004 Evolution of the Understanding of Sacraments

 In the Patristic Age

-The Fathers of the Church drew spiritual insights for their flock and explained the
message of the gospel from the celebration and within its framework.
-the Fathers took an explanation of the Mystery which had been celebrated.
-based on material drawn from the liturgy.
- The Fathers led the neophytes into a profound understanding and appreciation of
Christian sacraments by continually making references to the preceding sacramental
celebrations, to their rites, words and signs.

 The Christian mystery was explained principally under the light of Salvation History.
 Types or figures from both the Old and New Testaments helped the neophytes to plunge
themselves into the stream of God’s saving plan.
e.g. baptism- waters of creation, waters of the Great Flood, waters of the Red
sea
 Through such a method the Fathers of the Church were able to impress on the minds of
the new members that in the sacraments, they celebrated God’s salvation which had been
realized in them.

Disciplina arcani- discipline of secrecy

nature of sacraments: celebration
CCC 1075 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." Such catechesis is to be presented by
local and regional catechisms. This Catechism, which aims to serve the whole Church in all
the diversity of her rites and cultures, will present what is fundamental and common to the
whole Church in the liturgy as mystery and as celebration (Section One), and then the
seven sacraments and the sacramentals (Section Two).
Mystagogial bishops- St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Augustine of Hippo, Theodore
 The Ecumenical Councils
 of the 1st Millennium: dealt with questions on the Trinity, esp. on Christ, Mary;
 of the 2nd Millennium dealt with the Sacraments, i.e. the manner in which Christ is
present in the Sacraments (the question of the efficacy of the Sacraments)
 1st Lateran Council, 1123: disciplinary questions, e.g. simony
 2nd Lateran Council, 1139: demanded exemplary lives from bishops, priests, both
exterior and interior;
-vs. false penance
-Condemned those who rejected:
1.the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood,
 2.the baptism of children
3.the priesthood and other ecclesiastical orders, and
4. legitimate marriages
 3rd Lateran Council, 1179: stricter ecclesiastical discipline for bishops, priests—less
concern for material things but more for pastoral care of the people, esp. the ministry of
preaching.
 The 4th Lateran Council, 1215, Pope Innocent III: the term ‘transubstantiation’ ----The
faithful should partake of the sac. of Penance and Eucharist no less than once a year;
-condemned Albigensianism which taught that the sacrament of Marriage and
other sacraments are not needed;
-condemned Waldensianism, which taught that the laity could perform the same
duties as a priest when said priest was in mortal sin.
 2nd Council of Lyons, 1274:the first important document to declare that there are 7
sacraments employing Scholastic terminology [providing for the profession of Faith of
Michael Paleologus, Byzantine Emperor], Totally not intended to solemnly define the
seven sacraments
 Council of Florence, 1445, Eugenio IV: directly dealt with the sacraments—categorically
and solemnly declared that there are seven:
“There are seven sacraments of the new Law, namely baptism, confirmation,
eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders and matrimony, which differ greatly
from the sacraments of the old Law. The latter were not causes of grace, but
only prefigured the grace to be given through the passion of Christ; whereas the
former, ours, both contain grace and bestow it on those who worthily receive
them.”

-the sacraments do not just contain grace but also confer it

Peter Lombard
-Book of Sentences
-Berengar of Tours: sacramentum tantum, res tantum, res et sacramentum

-the council solemnly defined the purpose of the Sacraments

“The first five of these are directed to the spiritual perfection of each person in
himself, the last two to the regulation and increase of the whole church.”

-it also defined the effects of the Sacraments

“For, by baptism we are reborn spiritually; by confirmation we grow in grace
and are strengthened in faith. Once reborn and strengthened, we are nourished
by the food of the divine eucharist. But if through sin we incur an illness of the
soul, we are cured spiritually by penance. Spiritually also and bodily as suits the
soul, by extreme unction. By orders the Church is governed and spiritually
multiplied; by matrimony it grows bodily.”

-defined the essence (constitution) of the Sacraments

 “All these sacraments are made up of three elements: namely, things as the
matter, words as the form, and the person of the minister who confers the
sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does. If any of these is
lacking, the sacrament is not effected.”

-established the repeatability/non-repeatability of the sacraments

“Three of the sacraments, namely baptism, confirmation and orders, imprint
indelibly on the soul a character, that is a kind of stamp which distinguishes it
from the rest. Hence they are not repeated in the same person. The other four,
however, do not imprint a character and can be repeated.”

 Council of Trent (1540-1563)

-dealt with all the Sacraments
-the treatment was both apologetic and pastoral vs. Protestant attacks, therefore
not a holistic treatment
-also juridical, canonical, moralistic...
-a view of the sacraments that remained until before Vatican II.
-It still had much influence in the Vatican II as attested to by a number of direct
citations from the Council of Trent.
 Towards Vatican II
-Until about 1920-1930:
-the study of the liturgy-sacraments as study of rubrics
-the liturgy was commonly considered as the whole body of ceremonies of the
Church’s public worship and the complexus of Church laws regulating that
worship
-Subsequently,
-a predominantly historical treatment in the study of the liturgy-
sacraments;

-The essential preoccupation was with the historical aspect;

-The effort in teaching was to make a synthesis of the historical
inquiries into the liturgy-sacraments which had their scientific
beginnings with the great liturgical historians of the 17th century.

 Liturgical Movement
-the study of the liturgy-sacraments from a pastoral viewpoint: Liturgical
Pastoral (a pastoral art based on the Liturgy, e.g. Guardini, Parch);
Lambert Beauduin would take a phrase (active participation) from Pope Pius
X’s Tralle Solicitudinis and use in the liturgical movement
-Aim: to bring the liturgy and, in the liturgy, Christ Himself, back to the people,
and to bring the people to the liturgy and thus to Christ; to introduce the people
into the world of the liturgy.
-motivated Pius XII to promulgate the first liturgical reforms of the present
period which were spectacular for their time. (1951 reform of the Easter Vigil
Rites & 1955 restoration of the Holy Week Rites)
  In the wake of Vatican II: a theological study of the liturgy-sacraments, e.g. Casel,
Vagaggini
-O.Casel “Mystery of Christian worship as ‘a sacred cultic action in which a
saving deed is made present through the rite; the congregation, by performing
the rite, takes part in the saving act and thereby wins salvation.’”
Notes: SC2, SC7

Fr. Ansgar Chupungco, "Into.," HLS 4

 The study of the sacraments from a liturgical point of view presupposes the basic doctrine
of the Church concerning their essential components, institution by Christ, number, scope
and purpose, efficacy, ministration by the Church, and the requirements for celebration
and reception….

Sacraments were instituted to be celebrated. They are by their nature and purpose celebrations of
the Church.
As such, they are liturgical rites consisting of proclaimed texts, gestures and symbols and often
material things.

Sacramenta continent quod significant

Sacraments contain what they signify

NOTES ON THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL

Dr. Josefina M. Manabat, EdD. SLD
Before the liturgical renewal of Vatican II, a sacrament used to be defined in three parts:
“A sacrament is a) an outward sign b) instituted by Christ c) to give grace.”
Since this 3-part definition posed a number difficulties in terms of inadequate understanding and
consequent inaccurate ideas about and mediocre attitudes toward some tenets of the Church’s
doctrine on the sacraments, the Vatican II sacramental renewal sought to offer a clearer
articulation of the theological description of a sacrament (cf. CFC 1519).
We find this clearer articulation in the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH and the
CATECHISM FOR FILIPINO CATHOLICS.
THEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION
From the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the
Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are
celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those
who receive them with the required dispositions.

From the CATECHISM FOR FILIPINO CATHOLICS:

1531. A descriptive definition of sacrament according to the liturgical renewal would be “a
saving symbolic act, arising from the ministry of Christ and continued in, by and for the
Church, which, when received in faith, fashions us into likeness to Christ in his Paschal
Mystery, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

A. REGARDING THE SACRAMENT’S BEING AN OUTWARD SIGN:

CCC says:
o “efficacious signs of grace”
o “The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the
graces proper to each sacrament.”
o “They bear fruit in those who receive them…”
CFC says:
o “a saving symbolic act”
CCC further explains why the sacraments are “efficacious,” why they “signify and also
make present,” why they “bear fruit”…

1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are
efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his
sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always
hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith
in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit
transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato
(literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of
Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the
righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God." From the
moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power
of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the
minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who
receives them.

B. REGARDING THE SACRAMENTS’ ORIGIN AND RELATION TO CHRIST

(“INSTITUTED BY CHRIST”):

CCC says:

1114 "Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the
consensus . . . of the Fathers," we profess that "the sacraments of the new law were . . . all
instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord."

1115 Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific,
for they anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he
was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the
foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his
Church, for "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries."

1116 Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living
and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are
"the masterworks of God" in the new and everlasting covenant.

CFC says:

1524. “Instituted by Christ.” This expresses the essential link between the sacraments
and Christ. But unfortunately through the centuries this link became reduced to “Jesus started
them all.” How precisely, or why Christ did so, and how the sacraments were continued in the
Church up to the present, were lost sight of.
The liturgical renewal has vigorously made up for these deficiencies by the key insights of
Jesus as “Primordial Sacrament,” and the Church as the “Foundational/basic Sacrament.”
Briefly, Jesus in his humanity is the sacrament of God’s saving love for all; the Church is the
sacrament of Jesus, and the seven ritual sacraments are sacraments of the Church, that is, they
visibly manifest and effectively enact the Church’s mystery and mission of making Christ
present.
1525. “Instituted by Christ” does not mean that Jesus taught his apostles in detail that there
were to be seven sacraments, and how to administer them. Rather Jesus “instituted” the
sacraments by first being the sacrament of his Father through his whole life of word and action,
and then by establishing the Church to be his basic sacrament. The Church makes Christ present
to all persons in every age first, by being his Body, and second, by celebrating those actions that
continue Christ’s own ministry. The Church has had a definite role to play in the gradual
development of our present seven ritual sacraments. Yet, each of the sacraments celebrated by
the Church re-enacts certain acts of Jesus’ own public ministry.
1526. “Actions of Christ” Leading to His Fullness. By being the ‘Primordial Sacrament,’
Jesus Christ is much more than simply the originator of the Sacraments. He is at once the
SOURCE, the PRIMARY AGENT and the GOAL of all sacramental activity.
As “SOURCE”, Christ is the one in whom all the sacraments are rooted and from whom
they derive their efficacy. As “PRIMARY AGENT”, he is the one who, through the actions and
words of the minister celebrating the various sacraments, baptizes, confirms, forgives, and
reconciles, heals, offers himself in sacrifice, binds in faithful love and consecrates for service. As
“GOAL” of all sacraments, Christ is the perfection toward which our life on earth tends. Not
only does he challenge us to a response of love, but effectively empowers us, through the Holy
Spirit, to grow into his fullness, i.e., to attain the perfection of holiness that he is. When properly
received, then, the sacraments gradually fashion us ever more “to the image and likeness of
Christ.”
Thus, briefly expressed, when we say that Christ is the “Primordial Sacrament” in reference
to the seven ritual sacraments, we mean that they:
a) arise from the saving ministry of Christ,
b) are continued in, by and for the Church, and
c) form us in likeness to Christ in his Paschal Mystery (cf. CCC 1114-18).
C. REGARDING THE EFFECTS OR FRUITS OF THE SACRAMENTS (“TO GIVE
GRACE”):

CCC says:

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary
for salvation.51 "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to
each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to
the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful
partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.

CFC says:

1527. “To Give Grace.” The Church has always taught that the sacraments give grace ex
opere operato. This means that any lack of holiness on the part of the minister does not prevent
grace from being offered. For Christ himself acts through his Spirit when the sacraments are
celebrated properly, i.e., according to prescriptions and with the intention of doing what the
Church intends to do. Christ is active in all the sacraments, most especially in the Holy
Eucharist, when his Body and Blood are made present under the appearances of bread and wine,
through the priest’s words of consecration and the power of the Holy Spirit. He offers himself
and effects a response from us, since we cannot remain neutral before a sign of God’s love. He
initiated the saving encounter with men through his Incarnation, and he continues the activity of
his initiative through the Church’s ministry.
1528. All the sacraments have their special graces since they all manifest the different ways
in which Christ comes to us, meeting us at all the decisive and ordinary moments of our lives.
Even in a child’s baptism God’s grace and love are given first and mark the child as God’s own.
That love and grace remain with the child as long as the child does not sin seriously against God
or his fellow men. But the grace and love bestowed in Baptism are not passive gifts. They
accompany the child and call him to respond freely to God’s love.
1529. The effect of the sacraments is twofold: to draw us into a closer relationship to the
Church, and thereby to relationship to Christ himself, in the Spirit, and to the Father. How do
the sacraments effect this? We know that when we fully, consciously and actively celebrate
them, the sacraments exercise all our powers — mind, heart, affections, will, imagination, and
behavior. The sacraments exercise their special POWER to shape our imaginations, develop our
affections and direct our behavior in “Childlikeness” __ in brief, to gradually transform us into
Christ’s way of thinking, Christ’s way of acting, Christ’s way of praying and loving, forgiving
and serving. So St. Paul counseled: “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14). It is the power
of the HOLY SPIRIT that effects this gradual transformation into Christ’s way.

***********************************************************

 The old description of a sacrament lacks certain important elements. The Vatican II
renewed theological description provides for these lacking elements:

D. THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH

 CCC says: “entrusted to the Church” (n. 1131)

1117 As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the
Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this
treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its
"dispensation." Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical
celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the
Lord.

1118 The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her."
They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the
mission of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the
Church," since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of
communion with the God who is love, One in three persons.

1119 Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the
sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community." Through Baptism and
Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful
"who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of
God in the name of Christ."

1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal
priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments
through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his
incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive
the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person.39 The ordained minister is the sacramental
bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the
words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.

1132 The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal
priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers.

CFC says:
1525. Jesus “instituted” the sacraments by first being the sacrament of his Father through
his whole life of word and action, and then by establishing the Church to be his basic sacrament.
The Church makes Christ present to all persons in every age first, by being his Body, and
second, by celebrating those actions that continue Christ’s own ministry. The Church has had a
definite role to play in the gradual development of our present seven ritual sacraments. Yet, each
of the sacraments celebrated by the Church re-enacts certain acts of Jesus’ own public ministry.

D. REGARDING THE ROLE OF FAITH:

CCC says:
1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.
1131 The sacraments bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.
1122 Christ sent his apostles so that "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in
his name to all nations." "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The mission to baptize, and so the
sacramental mission, is implied in the mission to evangelize, because the sacrament is prepared
for by the word of God and by the faith which is assent to this word:

The People of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God. . . .
The preaching of the Word is required for the sacramental ministry itself, since the
sacraments are sacraments of faith, drawing their origin and nourishment from the Word.

1123 "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and,
finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only
presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is
why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'"

1124 The Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When
the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles - whence
the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi,
according to Prosper of Aquitaine [5th cent.]).The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church
believes as she prays. Liturgy is a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition.

CFC says:

1530. But sacraments can effect this only if celebrated in FAITH, for without faith no
saving personal relationship can be established or strengthened (CCC 1122-26). PCP II stressed
that the sacraments presuppose faith and by their very celebration evoke greater faith in the
participants. Vatican II had likewise stressed faith while explaining that the purpose of the
sacraments is:
• to sanctify men and women,
• to build up the Body of Christ, and
• to give worship to God.

Sacraments Celebrations in Word and Sacrament

Every sacrament consists two structures: (1)celebration of the Word and the (2)celebration of the
sacrament.
The structure (binomial Word-Sacrament) represents a theological process that has a profound
Judeo-Christian root

In the Old Testament

-the words and ordinances of the Lord were read by Moses, heard and accepted by the people,
followed by the solemn ratification of the covenant undertaken by the slaughter of sacrificial
animals, partly consumed by fire and partly partaken of as food.

In the New Testament

-God's saving design for man and for the world was fully revealed and realized by his Son- his
Word proclaimed by the patriarchs and prophets but who, at the fulness of time became flesh and
therefore Sacrament of His love.

Christ's life and mission

-He preached the love and mercy of the Father but he also "opened his arms on the cross putting
an end to death" thus fulfilling of the will of His Father.

The Road to Emmaus- Lk 24:13-35

Two disciples walking down from Jerusalem, Jesus walking with them without their recognition
Jesus explaining to them the Scriptures, Jesus inviting them for a meal, Jesus breaking the bread

Bread of Life-Living Bread

Word-Sacrament account in the Acts of the Apostles

1. Acts 2:14-39 'Pentecost account'
Peter's account and the sacrament of baptism
2. Acts 8:28-40 'Philip and the eunuch'
The eunuch reading the words of the Prophet Isaiah, Philip telling the good news of Jesus
and the eunuch asking to be baptized

In the Apostolic Community:

*when the words of Scripture were read, the assembly recognized the presence of Jesus who
proclaimed and
explained the word of God.
*when the presider performed the now familiar gesture of Jesus at the Last Supper, the assembly
acknowledged
the presence of Jesus.

The Mass is made up, as it were, of two parts: Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the
Eucharist

The earliest accounts of how the Eucharist was celebrated by Christians already attest to this
liturgical shape of the Word-Sacrament, as in the second century account of Justin Martyr in his
First Apology

Thus, the liturgical reform of Vatican II in envisioning the full, conscious and active
participation of the faithful in the Liturgy not only took care to retain this liturgical shape but
also sought to bring it out more clearly by simplifying the rite and purifying it of unnecessary
accretions that found their way into the celebration of the Mass through the centuries obscuring
said liturgical shape.

Every celebration of the sacrament, the Eucharist above all, begins with a proclamation of the
Word and proceeds to the ritualization of the same by some action on certain material element.

In the structure of the Eucharistic celebration, how does the Word relate to the Sacrament
SC59 the sacraments not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish,
strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called "sacraments of faith."

Cf.SC9

Since sacraments, particularly the eucharist, presuppose faith, and faith comes from hearing the
word of God, the function of the liturgy of the word is to dispose the liturgical assembly for the
liturgy of the sacrament and to receive its efforts.

Furthermore, the word of God influences the assembly's perception of the sacrament presents a
particular aspect or dimension of the sacrament. This is the reason why every sacramental
celebration has a different perspective because of the word of God.

On the other hand, the liturgy of the sacrament ritualizes the word of God and give its visible
form.

ASSEMBLY-WORD-SACRAMENT-MISSION
The central concept that links the OT aand the NW is that of the Covenant.
1. First, a people was convoked.
2. God's offer of the Covenant and the people's response.
3. The covenant offered and accepted by means of Word is ratified and by means of blood-
sacrifice
4. The covenanted people were to emerge from the encounter as witnesses of the marvelous
work God wrought for them.

The process of covenant making has become the paradigm on which sacramental celebrations are
modeled.

ANAMNESIS-EPICLESIS
Binomial liturgical action

The former refers to the ritual act of remembering the Paschal Mystery. The latter is the prayer
for the bestowal and gift of the Holy Spirit. They are inseparable acts and can readily merge into
one. In the performance of a liturgical rite, it might not be easy to distinguish where anamnesis
ends and where epiclesis begins.`
e.g. in the rite of sacramental absolution whereat the priest lays his hands on the penitent and
recites the formula is anamnesis and epiclesis at the same time. The paschal mystery is recalled
and the Hoy Spirit is simultaneously invoked for the remission of sin.

A and E preproduce ritually the nucleus of salvation history, which is the death of Jesus Christ
that culminates in his resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus A relates to E in the same
way as the paschal mystery relates to Pentecost. Just as Christ's death and Resurrection
culminates in the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, so the rite of recalling the Paschal Mystery
concludes with the prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit. It would not be an oversimplification to
say that the liturgical worship consists basically of the act of remembering the Paschal Mystery
and the Prayer for the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
<In his Apostolic Consititution, Divine Consortio nature, sharing in the Divine Nature, Pope
Francis explained lengthily the sacramental formula for Confirmation.>

The vital role of the Holy Spirit in salvation history and the liturgy

Liturgical anamnesis is a rite- can be traced to Christ's command to "do this in my anamnesis"
*Luke 22:19
Do this is to perform, reproduce or re-create the actions he did at the Last Supper, when, in the
company of his disciples , he took bread, said a prayer of blessing, broke the bread, and gave the
broken pieces to them. Anamnesis is the performance of a rite. In the liturgy, the rite is carried
out in words and gestures, and often with symbols or material elements. It is the way whereby
the Church remembers the paschal mystery. Thus, as the minister pours water to the person being
baptized while reciting the baptismal formula, the death and resurrection of Christ are refreshed
in the mind and heart of the liturgical assembly.

The entire Eucharistic celebration is an anamnesis

It is the common belief today that anamnesis causes the presence of the paschal mystery in the
assembly. Thus, as the Constitution on the Liturgy teaches, the faithful are enabled to "lay hold
on it and be filled with saving grace" (102). They do not regress to the past: the past reappears
in the present because the commemorative rite of anamnesis is duly performed.

The action of remembering works two ways:

magnalia Dei, the wondrous deeds of God in Christ.
After reminding God, so to speak, about his saving work, we ask God to remember is, the
Church, the humans society and the world at large.- prayer of intercession.

We pray for God's blessing. - epiclesis, a Greek word for invocation or appeal addressed to the
divinity.
Liturgical epiclesis is a prayer wherein the Church calls upon God to send in the person of the
Holy Spirit his blessing, love, mercy and forgiveness. After reminding God about his saving
works we can, with confidence, ask God in turn to remember. We pray that through the Holy
Spirit God will do again and again in our day what he accomplished in ages past through Christ
Epiclesis is based on God's fidelity and consistency. God is faithful to his promises; God is
consistent in unfolding his plan of salvation. Anamnesis leads to epiclesis, in the same way as
the paschal mystery led to Pentecost. Epiclesis completes the action of anamnesis. We recalled
so that we may ask. Salvation history or God's descent to humankind shifts to the Liturgy, which
is humankind's ascent to God through Christ in the Spirit.

The Sacramental Celebration as Anamnesis and Epiclesis

This aspect of sacramental celebration manifests clearly the Trinitarian economy of salvation
both in its foundational occurrence in history and in its sacramental realization in the sacramental
rite.
Essential Rites and Explanatory/Interpretative/Illustrative Rites

SC7 signs
CCC on signs and symbols in the Liturgy
1145 A Sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping with the divine
pedagogy of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and in human culture,
specified by the events of the Old Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Jesus
Christ.

1147 God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is presented to man's
intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator.
1148 inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of expressing
the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. The
same is true of signs and symbols…
1150 Signs of the Covenant
sacraments of the Old Law- the Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of the sacraments
of the New Law
1151 Signs taken up by Christ
1152 Sacramental Signs

The various symbolic elements of the liturgical-sacramental action are both revelatory and
salvific
Physical experience gives access to a reality beyond the signs (sonship, forgiveness, healing,
nourishment, consecration)

Essential rites are not merely the material element, but the action and word which involve the
material element.
Action
Word

Example: pouring of water in baptism, eating of the bread in Holy Communion

Sometimes , in fact, there is no material element as in ordination and marriage.

Essential rites, because they belong to the essence of the sacrament

Illustrative Signs or Explanatory Rites

Those used before or after sacramental signs either to introduce them or to illustrate their effects.

This salvific relationship is

effectively realized in the liturgical action, where the proclamation of salvation, which resounds
in
the Word proclaimed, finds its fulfilment in sacramental gestures.

These, in fact, make present in human history God's salvific action, which culminates in Christ's
Passover.
Passover. The redemptive power of those gestures gives continuity to the history of salvation that
God is bringing about over time.

Instituted by Christ, the sacraments are, therefore, actions which, by means of sensible signs,
bring
about a living experience of the mystery of salvation, making possible the participation of human
beings in divine life.

For this reason, in the liturgy the Church celebrates with faithful love and veneration the
sacraments that Christ himself has entrusted to her, so that she may guard them as a precious
heritage and source of her life and mission.

Unfortunately, it must be noted that the liturgical celebration, especially that of the sacraments,
does not always take place in full fidelity to the rites prescribed by the Church. On

By way of example, reference could be made to baptismal celebrations

in which the sacramental formula has been modified in one of its essential elements, rendering
the
sacrament null and void and thus compromising the future sacramental journey of those faithful
for whom, with grave inconvenience, it has been necessary to proceed to repeat the celebration
not
only of Baptism, but also of the sacraments received subsequently.[7]

3. In certain circumstances it is possible to note the good faith of some ministers who,
inadvertently or impelled by sincere pastoral motives, celebrate the sacraments by modifying the
essential formulas and rites established by the Church, perhaps in order to make them, in their
opinion, more suitable and comprehensible.

SC11 But in order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects, it is necessary
that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds should be attuned to
their voices, and that they should cooperate with divine grace lest they receive it in vain
[28] . Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something
more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit
celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what
they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.

The matter of the Sacrament consists in the human action through which Christ acts.
Sometimes there is a material element in it (water, bread, wine, oil), other times a particularly
eloquent gesture (sign of the cross, laying on of hands, immersion, infusion, consent, anointing).
This corporeality appears indispensable because it roots the Sacrament not only in human
history, but also, more fundamentally, in the symbolic order of Creation and leads it back to the
mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and of the Redemption wrought by Him.[27]

14. The form of the Sacrament is constituted by the word, which confers a transcendent meaning
on the matter, transfiguring the ordinary meaning of the material element and the purely human
meaning of the action performed. This word always draws inspiration from Sacred Scripture in
varying degrees, [28] has its roots in the living ecclesial Tradition and has been authoritatively
defined by the Magisterium of the Church through careful discernment.[29]

15. Matter and form, because they are rooted in Scripture and Tradition, have never depended
and cannot depend on the will of the individual or of the individual community. In their regard,
in fact, the Church's task is not to determine them at the will or arbitrariness of anyone, but, by
safeguarding the substance of the sacraments (salva illorum substantia)",[30] to indicate them
with authority, in docility to the action of the Spirit.

For some sacraments, matter and form appear to be substantially defined from the beginning, so
that their foundation by Christ is immediate; for others, the definition of the essential elements
has become more precise only in the course of a complex history, sometimes not without
significant evolution.