Sacraments Within the Church

As we move toward Lent and Easter, several groups and efforts are being put forth in sacramental initiation. Parents, children, young adults, and adult learning communities prepare for various levels of initiation or incorporation into the life of the Church. Several children of the English language Religious Education program have had their first experience of the sacrament of Reconciliation. Soon our Hispanic children will celebrate First Reconciliation before Easter. Both groups have learned about encountering Christ in this sacrament of forgiveness. Their preparation and celebration points to the important dimensions of how believers experience Christ in the Church. Parents, catechists, priests, and other parish staff show that sacraments spring from within Christian family life and from the more formal ecclesial life of the believing community.

Having celebrated the sacrament of Penance, the children and parents move on to preparation for First Communion in May. Again, the preparation is primarily with parents as domestic Church supported by the faith community of the larger Church. Children learn of the sacraments from their parents’ life experiences. Hopefully the children will come to the Lord’s Table, not so much as theologians but as believers.

Confirmation
Several groups continue with preparation for Confirmation. A large group of parents and young people in junior high school continue toward Confirmation in the Fall of this year. Yet another group of young adults and adults seek out this sacrament during the Easter Season. Sacramental Preparation is different from First Penance and First Communion in that the candidates are more involved and more articulate in their faith quest and questions. Parents and sponsors serve more in a supportive role. In Confirmation preparation, faith begins to have more and different questions.

A children’s catechumenate community is for other children seeking to celebrate all three Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. This is a real family and Church event, where families of parents and children search out their faith together. Along with

catechists, these adults and children discover Christ within their Christian life both at home and at church.

Adult Initiation
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults provides the way to celebrate conversion to the Gospel and to full membership in the Church. These primarily unbaptized adults search out the scriptures, pray, and experience various rites of the incorporation into the mystery of Christ. They are joined by some people already baptized as Christians seeking full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

Throughout Lent, the parish community will encounter these faith sojourners within the Lenten worship assembly. They will come forward with their sponsors from within the community, witness their growth in Christ, and seek the prayers of the communities.

Their final preparation for their incorporation into the Church, the Body of Christ, will be during the Triduum. The culmination of these three days of intense prayer within the Church is the Great Vigil of Easter. During that liturgy, those chosen for initiation into the community will be baptized, confirmed, and given Eucharist for the first time.

Those already baptized will already have been welcomed into full communion on Holy Thursday at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. They will profess their faith, be received into the Church, confirmed, and come to the Lord’s Table for the first time.

Still other adults will celebrate Confirmation at the Cathedral with the Bishop along with many others from the diocese.

The Same Lord
As believers we continue to encounter Christ in the diversity of sacramental practice. Faith comes by invitation when and how the Lord invites believers. That faith is variously celebrated depending on circumstance, faith development, and the communities in which it is celebrated. Sacraments are more than rituals. They are moments in the faith life of the Church.

CDH