The Heart of Sacramental Life

CONSTITUTION
ON THE SACRED LITURGY
SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

2. For the liturgy, "through which the work of our redemption is accomplished," [1] most of all in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church. It is of the essence of the Church that she be both human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation, present in this world and yet not at home in it; and she is all these things in such wise that in her the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek [2]. While the liturgy daily builds up those who are within into a holy temple of the Lord, into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit [3], to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ [4], at the same time it marvelously strengthens their power to preach Christ, and thus shows forth the Church to those who are outside as a sign lifted up among the nations [5] under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together [6], until there is one sheepfold and one shepherd [7].

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Paragraph 2 summarizes the role of sacraments [the liturgy] in God’s plan of salvation, as the acts by which “the work of our redemption is accomplished.” The word “liturgy” comes from the Latin “work” or “public works.” This belief in the power of the sacraments distinguishes Catholicism from other Christian faiths in varying degrees, both in number [seven] and in the active participation in all its members. Many Reformation thinkers took issue with what they saw as an abundance of emphasis upon human works as opposed to total dependence upon God for justification. Catholicism calls for full human participation in its rites of salvation.
 
The citation specifically references the Eucharist, though all the sacraments constitute the sacred liturgy. Our use of the word “liturgy” is often interchanged with Mass, which can be confusing at times. It is true that Baptism/Confirmation and Eucharist enjoy a preeminence given their roles in the initial act of human conversion and union into the merits of the cross. Sacraments such as Penance and Anointing of the Sick continue and reinforce divine saving work after initial conversion and redemption experience of Baptism and Eucharist throughout life. The four sacraments after initiation—Penance, Marriage, Orders, and Anointing of the Sick—are actually
 
There is considerable emphasis upon the sacraments in the life and definition of the Church itself. Ideally, an impartial observer should be able to observe a sacrament, particularly the Mass, and understand by words and signs who we are and what we stand for. Para.2 lists the ideal outcomes: that the Church is human and divine, “visible and yet invisibly equipped;” eager to act and yet intent on contemplation; present in this world and yet not at home in it; and that the acting Church is subordinated to the divine.
 
These emphases are a lot to absorb here at one sitting, and these points will be taken up in later posts, but there are several themes that immediately rise to the surface. I do not know the individual who coined the phrase “the Church is a both/and institution,” but the life of Catholicism has shown time and time again a resiliency to embrace what may seem to be opposite ends of the spectrum. Our creed embodies the greatest contradiction of all, that God became man, and Jesus is truly God and truly man per the Christological Councils if the fifth century. The world of the spirit is not binary, where a thing is either 1 or 0. [This truth escaped the manualist moral theologians of the four centuries prior to Vatican II, too.] So, we need not be surprised that our liturgy reflects a synthesis of qualities, such as active and passive, human and divine.    
 
The Church clearly envisions its sacraments as sanctifiers—that is, the experiences that bring us to grace—and as generators of the Church’s mission to preach the Gospel to the world “to those who are outside,” to show that the Church is “lifted up among all the nations,” where the scattered children of God may be gathered together. Consider the Gospel of St. Luke, where Jesus enters the home of Zacchaeus the tax collector precisely because Zacchaeus is one of the lost sons of Israel.
 
The final sentence looks to a day when there is one sheepfold and one shepherd as the result of the sacramental life. I would need to read an English translation of the debate to satisfy one of my questions, that is, the identity of the “one shepherd.” The footnote references John 10:16, specifically Jesus’ sermon on the Good Shepherd, whom he identifies as himself. A papal interpretation here seems weak. All the sacraments, in truth, are oriented toward the future if you think about it, both the immediate future as in “take up your cross daily” in St. Luke’s text, or the consummation of time and the arrival of the Kingdom as in “come ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
 
I have a link here to treatment of sacraments in the Roman Catechism published shortly after the conclusion of the Council of Trent in 1563. The contrast with the Vatican II document here reveals a much greater dependence upon both Scripture and the active role of the laity in the 1963 document. The Roman Catechism resembles in style the confessional manuals used by confessors and professors in moral theology of the day, I might add.