The Bible and the Sacraments

. Certainly it looks at the basic teaching of the Church as to their meaning and
origin. But it goes further. Beginning with this first lesson, the eleven-part series
investigates the deeper mystery of the sacraments as illuminated by Sacred
Scripture. Examining the rich relationship between the Old and New
Testaments, it reveals the sacraments as more than mere earthly rituals. They
are incredible “‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ” (CCC 1116).

Review of the Previous Lesson

Jesus became flesh and blood in order to heal our flesh and blood. But his
healing of humanity is more than physical. He brings us spiritual healing and
salvation. To perform these spiritual healings, Jesus used physical means
because he knows that as human beings we learn through our senses. The
sacraments Christ instituted work the same way. They employ physical matter
but provide supernatural (and natural) benefits. They are the ordinary means
Christ uses to extend salvation to the whole world.

Sacraments are “an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.” Signs are
visible symbols of things that are invisible. Sacraments are efficacious signs
helping to bring about the very reality they signify. They do what they
symbolize.

While all seven sacraments of the Church are the actions of Christ, they are not
new to the story of salvation history. God has always dealt with humanity in a
sacramental manner. The “sacraments” of the Old Testament were not
sacraments of grace as we now have in the New Covenant, but foreshadowings
of them.

We call the study of this biblical foreshadowing “typology” (see CCC 123-130).
Typology is the study of how God’s works in the Old Covenant prefigure what
he accomplished through Christ in the New Covenant (CCC 128).
Typology is an important tool for interpreting Scripture because salvation
history unfolds in three successive stages: The age of nature, the age of law, and
the age of grace. Since sacraments were essential to Christ’s saving work in the
age of grace, they were part of God’s plan “from the beginning.”

The sacraments established by Christ in the age of grace raise all that was
sacramental in the age of nature and law (see CCC 1151 AND Jn 1:14-17).
Because of Christ’s divine power, the New Covenant sacraments are fewer, less
complicated, and more powerful. They are avenues of real grace from which
we receive the ability to live as children of God.

Lesson Two:
The RITUAL of FAMILY

“Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ. (It is
‘mystagogy.’) by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to
the thing signified, from the ‘sacraments’ to the ‘mysteries’.”

What We’ll Cover in Lesson Two

PROFILES IN GRACE
Edith Stein, St. Benedictaa of the Cross

THEMES COVERED

1. How we literally become children of God

2. The movement from the visible to the invisible through mystagogy
3. What it means to say that Word leads to sacrament
4. The intimate relationship between liturgy and the sacraments
5. The crucial role of covenants
6. Why the sacraments are sacred covenant oaths

SCRIPTURE VERSES READ BY CARDINAL DONALD WUERL IN THIS

LESSON
 • Galatians 4:4-7
• Genesis 8:20
• Genesis 15:10-12, 17
• Luke 22:14-20
• 2 Corinthians 6:18

“The sacraments of the Church were instituted . . . to perfect man in things

pertaining to the worship of God . . . and to be a remedy against the defects
caused by sin. And in either way it is becoming that there should be seven
sacraments.” St. Thomas Aquinas

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why is a personal relationship with God important, but not enough?
What kind of relationship does God really desire?
2. What does the kind of relationship God wants to have with us tell us
about the kind of relationships he wants us to have with others? How
can the sacraments help us in our relationship with others?
3. After these first two lessons, has your understanding of the sacraments
changed?
4. Why is it important to cooperate with the graces given in the
sacraments?
FOLLOW-UP READING AND PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT LESSON

Swear to God by Scott Hahn, pp. 26-37

Speaking the Love of God by Jacob Wood, pp. 17-36
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1214-1284
Additional study resources can be found at www.StPaulCenter.com

Review Questions

1. What is the main purpose of a covenant and how were they made in the
Old Testament?
2. What is the Latin word for “oath”? How do we swear covenants now?
3. What is “Mystagogy”?
 Mystagogy: Living the Mystery

If you attended an Easter Vigil Mass this year, then you participated in what St. Augustine
called the “mother of all holy Vigils”(Sermo 219)—the day the Church receives many new
Catholics through the sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation.

The newly baptized, or “neophytes,” (a Greek word meaning “new plant”) begin a fourth
and final period of formation called mystagogy, which lasts the Easter Season until
Pentecost. If you haven’t personally participated in the formal process of becoming Catholic
as an adult (called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, or RCIA, in parishes), chances
are you haven’t heard this word recently… or maybe ever.

What is Mystagogy?

Our faith needs mystagogy first and foremost because of one simple reason: we celebrate
and proclaim a mystery.

As evangelists and catechists, I think it is important to recognize that for some people, the
idea of religious “mystery” prima facie, conjures up images of a Da Vinci Code-esque Church
shrouded in secrecy, New Age spiritualism, or even a pre-scientific belief in “magic.” But
the sacraments do not initiate us into a special club or secret society. Through them, we
are made participants in the life of Jesus Christ.

Faith begins and ends in mystery, most especially the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity,
“the central mystery of Christian faith and life . . . the source of all other mysteries of faith”
(CCC 234). In the scriptures, liturgy, and sacraments, we truly encounter and participate in
the Triune life of God. But no matter how intelligent or insightful we are, we will never fully
wrap our minds around God’s glory or totally experience it with our five senses.

Mystagogy comes from the Greek word meaning, “to lead through the mysteries.” The
Catechism describes mystagogy as a “liturgical catechesis that aims to initiate people into
the mystery of Christ” (CCC 1075). Mystagogy leads us from the external signs and rituals
of the liturgy to the inner, spiritual meaning of the divine life they signify. Mystagogy is the
form of catechesis that helps us unpack and explore the spiritual treasures contained in the
sacraments by continuously reflecting on their meaning and significance in our personal
lives of faith.

Mystagogy was the way the early Church Fathers embraced and trained new Christians in
the practices and beliefs of the faith. Perhaps the most well known teacher
of mystagogy was St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386 CE), who delivered a famous series of
sermons, known as “mystagogic catecheses,” during the time of Lent through the Easter
Octave. After the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church revitalized this ancient
practice, especially in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. But mystagogy isn’t just for
the newly baptized; it is the way every Catholic can continually deepen their relationship
with Christ by daily drawing on the grace of the sacraments.

Significance for our New Evangelization

Just as Catholics are rediscovering the importance of the “kerygma” (Greek for
“proclamation”) for evangelization, mystagogy is incredibly important in our approach to
catechesis in the New Evangelization. John Paul II wrote, “Through catechesis the Gospel
kerygma is gradually deepened . . . . and channeled toward Christian practice in the Church
and the world” (Catechesi Tradendae, n. 25), specifically the form of mystagogy.
Additionally, mystagogy serves as a trustworthy guide when reflecting on ways to improve
our catechetical methods.

Living the Mystery Daily

Ongoing mystagogy is important because our relationship with the sacraments change as
we grow and mature as individuals and meet new life challenges and circumstances. In
turn, the sacraments really change us. Pope Benedict XVI said, “The mature fruit of
mystagogy is an awareness that one's life is being progressively transformed by the holy
mysteries being celebrated” (Sacramentum Caritatis n. 64). By reflecting regularly on the
sacraments, we access an incredible strength for our daily tasks.
 Developing a practice of Eucharistic mystagogy can combat the routinization that often
sets in to our receiving communion. For those who are married, or preparing for marriage,
there is a mystagogy of marriage. With ongoing mystagogic reflection, you may discover
new fruits of that sacrament in every season of life.

Studying theology and the Bible is often an undervalued way of developing our spiritual
life. Learning about someone or something is a sign of love, and we truly become what we
behold (cf 2 Cor. 3:18). Reading the great books and sermons of Catholic authors and
theologians greatly expands our hearts and minds to experience the truth and depth of our
faith.

The great Catholic philosopher Gabriel Marcel is attributed as stating, “Life is not a problem
to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.” Mystagogy is the path leading Christians to learn
to live the mystery of our faith. I encourage you to follow the path trod by St. Cyril up
through popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, in making this incredible tradition
and gift called “mystagogy” a part of your life.