacramentality' with God. It is no wonder our above mentioned divine-human 'sacramentality' did not serve them right.

H.  Sacramental Mary: Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, Mary Is Christ's Immediate Channel of His Graces, & of His Sacraments, altogether.

The Church gave her, after the title of Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven, the unique next highest title: the Mediatrix of All Graces.

Between the heavens and earth, between the Father and all his people, between the Savior Jesus and his saved people, between the vertical unlimited providence of blessings and the horizontal impoverished need of the world is one woman full of grace, Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, the God bestowed Mother of mankind.

Whereas we have referred to the Church as the Source and Beneficiary of God's graces in Christ, we only do so in a functionary sense. I.e., in so far as the Church is the living system of distribution outlets within the Body of Christ. We have discussed this chiefly vis a vis the Church's sacraments per se, and vis a vis the Church as a living continually growing/extending Body of Christ through time and generations, and through the reality of the entity and process we call the Communion of Saints.

But there is no way Christ could have come to us, and hence, no way his graces he brings could get to us except through his prime bearer & mother, the Blessed Virgin Woman.

Mary thus is the "sign in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun... and on her head a crown of twelve stars...” And as the most distinct sign becomes the most visible and most interconnecting medium between man and the heavens, which makes her the grand sacrament, and chief sacrament, next to the Eucharist Itself, the Divine Fruit of her womb, Jesus. "A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and he shall be called Son of the MostHigh." That a humble woman gives birth to the Son of God makes such a woman a sacramental vessel of the Almighty, and a sacramental hope for other humans to have access to her Divine Fruit & Ransom.

"... and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword -- so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:35 Again that the piercing with a sword of a woman's heart should open up the unveiling of many human secrets makes such a woman a sign of inevitable heavenly judgments on some men/women. ".. For he has done great things for me; and holy is his name...and his mercy is from generation to generation to them that fear him" Luke 1:49-50 Mary is telling us how God has used her as sign of God's magnificence and Divine holiness. With what God has done for her, He is eternally willing and loving to render as well to other men and women God's holiness by way of their faith in Jesus, namely, God's gift of graces so these others get to believe. This is also Mary's 'prophetic' word of God's mercy upon people who have fear of the Lord, which is an affirmation of another Scriptural verse, "...the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom".

Mary's other statements from her Magnificat are predictive of the mercy, care, and fidelity of God for and to his faithful believers, as well as of the meting out of God's Divine justice for his suffering people, and retribution against people so full of this world, and who oppress God's people. He has put down the mighty from their seat; and has exalted the humble. (by our supposedly inside scoop third source information through someone fresh from assignment in Iraq), Sadam Hussein's recent allegedly private admission of his heinous guilt and culpability over the massacres of millions of Iraqis should prove of God's Spirit that should powerfully convict him of his great sins against his people he was supposed to serve, and against God, whose Divine authority over nations Saddam violated. (Public events, however, so far exhibit for us a still very much unrepentant and immorally defiant Sadam.) But the fact is he is a toppled down formerly well entrenched military and political power, now just counting his days of short-lived freedom yet from sure heavy retributions coming his way, repentant or not. We have, in the other Mission Chapters, previously cited examples of fallen leaders on account of their evil rules. On the contrary, that God has chosen the little people of the world to position of authority is also demonstrated taking place in many world scenes. Recall here our example, in Mother Angelica, who with little education and with only $200 built the now vast radio-TV-internet network of the EWTN. But the world itself can tell us of such examples of individuals of little renown brought to power and to high authority for some inexplicable circumstances. An example from the Philippines could be, Mrs. Corazon Aquino, the poor and simple housewife of slain national political leader former Senator Benigno Aquino. But there are plenty of other examples.

He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he has sent away empty. Like the radical happenings and changes similar to the above, again we are witnesses to the turning of tables between some who were once patron and masters become impoverished, and the ones that turned well-off to the surprise of many.

He has, thus, shown might with his arm; and has confounded the proud in the conceit of their heart. Events characterized by the two parallelisms above no doubt would and did confound the proud 'has been' of the world. But much more appropriately referred to hereby be the supposed clever and knowledgeable legends of the world who despite their supposed mental acumen displayed to the world lost control, demeanor, and mind by their abrupt taking of their own lives in their own hand, e.g. Hitler's resorting to suicide.

Mary, thus, a simple village girl that she was astonishes the whole world with these words of wisdom emanating from her blessed heart and soul. What is sacramental about this is the wonder from her littleness, which she acknowledged, to proclaim and declare very self evident truths of the heavens and above. That she should exhibit greatness out of her littleness is, like a true sacrament of the Church, establishing that Divine-human link God has permitted her to manifest.

Finally, going back to our quotation in Chapter 12, of Jesus' words, "Woman, behold your son; son, behold your Mother!" Jesus, God, was designating Mary with that life-giving attribute in relation to John, representing the entire human race. There on the Cross Christ told Mary of her power to "mother" mankind, like she has mothered himself. And whereas what Mary has Mothered was her Son, who is Life itself; thus upon Jesus' designating, Mary got to mother the whole human race gifting them, who will accept her as Mother, with the same Life her Son lives, the life of grace. Mary became the Mother of God, (and potentially the bearer of subsequent Jesus' Graces,) at the moment of the Annunciation, when God through the Angel Gabriel made her conceive by the Holy Spirit of Jesus. Her Son only made explicit Mary's salvation role at this foot of the Cross; precisely at the moment he was redeeming mankind. Thus, it was only appropriate that Jesus attuned her Mother of her co-redemptrix role: her instrumental/sacramental role being his very own Mother. Thus as we have shown here how Mary by Jesus' words has become the bearer of divine life for all her new children; we thus are similarly showing here why precisely Mary is also designated the Mediatrix of All Graces. The divine life of Christ is the essence of the life of grace. This is the same life, the new men and women receive on baptism, and sustained through the other sacraments in faith.

Mary, therefore, in so far as she is the chief channel of divine life, and thus of divine grace is the sacrament most efficacious of all the sacraments, except the Eucharist. Whereas Christ, the same Eucharist, generates the divine life and divine grace; Mary occupies the function as the main conduit of that divine life/divine grace through the rest of the channels of graces, both sacraments and sacramentals.

And in so far as Mary is seen here as the most appropriately called channel of grace makes her a typical sacrament together with all of the sacraments.

Epilogue: Final Sacramental End-Time, the Transitional Foreshadowing of the Final Fulfillment of Christ's Work of Salvation, i.e., the Direct Hand of God working the Transitioning of the Old Earth & Old Heaven INTO the New Earth & New Heaven 

After the Lord Jesus has come again in judgment time, then the sacramental and faith living testimony of the believers of Christ shall finally be transformed into the actual and revealed union with the Godhead through the ultimate union with the returned Savior, with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev. 22:12-17, Then someone said to me: >Do not seal up the prophetic words of this book, for the appointed time is near! Let the wicked continue in their wicked ways, the depraved in their depravity! The virtuous must live on in their virtue and the holy ones in their holiness!

Remember, I am coming soon! I bring with me the reward that will be given to each man as his conduct deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End! Happy are they who wash their robes so as to have free access to the tree of life and enter the city through its gates! Outside are the dogs and sorcerers, the fornicators and murderers, the idol-worshipers and all who love falsehood.

It is I Jesus who have sent my angel to give you this testimony about the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the Morning Star shining bright.

The Spirit and the Bride say, >Come! = Let him who hears answer, >Come! = Let him who is thirsty come forward; let all who desire it accept the gift of life-giving water.@

Then as regards the going and changing of the former earth, (Rev. 21:1-8), and then I saw new heavens and a new earth. The former heavens and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no longer. I also saw a New Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God, beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne cry out: >this is God's dwelling among men. He shall dwell with them and they shall be his people and he shall be their God who is always with them. He shall wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the former world has passed away. =

The One who sat on the throne said to me, >See, I make all things new! = Then he said, >Write these matters down, for the words are trustworthy and true! = He went on to say: >these words are already fulfilled! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To anyone who thirsts I will give to drink without cost from the spring of life-giving water. He who wins the victory shall inherit these gifts; I will be his God and he shall be my son. As for the cowards and traitors to the faith, the depraved and murderers, the fornicators and sorcerers, the idol-worshipers and deceivers of every sort - their lot is the fiery pool of burning sculpture, the second death!@

Then as regards the New Jerusalem, (Rev. 21:9-27 to 22:1-5), One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and said to me, >Come, I will show you the woman who is the bride of the Lamb. = He carried me away in spirit to the top of a very high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. The city had the radiance of a precious jewel that sparkled like a diamond. Its wall, massive and high, had twelve gates at which twelve angels were stationed. Twelve names were written on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates facing east, three norths, three souths, and three wests. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The one who spoke to me held a rod of gold for measuring the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is perfectly square, its length and its width being the same. He measured the city with the rod and found it twelve thousand furlongs in length, in width, and in height. Its wall measured a hundred and forty-four cubits in height by the unit of measurement the angel used. The wall was constructed of jasper; the city was of pure gold, crystal-clear. The foundation of the city wall was ornate with precious stones of every sort: the first course of stones was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysalides, the eight beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each made of a single pearl; and the streets of the city were of pure gold, transparent as glass.

I saw no temple in the city. The Lord, God the Almighty, is its temple - he andthe lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb. The nations shall walk by its light; to it the kings of the earth shall bring their treasures. During the day its gates shall never be shut, and there shall be no night. The treasures and wealth of the nations shall be brought there, but nothing profane shall enter it, or anyone who is a liar or has done a detestable act. Only those shall enter whose names are inscribed in the book of the living kept by the lamb.

(Chapter 22:1-5)... The angel then showed me the river of life-giving water, clear as crystal, which issued from the throne of God and of the lamb and flowed down the middle of the streets. On either side of the river grew the trees of life which produce fruit twelve times a year, once each month; their leaves serve as medicine for the nations. Nothing deserving a curse shall be found there. The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be there, and his servants shall serve him faithfully. They shall see him face to face and bear his name on their foreheads. The night shall be no more. They will need no light from lamps or the sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever.@