The September 11 Memorial creates a permanentsacrament of healing and remembering. Families wholost loved ones find their names among the 3,000etched deeply into the granite square that surroundsGround Zero. Water flows down the four sides of thememorial. The place feels somber. Visitors walk theperimeter and honor the dead with flags and flowers.

MOVING in theSPIRIT 4

In the aftermath of September11, 2001, Americans createdpublic sacraments of healing.People put up photos andnames of loved ones on fences.A cross-shaped, ruined steelgirder became a symbol of thesuffering of those who losttheir lives and of those wholost loved ones.

For Catholics, the world is sacramental. Allcreation reveals God and makes God visible.An ancient redwood, a new baby can awakenus to awe at God’s presence in creation. At suchmoments the tree or the child are signs or sacramentsof God’s continuous, creative presence within andaround us.

Signs point beyond what we see to what we don’tsee. They open us to the transcendent mystery ofGod’s creative, sustaining love in which we live.

Jesus is the sacrament of God. Jesus makes Godvisible. We see in Jesus how God acts as one of us.Jesus reveals every person’s capacity to love, forgive,share, serve, heal, and reach out to outsiders as hedid.

The Church celebrates seven sacraments tocontinue Jesus’ loving, healing actions among us. Inthe sacraments we remember, celebrate, and expressour faith in Jesus’ actions. In these actions we findour identity as Christians.

Before he died, Jesus made bread broken andshared and wine poured out the signs of his love forus, the visible sacrament of his total self-giving on thecross and the new life of his resurrection.

The Church remembers Jesus and celebrateseucharist to become what we celebrate—a holycommunity in communion with God and oneanother. As a community, the Church is a sign thatpoints to the unity to which the Creator calls us, Jesusleads us, the Holy Spirit inspires us, and human racereaches. The Church celebrates the sacraments tobecome what wecelebrate—abelieving, forgivingpeople, the body ofChrist in our world.

Make a public memorialthat celebrates Jesus’significance for us today.

How Do WeRemember?

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Friends create a memorialat the site where a youngman was murdered.

People use notes,flowers, and runningshoes to expresssupport for victimsof the BostonMarathon bombing.

SACRAMENTS

In the sacraments, the Churchcelebrates its faith in thecontinuing, life-givingpower of Jesus’ deathand resurrection.Jesus continues towelcome, bless, heal,feed, forgive, and uniteus in the sacraments.Sacraments use visiblesigns and audible prayersand stories to make this invisiblemystery of faith present. Just as thegirder cross makes visible whathappened on 9/11, so the sacramentsmake visible what happened for us inJesus’ death and resurrection.

The signs of the Church’ssacraments come from the createdworld: bathing in water, soothing andstrengthening with oil, eating bread,sharing wine, laying on hands. Theseactions remember Jesus’ healing,freeing actions when he was alive.Sacraments celebrate our faith inJesus and our faith that God is alwaysand everywhere creatively present.

Three sacraments—baptism,confirmation, andeucharist—initiateChristians into the mysteryof Jesus’ death, resurrection,and sending of the Spirit.Each of these sacramentshas an action sign in whichthe Christian participates. Wewash in the waters of Jesus’ new

risen life. A baptism is a christening,a “Christing” that marks us with an

indelible character, a lastingbelonging to Christ thatcalls us to holiness. Inputting on white robes,new Christians put onChrist and his way oflife. By laying on hands and

anointing withoil in

confirmation, thebishop seals newChristians with the giftof the Spirit. Ateucharist Christiansgather as a communityto eat the bread anddrink the cup whichJesus made signs of his love.

At Mass the community gathersaround two tables to remember andcelebrate Jesus. At the table of theword, we nourish our memory withstories of God’s goodness to us andJesus’ vision for us. Around the tableof the eucharist we share the body

and blood of Christ. We doas Jesus commanded,“Do this to rememberme.” We do thisoften to recognizeand become who weare—the body ofChrist in our world. Eucharist is the daily

bread of Christians, our

regular family meal that nourishesus with God’s word and the bodyand blood of Christ. Celebratingeucharist gathers and forms us as acommunity. We bring gifts of breadand wine to the altar. The priestprays that the Holy Spirit comeupon these gifts and make themholy. With the bread and wine weare the gifts the Spirit makes holy.

Every time weeat the bread thatis the Body ofChrist, we nourishour commitmentto give Jesus hands,feet, and heart inthe world. Everytime we drink thecup that is the

Blood of Christ, we pledge to giveourselves in service as Jesus did.

Two sacraments celebrate andcontinue Jesus’ healing actions—reconciliation and anointing of thesick. Marriage and holy orders aresacraments of service that celebratethe upbuilding of the community.In marriage a man and womanpledge their love for each otherand vow to be faithful to the otherall their lives. Their lasting lovemakes Christian love visibleamong us. In holy orders theChristian community ordainsministers to serve the people,preach the gospel, and celebratethe sacraments.

We Share the FAITH of a Community

INITIATION

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Liturgy is the Church’s publicprayer. Our life of public prayeras Catholic Christians revolves around the sacraments with theEucharist at the center. The wordeucharist in Greek means to give thanks.

Eucharist is the great thanksgivingprayer of the Christian community.In this sacrament Christians celebratethe faith we profess and live. Thesign calls and gives us the power tobecome bread broken to nourishothers and wine poured out inservice.

Eucharist calls Christians tobecome the sacrament we celebrate.We share the body of Christ in orderto become the body of Christ in the

world. Each Eucharistic Prayeris a great thanksgiving in whichwe pray to become like Jesus, aneverlasting gift to God and ourneighbor.

Eucharist is the ordinary wayCatholics seek forgiveness andreconciliation with God unlesswe have committed serious sin.We hear in the gospel Jesuschallenge us to live and love ashe did. We remember with thepriest in the Eucharistic Prayer

Jesus’ actions on the night before hedied, making bread and wine thesigns of his love for us. During ourlifetimes, celebrating eucharisttransforms us into Christ. Many waysto pray center around Eucharist.

� Every Eucharistic Prayer follows apattern we can use for personalprayer. In every Eucharistic Prayerwe remember and thank Godfor all God has done in thepast—in history and in ourlives. After the priestremembers and reenacts Jesus’actions at the last supper, wepray that in our future we maybecome one. To use thispattern for personal prayer,thank God for past blessings

and then ask to become one Spirit inChrist and imagine the just, holy,united world that is our future hope.

� Participate in celebrating SundayEucharist. Sing. Become a server orminister of hospitality.

� Participate in celebrating dailyMass.

� Reflect on the Sunday scripturereadings with a group. Exploretogether what Jesus asks of us todayin the gospels.

� Take time for prayer and solitudebefore the Blessed Sacrament.

We Become the BODY OF CHRIST

SERVICEHEALING

Through him, with him, in him,O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,all glory and honor is yours for ever and ever. Amen.

The Church’s seven sacraments celebrate special lifemoments—birth, family meals, marriage, forgiveness,sickness, commitment to serve. In the actions thesacraments celebrate, Jesus still acts among us.

Personalize the sacrament lifeline. Identify when youand other family members have celebrated thesesacraments. Jot down special memories.

CREATE A SACRAMENT LIFELINE

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their lives for theirpeople.

“One day in 1982,Santa Cruz, a smallmarket town north ofChichicastenango, wastaken over by the army.The villagers wereassembled and told thatthe catechists were‘subversives’ whom theirrelatives must kill thatvery night. Otherwise,the army would razeSanta Cruz andneighboring villages.The soldiers consideredthe bible which thecatechists taughtsubversive because ittaught that everyone wasequal in the sight ofGod.

“The villagers had refused to dothe deed, but the five catechistsinsisted that they must: ‘It is betterfor us to die than for thousands todie.’ At 4:00 A.M. a weeping

procession, led by the catechists,arrived at the cemetery. Graves weredug, the people formed a circlearound the kneeling men, andrelatives of the five drew theirmachetes. Many could not watch thescene; some fainted as the blades fell,and the executioners’ tears mingledwith the blood of the catechists. Thevillagers returned home in silence.”

“This plan did not eliminateanother source of subversion. Thepeople honored such martyrdom.‘We remember them with holyreverence,’ said a witness to thecatechists’ deaths, ‘because it isthanks to them that we are alivetoday.’ Life, explained a youngGuatemalan, is meaningless ‘unlessyou give it away.’ In such acommunity of faith people fear notdeath, but infidelity to one anotherand to their beliefs.”

� What relationship betweenChristians, living and dead, does thisstory show?

We Become the Communion of SAINTS

In the mistyhighlands ofnorthwesternGuatemala therethrives a strangeand wondrouschurch. Most of itsmembers are illiterateIndian peasants.

“Every village in thisregion of El Quichehas a blood story totell. During an eight-year reign of terrorthat did not begin to subside until acivilian president took office in 1986,thousands of Indians were killed orrelocated to concentration camps.Persecution against the CatholicChurch was so ferocious that not asingle priest or nun remained in theQuiche diocese. In order to celebrateCommunion, undercover catechiststraveled hours on foot, carryingconsecrated hosts hidden among earsof corn or in baskets of beans ortortillas. Anyone caught with such‘subversive material’ could expect aslow death by torture. Yet the peoplekept faith.

“Typical of Quiche’s ‘church of thecatacombs’ were the five catechists ofSanta Cruz El Quiche—Lucas, Justo,Angel, Domingo, and Juan—who gave

Our baptismal and confirmationnames may connect us with familymembers, saints of the past, orpeople of conscience in ourtimes. Many saints would makeheadlines as leaders today.Melanie set free hundreds of herwealthy family’s slaves. Elizabethgave away her husband’s wealth tofeed the poor in Hungary. Martinde Porres and Damien cared for

sick people no one wanted totouch. John Bosco taught streetkids.

� What name do you want to takeas your confirmation name? Why?

� What reasons do you see forbelonging to the Christiancommunity?

� Why contribute your gifts to itslife?

Nihil Obstat: J. Michael Byron Imprimatur: +Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, April 10, 2007. Copyright © 2014, by Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, 1884 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States ofAmerica. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 1-885996-35-7.

Why Do I Belong?

Lucas,Justo,Angel,

Domingo,Juan

The community of faith to whichevery baptized Christian belongsincludes not only the living, but thedead. We believe in the communionof saints, the lasting union of allbelievers in God. The practice ofgiving a child a saint’s name or afamily member’s name at baptism or

of taking a new name atconfirmation is a way of taking amember of the communion of saintsas a model. Whenever and whereverChristians down the ages have giventheir lives in martyrdom and service,they have changed others and calledthem to follow their example.

In Penny Lernoux’s book People ofGod, she tells the story of five Indiancatechists whose deaths have keptfaith alive among those in whoseplaces they died. Their story showshow we live in communion withsaints, and how their examples helpinspire and change us.