From the April 21-22 Ministerial retreat for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas. The Presenter/Professor is Fr. Guillermo (Bill) Garcia

1. SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY
PART I

2. method
• Experiential and Hands on.
• Discussion.
• How to handle Special Questions:
– Please take a moment: Write down what you
would really like to ask a question about now.
– As the day continues, if there is a question
you need an answer to write it down.
– Tomorrow we will try to respond to or discuss
these special questions.

3. THEOLOGY IS FAITH SEEKING
UNDERSTANDING
• True theology is done, it is not ―taught‖
• We will be doing theology:
• SCRIPTURES –TRADITION -- PRAXIS

4. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
• Describe one time and place in which you
experience the Divine Presence.
• a. Do this in as vividly as you can.
• b. What reminds you of that experience
and how do you experience it when you
recall it?

5. Where did we get the word
Sacrament?
• Sacramentum: INVOLVES A CEREMONY
– pledge money deposited in temple by parties
to a law suit or contract.
– Soldiers oath of allegiance to commander and
gods of Rome

6. SACRAMENTUM
• Christian usage:
– Sacred Symbol or Ceremony
– Sign of a Sacred Reality
– Sign of a hidden Sacred Reality (Augustine)
– Sacred or Mysterious (Mysterion)
– Points to something transcendent:

7. Sacraments
• A complex reality: Something human
pointing to something transcendent. They
can be Rites in human life
– Rites of Passage
– Rites of celebration
– Rites of Intensification by commemoration
– Rites of Reception
– Rites of Departure, et.

8. SACRAMENT
• BROADLY DEFINED
―A sign or symbol of something which is
sacred and mysterious.‖

9. A Door to the Sacred.
• Sacraments are invitations to religious
experiences. An ―inviting door‖

10. ―Hieraphony‖ (Mircea Eliade)
• An experience, a time and a space can point to an
experience of the Sacred.
• An experienced revelation of the Holy.

11. Entering another dimension
• OF SPACE = SACRED SPACE
• OF TIME= SACRED TIME
• OF MEANING SACRED MEANING

12. THE SACRED
• Joseph Martos: ― Whether or not it is
objectively an experience of another
dimension of reality—a transcendent
dimension—is an open question.‖
• Hierophany is a manifestation of the
sacred beyond space and time with a
deeper meaning:

13. Sacraments
• Allow entrance into religious dimension of
existence.
• Occasions a transformation of consciousness.
• Alteration of experience of space and time
• Things are imbued with new meaning and value.

14. REMEMBERING
• During the hierophany the person is
transported from ordinary, unimportant,
homogeneous space into
• Sacred space which is special and
meaningful.

15. Once again….that time is now

16. Significant meaning
• Meaning is significant because it is
significant to us personally and is
associated with a person, place or event in
our life.
• SYMBOLS draw us out of everyday and
into another world.

17. Sacramental experiences
• Meaning is Sacred Meaning, Meaningful
Meaning,
– Personal experience: makes MY life
meaningful
– Social life: makes OUR lives meaningful.
Something experienced but NOT fully
understood.

18. Where does the meaning come
from?
• In a sacred experience, meaning comes
– From
– Through ….. The Sacrament.

19. Belief
• People must believe in the effectiveness of
sacraments (in general) in order for them to be
effective.
• Without faith and belief , sacraments signify but
they do not effect.
• Faith is the key to opening the Door of the
Sacred.

20. World rituals
• Water rituals • Healing Ritual
• Rituals of Initiation • Funeral Rituals
• Ritual Meals • Marriage Rituals
• Ritual Sacrifices • Ordination Rituals
• Atonement Rituals
These Correspond to
Catholic Rituals

21. RITUALS
• RITUALS EXPRESS VALUES AND
ATTITUDES IN SYMBOLIC ACTION

22. PRINCIPLE OF
SACRAMENTALITY
• Principle of sacramentality: everything can
embody and communicate the divine.
– All has a mysterious dimension
– All is imbued with God’s hidden presence

23. Brief Summary
• Jesus Christ, is the Sacrament of the Encounter
with God

24. Brief Summary
• The gathering of God’s People, Christ’s
Body, is the place where Catholics
encounter God.

25. PAUL
• Paul (AD 50 to 60) writes to Churches
– mentioning various ―sacramental‖ actions of
Christians…
– but does not use a single word like
―sacraments‖ :
• baptism, laying on of hands,
• sharing of the Lord’s supper, tongues, prophecy,
• stylized rituals.

26. PAUL
• PAUL
– MYSTERIES = Something hidden or secret.
• 1 Cor 2: 7-113 God’s wisdom
• Colossians 1:26-27: message he preaches
• Ephesianss 1:9-10: God’s plan of Salvation
• Ephesians 3:3-6 Christ

27. PENTECOST

28. Brief Summary
• N.T does not use mysterion as it is used
for sacraments.
• N.T. does refer to Rites:
– 1 Cor 11: 23-27 bread and wine in memory
– 1 Cor 10:16-17 it was considered what we
call sacramental sharing.
• Acts 3:42-47, 4:32-35: they lived it together.

29. Brief Summary
• Experience of Pentecost: Acts 2
– Difficult to see what experience was
– Those Gathered had a hieraphony, felt transformed,
filled with Spirit Jesus was filled with.
– Transmitted that ―Spirit‖ to others, converts
– By imposition of hands after baptism (Acts 19:4-16) or
later (Acts 8 14-17)

30. What is a Sacramental Seal?
• ??????

31. ―SACRAMENTAL SEAL‖
• Seal
– O.T. literally a stamp or its impression (Genesis 41:42
authority; 1 Kings 21:8 authenticity, Jeremiah 32:10
validity;
– N.T. indicates owner (e.g. God owns the scroll sealed
Revelations 5:1; 7:2-4; God set seal on Messiah John
6:27, 10:36

32. Sacramental Seal
• Early Christian Writers: What is meaning
of ―Seal of the Spirit‖? Search texts for
meaning.
– Texts not just metaphors
• II Corinthians 1:21-22 sealed with the Spirit
• Colossians 1: 15, II Cor 4:4: Jesus = image
• 1 Cor11:7 & Gen 1:26-27 image of God