The Church

as Sacrament A visible sign…

Protestant Reformers

(16th century) The Reformers were

inspired by the description of the early church in the New Testament

They worked to renew the church along that model

They recognized abuses that had crept in over the years

Martin Luther

1483-1546

Martin Luther

distinguished between

the visible church and

the invisible church

He was trying explain

how so much corruption

could be a part of a

divine institution

Visible Church The visible or

external church was the church recognizable in its institutional structures: canon law, hierarchical offices, sacraments, etc.

That church included saints and sinners

Invisible Church

On the other hand, there is the invisible

church

The invisible church is the true church and

its membership is known only to God

Only God knows who is a true believer or

disciple

Only God sees into the hearts of people

A Sharp Distinction

In order to explain the

sinfulness and failures of

the church, the reformers

stressed the contrast

between the visible church

and the invisible church

Catholic Reaction

(Counter Reformation)

In reaction to this,

Catholic apologists

stressed the unity

between the visible

and invisible.

St. Robert Bellarmine

1542-1621

Defending the Visible Since it was the visible

structures that were

under attack, they

focused their efforts on

legitimating the

Church’s institutional

structures, often to the

neglect of the

Church’s spiritual

dimension.

Between Vatican I (1869-70)

and Vatican II (1962-65)

Theologians and church leaders began to think in new ways about the Church.

They began to emphasize that the Church was not only the hierarchy but the whole community of believers.

New Theologians

In the 1950s and

early 1960s,

several

theologians

began to write

major theological

treatises on the

nature of the

Church.

Yves Congar

Edward Schillebeeckx

Sacramentality is rooted in the mystery of the incarnation.

Jesus is the visible sign of the presence of God among people.

He is the visible revelation of invisible grace.

This makes him the primordial sacrament.

The Church itself becomes a

sacrament

With the resurrection

and ascension of Jesus,

the Church becomes

itself a sacrament, the

visible expression of the

grace of Christ made

manifest in the world.

Karl Rahner taught in a similar

manner

The Church can be called the basic

sacrament only in relation to Christ.

The Church is merely an instrument of

redemption won for all people by Jesus

Christ.

The Church needs to avoid triumphalism

and remember that it is a tool in the hand

of God.

Vatican II focused on

ecclesiology

“The church, in Christ, is a

sacrament – a sign and

instrument, that is, of

communion with God

and of the entire human

race – … for the benefit of

the faithful and of the

entire world.”

Lumen Gentium, 1

Quick Facts about Vatican II

Announced by Pope John XXIII on Jan 25, 1959

Four sessions (1962-65)

2540 bishops from all parts of the world participated

Also included observers from other religions and lay Catholic auditors

The council produced 16 documents

First Document on the Liturgy

The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He achieved His task principally by the paschal mystery of His blessed passions resurrection from the dead, and the glorious ascension, whereby "dying, he destroyed our death, and rising, he restored our life." For it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth "the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.” [SC 5]

Lumen Gentium

God gathered together as

one all those who in faith look

upon Jesus as the author of

salvation and the source of

unity and peace, and

established them as the

Church that for each and all it

may be the visible sacrament

of this saving unity. (LG 9)

Christ, having been

lifted up from the earth

has drawn all to

Himself. Rising from the

dead He sent His life-

giving Spirit upon His

disciples and through

Him has established His

Body which is the

Church as the universal

sacrament of salvation.

(LG 48)

Decree on the Missionary

Activity of the Church Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them "a universal sacrament of salvation," the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all people.

The Church is not only “a universal

sacrament of salvation,” it is also a

sacrament of unity.

“The Church, in Christ, is a kind of

sacrament, that is, sign and instrument of

communion with God and of unity of the

entire human race.” (LG 1)

Church as Sacrament of Unity

Liturgical services are

not private functions

but are celebrations of

the Church, which is

the “sacrament of

unity,” namely, the

holy people united

and ordered under

their bishops. (SC 26)

Paul VI defined

sacrament as “a

visible sign of

invisible grace.”

Therefore, if the

Church is a

sacrament, it must

have visible

structures: people,

leaders, rituals,

laws, doctrines,

etc.

However, the visibility or materiality of the

sacrament, its “outer dimension,” is placed

at the service of the inner dimension, God’s

saving grace.

These external

dimension should

never be valued as

ultimate realities

(ends in themselves)

but as mediations of

God’s saving action.

When we say “the

Church is a

sacrament,” we are

not referring only to

its institutional

dimensions.

The Church is

a community of disciples

The whole Church, saints and sinners alike, shares in the sacramentality of the Church, in so far as the witness of each believer’s life participates in the corporate sign value of the whole Church.

Sacrament is not the only

image of the Church that

Vatican II offers

Placed alongside the council’s

teaching on the Church as

sacrament and as Body of Christ, was

its teaching on the Church as People

of God, and, in particular, its

acknowledgment of the Church’s

“pilgrim” status.

Pilgrim Church

The Church is a

pilgrim, it is on the

way, it has not

arrived.

It will attain its full

perfection only in

the glory of heaven.

All of this recalls

that sacraments, in

the end, are

always provisional

realities.

They mediate

God’s presence,

but in themselves

they are` always

imperfect and exist

in anticipation of

the consummation

of history.

The Church, at least in its historical reality,

shares in this provisionality.

The Kingdom is the ultimate goal.

The Church is means toward bring the

Kingdom about