What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

The Celebration of the Christian Mystery: Sacramentals

The Celebration of the Christian Mystery: Sacramentals

                The section of the Catechism that we have been working our way through is called the Celebration of the Christian Mystery.  This is because it has covered the different aspects of liturgical worship within the Catholic Church.  That’s why we looked at the liturgy, the sacraments and now we are going to look at the final two topics in this section.  The first is Sacramentals, and the second is Christian Funerals.  Today we are going to look at sacramentals. 

                What is a sacramental?  “Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramental.  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)

                A sacramental is not the same as a sacrament.  But they do help us to recall the sacraments.  They are “instituted for the sanctification of certain ministries of the Church, certain states of life, a great variety of circumstances in Christian life, and the use of many things helpful to man…They always include a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water (which recalls Baptism).  (CCC 1668)

                A blessing is a sacramental.  Every time you bless a meal, you use a sacramental.  Every time you say, “God bless you” and mean it, you use a sacramental.  Other blessings would include the blessing of a church, those participating in a particular lay ministry, the blessing of holy oils, or a house, pretty much anything that is good and useful to mankind or is used in the Church, can be blessed.

                There are other sacramentals that many Catholics use every day.  Some of these would be the Rosary or religious medals or a crucifix.  For those who aren’t familiar with the Rosary, while the structure of a Rosary might look like a necklace, it is not a piece of jewelry.  Always there is a crucifix, to remind us of the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  Each grouping of beads represents one mystery from the life of Christ, whether it’s the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary, or Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, or the Resurrections.  The whole purpose of the Rosary is to help us to focus on Christ, on his life here on earth and in heaven and so draw us ever closer to him.

                The wearing of medals is another use of sacramentals.  These are not good luck charms.  Wearing them doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you.  Life happens to everyone because we are all sinners who live among sinners.  The medals represent different Saints or the Blessed Mother.  What they do is remind us of that great cloud of witnesses the writer of the book of Hebrews talks about.  These are all people who have gone before us.  Some died for their faith.  Some lived a long life and died a natural death.  All lived a heroic faith, and all are in heaven praying for us.  Usually people will wear a medal as a sign of devotion to a particular person, like the various Marian medals.  Wearing these medals doesn’t mean we worship Mary.  It means we honor her as the Mother of the Church and as our heavenly Mother.  If it is considered a common practice to wear a picture of our biological mother in a locket, why shouldn’t we wear a picture of our Spiritual Mother around our neck? 

                Sometimes people will wear a particular Saint’s medal.  Again, this doesn’t mean we are worshipping the person, or that we think wearing the medal will bring us good luck.  Instead, it reminds us of their faith.  Of the things they overcame for the sake of the Gospel.  It reminds us that they are there, looking out for us and praying for us.  It reminds us to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Christ, no matter what is going on in our life.

                That’s what all sacramentals do.  They lead us to the sacraments.  They help us to remember our high calling in Christ Jesus amid the toil and trials of everyday life.  They remind us that this, too, shall pass whatever our “this” may be.  They remind us that this is not our real home.  They remind us of our Baptism, where we renounced Satan and all his evil ways.  They remind us of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that filled us at Confirmation.  They draw us ever more frequently to the Eucharist, where we receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ; where we can receive all the grace we will ever need to become great saints ourselves, if we but open ourselves to receive it.  When we fall, they remind us of the grace and mercy of the absolution of our sins available to us through Reconciliation.  They give us courage and strength when we are sick and remind us of the availability of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.  They keep us strong and steadfast in our vocation in life, whether we are married or a bishop, priest or deacon.  In short, sacramentals help all of us to better live our Catholic Christian liv