If I go on like this, you won’t need to buy Michael Leach’s wonderful, Why Stay Catholic? Unexpected Answers to a Life-Changing Question because I will end up quoting pretty much the whole book to you. From page 5:
There are Sacraments with a big S. There are also sacraments with a small s. We receive the Sacraments once or many times over a lifetime. But we give sacraments every moment of our lives.
- We give a sacrament of baptism every time we behold another as a child of God.
- We offer a sacrament of reconciliation every time we say to someone “I’m sorry” or “I forgive you.”
- Every time a wife says to her husband or a husband to his wife, “I love you” – or better, when a husband gets a cold cloth and puts it on his wife’s forehead when she has a headache, or when a wife gives her husband a hug for no other reason than than she knows he needs it – it is a sacrament of marriage.
- A sacrament of eucharist happens every time family or friends gather round a table to share in the good of God.
- Every time someone decides to live a better life is a sacrament of confirmation
- Everyone who makes a radical commitment to be here not for himself but for God expresses a sacrament of holy orders
- Every time we visit a sick person in a hospital or nursing home and just kiss them is an anointing of the sick.
I got goosebumps as I typed this out.
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Now that I like!
Simon,
Me too! There will be more…
Paul
Every time we look outside and take in God’s wonder we reaffirming our confirmation. This is good stuff…
Tim
Tim,
Good stuff, indeed.
Paul
Beautiful thoughts – thanks for sharing.
Bob,
It is always my pleasure to find things to share with you. Thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed it.
Paul
I could not have begun my day a better way. Bless you for this.
Claire,
And now, by writing that, you have made my day. A virtuous circle!
Paul
God is in every act of kindness making those moments holy. The bottom line is that our lives can be a sacramental offering to our Lord. This reminds me of the Daily Examen when we review our day to see how God has been present in all of our activities and interactions.
Thanks for sharing this.
Lynda,
I love your first sentence. May I steal it?
Paul
That would be a very great honour if you were to use it.
This makes me see the sacraments as our lives rather than a string of separate events or milestones. It brings God and our Catholicness into everything we do. Thanks I needed that!
m.
Marg,
Don’t thank me. Michael Leach did all the work. But, yes, isn’t it great to think of the sacraments being infused into our lives?
Paul
First thing that I am looking at on this day where I begin later than usual… perfect! Sacramental!
Thank you so much for quoting from my book, Paul. It’s an honor. I’ve always thought that poetry is the best theology, and that is why I appreciate your blog and your lifelong endeavor to “find God in all things.” Way!
Thank you.
This certainly gives new meaning to the word sacrament.
Wow!
I agree with what everyone else has said. Paul, no matter how much of it you quote, I think this is a book I am going to have to buy! It was also an unexpected treat to get a comment from the author himself!
Maybe if I buy this book, it will help. It’s worth a try. I do connect more with the sentiments expressed by this author than I do empty religiosity. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I was so excited last fall about attending Mass. I looked forward to Sundays, but the last few weeks it’s starting to feel more like a chore than a joy. I’ve thought, maybe I should just stay away for a week or so, but I doubt if I do that that I’d return, so I keep going, simply going through the motions. Sigh.
If there’s such as thing as the (small “s”) sacrament of commitment – you’re doing it.
I feel similarly and I was brought up in a very catholic family. I have an issue with the empty religiosity too but still keep going to mass. I don’t think it’s habit but I do think there is an in-bred guilt thing if I don’t go.
Do I think God thinks ill of me if I miss it? Well, not to the extent that I was taught as a child but if he is up there, looking down on us, then spending an hour or so in his house once a week is perhaps something I should do.
That said, there were holidays of obligation when I was younger that were apparently a mortal sin to miss mass on. Today some of those days have been abandoned. So, the fear and guilt felt about the prospect of the hot place waiting for if one happened to miss mass has been lifted a little.
As I get older the more I realise that if you follow the message of the gospel and God’s watching then thing’s will be OK. I personally get something out of going into church and being there when mass is said – even when I think the chap saying it isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. It’s about me and the Big Fella having a moment – even if he isn’t saying much.
Simon, you gave me a lot to think about.
My trifocals and I somehow misread your sentence as “Do I think God will miss me?” and it gave me a new perspective on missing Sunday Mass. My not being there does nothing to detract from His completeness; but if the Mass is a coming together as family, then maybe He would miss me like most dads would miss a child at a family gathering – no matter how many children he had. And my feeling of guilt would be because I had hurt someone who loved me.
And though the Mass is a very large gathering, it’s about me and my Dad having a moment – even if it’s just getting to sit near Him.
Ah well, it wasn’t me then. It was God making you see what He wanted you to see then with those funky tri-focals
Emma,
There is nothing wrong with you. It is so human to have times of great enthusiasm and then dry periods. Mother Teresa even wrote about times when she felt very far from God. Our faith is not about fulfilling rules and obligations; our faith is about a relationship between our Lord and each one of us. We all come to that relationship from different places and in different ways. The important thing is to continue to search for a deeper relationship with God and attending Mass with an open heart and mind expecting God to be there is one opportunity to make that connection. Having said that, God is in everything that we do so I wouldn’t want you to think I’m saying that Mass is the only place to find God!
I pray that God’s presence will be very real to you today.
God bless, Lynda
Thank you all for sharing your insight. It does help put things in perspective. After spending a few days at the coast, I feel totally refreshed and ready once again to face the world
Sunday worship this morning was simply sitting watching the waves lap onshore and seagulls and shorebirds vying for tidbits. That was my church this week and what a blessing it’s been!!!
This gives me a totally new perspective on everything I do in an “ordinary” day.
How nice to see the author here!