SACRAMENT

We use signs and symbols all the time to express our inner selves to others, making the invisible (love, for example) present through something visible (a card or letter, some words, a gift, a touch). This is the natural human way of communicating, rooted in how God himself created us, and it is the way God freely chooses to give himself to us: the invisible through the visible. The Catholic faith makes no sense without this central idea.

Signs range from 'mere signs' which point to something somewhere else, to deeper and richer signs which somehow make present what they signify (the gift which makes your love present to another, the hug or kiss which 'embodies' your invisible feelings). A sacrament is the deepest and richest kind of sign, one which actually 'contains' and 'confers' what it points to - the living presence of God himself. The Lord is present immediately, personally, 'face-to-face', but in a human way, through something visible.

Jesus is the sacrament, the visible presence of God in the world, the unique human way in which God speaks to us and gives himself to us.

As Risen Lord, Jesus is no longer visible. His Church is the living sign or icon of his saving presence in the world. It is through our involvement in its life that we meet Jesus and are drawn closer to him. We together are this sacrament, and our common life is meant to be the visible sign of Christ's invisible presence. This is the great mission of the Church: to be the 'universal sacrament of salvation', the living com-munal sign and instrument to all the world of Christ's saving, 'at-one-ing' work. The Catholic faith is that the Church is not just a fellowship of believers and worshippers, but a community through which the Lord reaches out to the world.

We ourselves need the Lord's presence. Through the seven sacraments, Jesus guarantees his powerful transforming presence at the crucial moments of our Christian lives. They do not limit the Lord, but they are central, visible ways in which he acts. A sacrament is about Jesus touching us in a very personal way, through the Church which is his Body. As in any relationship, such signs do not work like magic. Jesus promises his active presence, but we have to respond with faith and love.