This Is My Body

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

One of the distinguishing aspects of our Catholic Faith is the sacramental principle. The sacraments of the Church are visible, sacred signs which “manifest and communicate” to us the divine mysteries. God has come to dwell among His people. The evangelist and apostle John reveals in Scripture that “All things were made through him…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 

The growing relativism everywhere around us privatizes truth and casts shadows on the faith of believers. The influences of secularism have weakened the sacramental worldview of Catholics who in former days saw creation as “charged with the grandeur of God” and able to reflect the Creator (poet Gerald Manley Hopkins). Regrettably, for an increasing number of the faithful, the sacraments of the Church, the Eucharist, and the Liturgy have been reduced to mere ritualized actions whose reality goes no further than the appearances. Skepticism has made her announcement—God is simply not there.

But the Catechism and the Church’s renewal of catechesis since Vatican II is recalling for us the teaching of the Church Fathers who believed as St. Leo the Great did, who preached: “What was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries” (CCC, 1115). With the sending of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost, the apostles received the power to sanctify. The Sacraments are “powers that come forth” from the Body of Christ. “By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they make present efficaciously the grace they signify” (CCC, 1084). 

In the Liturgy of the New Covenant, the entire Paschal Mystery is celebrated, actuated, and made really present. In the Church’s liturgical worship, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, “the work of our redemption is accomplished” (CCC, 1068). Quoting Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “the entire mystery of Christ—his life and death—in which he draws close to us, enters us through his Spirit, and transforms us…unleashing a dynamic of new life.” 

We are renewed, cleansed and healed from our infirmities in the same way as the woman in Matthew’s gospel who reached out to Jesus with faith and “touched the hem of his garment.”