We do not live in a vacuum, but as created beings, the matter that we are made of and the ensuing consequences of any undertaken action are in a constant interaction with the invisible and spiritual world around us. To live a sacramental life means that while we are in the world, we have been set apart from it. The physical reality is only a portion of our lived realities. There is more to things than meets the eye. The physical world is a vehicle that mediates the invisible but tangible presence of God, and often serves to direct our gaze to the true beauty that emanates from God.

Nonetheless, we also grapple with the reality, that what is in the invisible world is also not all the time good, and may in fact try to distort our perception of God, and lead us away from Him.

On one hand, we are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). On the other, “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

To understand the means to live a sacramental life, we would need to return once more to the mystery of the Incarnation. As Philippians 2: 5-8 states,

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”

It is unfathomable for our finite minds to ever comprehend why God would take on flesh and become a man – Yet, the visible Face of Jesus, is precisely the gateway to God our Father who is invisible. Jesus became man to save us by reconciling us to God the Father; to allow us to know the depth of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness; to be a model of holiness; and to allow us to become partakers of the divine nature (cf. CCC. 456-460). As CCC. 426 states,

“At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father. . .who suffered and died for us and who now, after rising, is living with us forever.” To catechise is “to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God’s eternal design reaching fulfilment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ’s actions and words and of the signs worked by him.” Catechesis aims at putting “people . . . in communion . . . with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity.”

Hence, a sacramental life is only possible when we centre our lives on Jesus, for when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), the very same mystery of the Incarnation, provided us a tangible way for us who were enslaved by darkness to be liberated by a light that we could now see. The incarnation of Jesus also shows us the reality that the physical and the spiritual are both interwoven together and cannot be compartmentalised apart from each other. The physical exists so as to manifest the invisible and the spiritual. This is also a reason as to why we celebrate the Sacraments in the Church. The Sacraments of the Church are instituted by Christ and serve as “efficacious signs of grace”, and are “entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (CCC. 1131). The sacraments thus make manifest Christ’s presence at every walk and stage of our lives, through their visible aspect, such as the pouring of water at Baptism, and simultaneously along with this visible aspect, an invisible or inner aspect – the action of Christ in the form of Grace. Early Christians used the Greek word, mysterion, which can be translated into Latin as mystenum and sacramentum. The word sacramentum is thus significant in drawing attention to how the Church and the Sacraments serve as visible signs of the hidden reality of salvation (CCC. 774). Christ is the means and the ends to Salvation, and the Church, because it communicates and it contains the grace that is found in this redemptive and saving work, is also both physical building and sacrament. The Church is a Sacrament – a visible sign of the inward and invisible Grace (CCC. 774). These speak of the truth that our realities are laced with the unseen presence of God.

The sacraments act ex opere operato (literally, “by the very fact of the action being performed”), so they happen through the saving work of Christ, the power of God, and not through the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient (CCC 1128).

At the core of a sacramental life is to live a life that is holy. The Hebrew word for “holy” is kiddushin – Kiddushin is the same word that is used to describe Marriage. Our lives are called to be holy and set apart, and through this holiness, we enter a covenantal relationship with God (Hahn, 2002). The covenant is not merely a contract or a treaty, but it is a deep and profound family bond that is bound together by oath. These new family relationships brought responsibilities, privileges, and duties (Hahn, 2002). To break the promises that were wrought in covenant brought about extremely dire consequences. As Deuteronomy 11: 26 – 28 tells us:

“See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:

a blessing for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I give you today;

a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, but turn aside from the way I command you today, to go after other gods, whom you do not know.”

Given this, so how do we live our lives sacramentally?

  1. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. He is the Beginning and the End. From the Lord God all life radiates, and to Him, all life revolves. Jesus is given as a gift to us in the Eucharist. We receive Jesus in the Eucharist, and the Eucharist emanates through us, drawing us closer to Him. This union is sacred and this union is Gift. A sacramental life is determined by whether we have Jesus at the centre of our lives. The “Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life” (CCC 1324) As John 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
  2. Our day needs to be intentional and in tuned with the Lord God who made time, and who ordered the planets and the seasons. We need to realise that God is very much involved in the rhythms and oscillations of space and time. Therefore, our whole lives need to punctuated and permeated with the activity of God.
  3. The way to be cognizant of the fingerprints of God, is to live a life that revolves around the Liturgy and the Sacraments. The Liturgical Calendar helps us to be aware of God in our everyday existence. Our active remembrances and participation in the solemnities, memorials, birthdays of the saints, tell us we are not alone in our Christian journey.
  4. The hours can also be sanctified by praying the Liturgy of the Hours. This is the Prayer of the Church which connects us to a 24/7 network of people praying in solidarity.
  5. In medieval times, the people’s lives revolved around the Cathedral or Church that was built in the centre of the village square. The Church Bells would tell the time, and labourers in the field arranged their activities with the chimes of the bells. At noon, the bells for Angelus would ring out, and the people would stop their labour momentarily, pray the Angelus, and return to the toil of their labour. Today, a way of remembering the Lord’s presence amidst our busy days is to set an alarm for Angelus at noon, or to order our days according to the hinge hours of the Liturgy of the Hours at Lauds and Vespers.
  6. The dwelling on the Word of God and the Teachings of the Church attunes our heart spaces and dispositions to discovering God’s Will for us in our lives and to be docile and courageous to that Will for us. The three pillars of Scripture, Sacred Traditions of the Church, and the Magisterium, both living and written form within us the “deposit of faith” (Jude 1:3).
  7. Sacramentals used appropriately by the Faithful as articles of Faith, and not as talismans, are powerful ways that can connect us to the presence of God. “Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.” (CCC.1667)

At its heart, sacramental living is the sharing of Jesus’s Divine Sonship. As Scott Hahn (2006) eloquently puts it,

“He has given us to share, very concretely and specifically in Christ’s own divine sonship. That is a supernatural mystery, but it is a substantial reality… but unfortunately many people have lost it, or at least sort of neglected it.”

Perhaps, a good reminder for us is found in the words of St. Paul:

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

 

Excerpt of Prayer on the Breastplate of St. Patrick

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

 

By the Grace of God,

Brian Bartholomew Tan

 

 

 

References

Catechism of the Catholic Church. (n.d.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Hahn, S. (2002). Understanding “Our Father”. Emmaus Road Publishing.

Hahn, S. (2006). Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace: My Spiritual Journey in Opus Dei. The Crown Publishing Group.