1. Second Vatican Council
1.1. Spiritual renewal
1.1.1. A desire to create unity between Christian church
1.1.2. Aggiornamento (updating) Ressourcement (return to the sources)
1.2. The Second Vatican Council helps us to see that ministry is always in the service of Christ and his people.
2. Paschal Mystery
2.1. The term “paschal” comes from the Greek pascha, which is, in turn, a translation of the Hebrew pesach, or Passover.
2.2. The paschal mystery refers to the mystery of God’s saving work in the history of the world.
2.3. The centrality of the paschal mystery is reflected in the Second Vatican Council’s understanding of God’s design for all humanity.
2.4. The memory of Christ’s death and resurrection is actualized each time we take part in the paschal meal by eating and drinking the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
2.5. Through Jesus’ life, teaching, and ministry, and especially in his death and resurrection, the depth of God’s love for humankind is revealed.
2.5.1. Passing through death to resurrection, we are freed from sin and death and born to new life.
2.6. Resurrection is central to the Paschal Mystery
2.6.1. Death is not the end
2.6.2. Jesus Life, Death and Resurrection
2.6.3. Mystery of redemption
2.6.3.1. The mystery at the heart of every sacrament
3. The Church as the Sacrament of Christ
3.1. As a sacred sign of Christ's presence in this world, the Church is called the sacrament of Christ.
3.1.1. The church is the Body of Christ on Earth
3.2. An action of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ (Church) = eternal love
3.3. The Church is the most comprehensive means by which the continuing work of Christ’s life is made present in the world.
3.4. The Church is not only the ‘sacrament of Jesus Christ’, but is also in a fuller sense the ‘sacrament of the work of redemption’.
3.5. Only the Church is the organism which, encompassing all times and places, is vivified by Christ’s grace and mediates this grace to the world.
4. Sacramental Theology
4.1. Sacramentals: Sacred signs authorized for use by the church that bring about some spiritual effect or occasion a personal encounter with the grace of Christ, apart from the seven liturgical signs of the church that have been designated as “sacraments.”
5. Christ as the Sacrament of God
5.1. A sacrament points to (or puts us in touch with), and makes present an unseen deeper reality
5.2. If the Church is really the comprehensive sacrament of salvation, then it must have been established and founded by Christ, since he is the original sacrament.
5.3. Humans cannot fully know God but God became human in Jesus: through Christ, we see the face of God.
5.3.1. Jesus is the Primordial Sacrament Jesus is the sacrament of God
6. The Sacramental Principle
6.1. The Sacraments open up a space where Christians can connect with God – they mediate God’s presence to the participants, in the here and now
6.1.1. The 7 Sacraments
6.1.1.1. 1. Baptism
6.1.1.2. 2. Confirmation
6.1.1.3. 3. Eucharist
6.1.1.4. 4. Reconciliation
6.1.1.5. 5. Marriage
6.1.1.6. 6. Holy Orders
6.1.1.7. 7. Anointing of the Sick
6.2. Sacramentality is based on the understanding that the grace of God (God’s gift of love expressed in a particular form) is omnipresent (everywhere and at all times) and that humans have the capacity to attend to those instances of God’s grace at work in the world.
6.2.1. Makes something intangible tangible; involves our five senses; brings participants into contact with the Transcendent, with God; confers (gives) grace
6.2.1.1. A sacrament is “a visible sign of invisible grace.”
6.3. Sacramental imagination
6.3.1. Sacramentality is a Christian worldview (way of seeing of the world), where creation is a sign of, and encounter with, God’s presence.
6.4. The “sacramental principle” expresses the Christian view that all of creation reflects God’s presence in some way. This means that every aspect of human life and experience, each dimension of creation, reflects something of God’s presence.
6.4.1. This means that every aspect of human life and experience, each dimension of creation, reflects something of God’s presence.
7. Prayer and Liturgy
7.1. Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed.
7.2. Relationship: communication between God and the human person; it is a conversation with God
7.2.1. Liturgy is public and communal prayer
7.2.1.1. Sacraments are celebrated in liturgy
7.3. Christians called to “full, conscious and active” participation in the liturgy
7.4. Liturgical seasons
7.4.1. Advent Christmastide (Incarnation)
7.4.2. Lent, leading to the Triduum (Last Supper, Crucifixion, Resurrection)
7.4.3. Eastertide (Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost)
7.4.4. Ordinary Time (usually celebrating Jesus’ ministry)
7.5. Liturgy celebrates and makes present the Paschal Mystery
7.5.1. Every liturgy makes the Paschal Mystery present (in a sacramental way) to the people who are receiving and participating in the sacrament
7.5.2. (the saving act of God through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus)
8. Symbols
8.1. Symbols are universal, timeless in that they are always going to be part of the human condition
8.1.1. Symbols are evocative; they affect us in some way
8.1.1.1. Symbols can be shared
8.2. A symbol is a sign that represents deep, multifaceted meanings
8.3. Symbols are a means of communication; they also communicate (make present) experiences to us
8.3.1. Humans exist symbolically: we are aware of ourselves and our surroundings, and we are able to bring into our own consciousness things that exist outside of ourselves.
8.4. Symbols make present abstract realities; they bring into our conscious minds and the realities they represent.
8.5. They can distract us, or enable us to know ourselves more deeply
8.5.1. They can connect us to others or delude us
9. Rituals
9.1. In Latin, the word used most often for ritual and symbol was Sacramentum
9.1.1. “A ritual is a symbol that is acted out.”
9.2. They facilitate everyday human interaction as well as symbolize and celebrate the most important values of individuals, communities, and nations.
9.2.1. Rituals celebrate a culture, create a culture and maintain a culture, legitimize a culture
9.2.1.1. Rituals often recognise, celebrate or commemorate important life events
9.3. Rituals involve: Repetition, set phrases, symbols, physical objects, formal actions, all actions and words have specific meaning.
9.4. Two types of people involved in rituals
9.4.1. Insiders - subjective observers
9.4.2. Outsiders - objective observers, watching, witness