Essay On Sacraments

He explains that the sacraments themselves did not change but the way they celebrate them today invites us to see and experience God’s presence in Christ where we have perhaps never consciously looked before. What he is trying to say is that the way the sacraments changed was the way we have seen them and that we see them as a celebration. Sacraments were once placed as the way of Christian faithful grace, we also understand sacraments in terms of grace because we are gods loving communication. Now there is a more conscious effort to see how sacraments communicate God’s grace, God’s presence. Traditionally sacraments are outward signs and still are. What this means is that they are all perceptible to our senses. The more perceptible these sacred …show more content…
A shorthand way of referring to Jesus life, death, and resurrection is the paschal mystery. This term is derived from the word paschal or pertaining to the Passover. Mystery comes from the Greek word for sacrament itself. It refers to that which is not immediately apparent to our senses, but is accessible and real to us because of faith. In every sacrament we remember the paschal mystery in such a way that the power that flows from God's outpouring of love for us in Christ becomes both real and accessible to us here today. In a real sense, the sacraments continue the work that Jesus accomplished while on earth. Vatican II teaches that the purpose of the sacraments is to make people holy, to build up the Body of Christ, and finally to give worship to God. It is through the sacraments that the Church continues here and now to incarnate Christ's presence in the world. We baptize, forgive, heal, and bless all in the name of Christ. While the way we celebrate the sacraments has changed since Vatican II, the faith of the Church in Christ's active presence in the sacraments has not. Because we Catholics are a sacramental people, we experience the presence of God in the