Form of the Sacrament

05-15-2016Weekly ReflectionFr. Brian Jazdzewski

Often we move toward and through the Sacraments of the Church with a relatively casual and sometimes passive approach. An attitude toward the sacraments like that can create a lack of awareness of what is really happening during the sacramental celebration. Consequently, we become dull to the power of the Holy Spirit who we grandly celebrate today on Pentecost. Technically speaking in the Church world, we teach the fact that sacraments need to follow a certain form. The Catholic sense of form is worth reflecting on to get a greater sense of the mystical. Additionally, with the recent communication from Pope Francis, even marriage, remarriage and divorce can quickly become misunderstood if we have an incomplete sense of the form of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

Let's consider Confirmation as our sacrament of choice on this Pentecost weekend. The form of the sacrament has a few more significant pieces other than "a really long Mass." First of all, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is a bishop; he is part of the form. Then, we need a soul to receive the sacrament; the soul is within a human body; so we need a prepared candidate. Once those obvious pieces are established, we look at the timing when the sacrament is conferred. Typically Confirmation takes place after the homily. While the sacrament is celebrated, we witness other pieces of the form. One piece is calling the candidate and their affirmative reply. The next piece is a renewal of Baptismal promises… out loud. Another piece is the imposition of hands; typically the bishop extends his hands over the candidates. We also have the point which some suggest is the very moment the sacrament takes place. That point is when the candidate is most near the bishop. Here we see him use a new confirmation name just before he speaks the words, "… be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit." Immediately he extends the sign of peace to the newly confirmed. The final piece of the form is the prayer over the newly confirmed just before we transition into the General Intercessions.

Of course there could be more paragraphs written about each piece of the form. Each piece represents something mystical, theological and spiritual which the outward signs will never fully express. Also, we could parse out each of the seven sacraments to uncover the richness within the form of each. We continue to pray for a deeper understanding of the sacraments each day of our life. We might even consider doing a little research to discover the richness of each of these gestures.

While we've come to celebrate Pentecost, we know the Holy Spirit has been sent to lead us to all truth. The same Spirit was sent to the earliest of disciples, sent to popes and bishops throughout history, and is sent to us at our baptism. Our role is to remain connected to the Holy Spirit and do our part to share His power through our lives to further the Kingdom of God. Part of a persistent connection is faithfulness. More specifically, our current Pope reminds us to consider how embrace mercy in our lives; mercy toward others which reflects the mercy we received from God. Sure, the Holy Spirit can work through a lot of haziness in our souls, but wouldn't living a less sinful and more penitential life provide an environment of clarity for the Holy Spirit to operate? The power of salvation, for us and for others, is there for us to receive.

Now that we have a renewed sense of the Spirit of God as we celebrate today, we turn toward the Spirit and re-invite His power and guidance into our lives. We look back to see the obstacles our Church has overcome since Christ, and continues to overcome today. We look back at our individual lives and see how the Spirit has help us transition through some challenging and difficult circumstances in our lives. We remember those moments when we thought we'd never get through this… but we did! We continue to believe that the Spirit was, is and will be present in our lives. Today is another chance to place our trust and confidence in the Holy Spirit and believe that He will sustain us. The sacraments we have received give proof of the Spirit's presence. We have received Him, now its our chance to share Him with others!

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