Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 7 Sacraments are celebrations. That seemed like a new idea after the Council. Actually, the idea was there before but far in the background, behind more practical descriptions of Catholic worship like “service” and “spiritual food.” Now it seems to me that “celebration” describes sacraments perfectly. Formerly, if I thought about celebrating at all, I might have thought:  Jesus, who died for me, is alive and comes to me in... Read more

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 6 I have lived through a time of renewal in the Church and in her understanding of sacraments. The renewal of my own understanding of sacraments had its own timetable and path. Throughout it was the special nature of the sacramental signs that fascinated me. The starting point for the Catholic understanding of sacramental signs is that they effect, they bring about, what they signify. When I went to church,... Read more

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 5 Catholics through the ages have loved the sacraments, loved the grace, the closeness to God, they find in church. Other things that happen in our everyday lives, however, bring out in us more various and down-to-earth emotions. We enjoy things, we suffer them, we endure them, we get wild about them, we feel bound by them, or we freely commit ourselves to them. When you look close enough, all... Read more

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 4 In a good liturgical celebration you can pick out easily some moments of special closeness of God and great wealth of graces being shared. But the new liturgy wants to be more for us than a time to get close to God. God is close to us and sharing an abundance of grace all the time, and the liturgy wants to make that fact visible and believable. We can... Read more

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 3 A reflection on the mystery of the sacraments can be about an entire world of mystery as well. The way we do sacraments expresses our understanding of the world and our place in it. Now, many years after the Second Vatican Council, you can read in the new shape of the Church’s sacramental celebrations an understanding of the world that we live in. You can contrast that with the... Read more

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 2 The Church’s liturgy, her way of celebrating the sacred mysteries, her sacraments, always had a strong hold on me. That fascination only grew as the liturgy changed. Meanwhile I was growing from youth to adulthood, trying to master many things besides liturgy. I would experience God really present in our liturgies, but then pretty soon I would be on about everyday occupations again. That’s the way the Christian life... Read more

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 1 In the early 1960’s I was studying at Sacred Heart, the minor seminary for the Green Bay Diocese. My classmates and I felt we were living at a lucky moment in history. We loved the Church, were studying her teachings, and had made a start at devoting our lives to her. And this Church was changing. The Second Vatican Council was setting new directions for the familiar Church. Who could tell... Read more