Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: !fetherbay@ddtisvr.uucp (Kathy Fetherbay) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Sacraments (was Re: The End of the World!!) Message-ID: Date: 25 Mar 91 09:01:45 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: DuPont Design Technologies Group Lines: 66 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article news@hoss.unl.edu (Network News Administer) writes: >In dhosek@linus.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) writes: > >>The old Baltimore Catechism definition of a sacrament is something >>along the lines of a visible sign of grace instituted by Christ to >>show God's love (or some such. I've never actually seen a >>Baltimore Catechism myself). > >Operating from memory (I haven't seen a Baltimore Chatechism in a _long_ >time, but for this sort of thing, my memory is usually pretty good), "a >sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace." I > Leo Chouinard > leo@hoss.unl.edu Ok, I dug out my original "Baltimore" _Catechism_of_Perseverance_ (circa 1850!) and is says: Q. What are the sacraments? A. The sacraments are sensible signs, instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, for our sanctification. Q. Who has instituted the sacraments? A. Our Lord Jesus Christ has instituted all the sacraments. No other could institute them; because God alone can attach to sensible things the power of conferring grace. Q. Why has our Lord instituted the sacraments? A. Our Lord has instituted the sacraments: 1st, to communicate his graces to us; 2d, to aid us by the means of sensible things to comprehend spiritual things; 3d, in order to show us his infinite power, in making use of little things to produce great effects; 4th, to teach us continually that we are all brothers. Q. What is the effect of the sacraments? A. The effect of the sacraments is to sanctify us, either by giving us grace or by augmenting it. Q. What are the elements of the sacraments? A. The elements of the sacraments are the things of which they are composed. These are three in number; the matter, the form, and the minister. And it goes on for pages and pages. Compare this with _An_American_Catholic_Catechism_ (1975, edited by George J. Dyer) which talks about how the sacraments were understood during various eras, and proceeds with five paragraphs to answer "What, then, is a sacrament?": (I summerize) They are rites of incorporation, events of grace, extended thru symbolic and ritual acts. In receiving a sacrament, a person is both receptive to grace or "faith" and resposive in worship. Sacraments are not performed to benefit an individual or the Church. Christ gathers his followers to send them out as heralds. Thus, sacraments are the symbolic or ritual acts of incorporation into the sphere of Christ's grace and mission; in sacraments we demonstrate our receptivity to the Spirit and resposive readiness to worship and serve the Lord, who is both gathering and sending his priestly people into the world. There you have one tradition's view of the subject. -- -- Kathy E.F.Daly -- - -- "A bad .sig file is better than no .sig file at all." Camex,Inc. pays me, but I work for DuPont Design Technologies (go figure...) Land Line by day: (408)970-4263