We experience Jesus’ touch through seven sacraments of the Church

Published: April 27, 2007

By Deacon John Marschewski

Catholics my age or older, for the most part, grew up with the traditional Baltimore Catechism definition of a sacrament. I believe that definition went like this: “A sacrament is an outward (visible) sign instituted by Christ to give grace.”

As a young person growing up in the east Arkansas town of West Helena, the good Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at Sacred Heart Academy worked long and hard to help me memorize that definition — and they did a pretty good job because it has stayed with me all these years.

As I look back to that time nearly 60 years ago, there is certainly nothing incorrect about that definition, but my life experiences and understanding of my Catholic faith have shown a much deeper touch of Jesus through his sacraments.

Through God’s grace and the stirring of the Holy Spirit, we begin to see the sign of God’s love for us as we experience — in joy and pain — Jesus’ life, death and resurrection (the Paschal mystery) through the sacraments in a more profound way.

I know those of you reading this article can reflect on those times in your lives when you have experienced those special spirit-filled moments when the sacraments nourished you in your journey in a special way.

For me, these come to mind: the happiness in my heart as my wife and I celebrated the sacrament of marriage nearly 42 years ago; the comfort I felt as I received the sacrament of Eucharist at the funeral service of my father; the elation I experienced as my wife received the sacrament of confirmation at the Easter Vigil; the joy we celebrated at the sacrament of baptism of our grandchildren; the peace I received at the sacrament of the anointing of the sick before my prostate cancer surgery; the awe I felt as I received the sacrament of ordination to the diaconate on Pentecost 1998.

These are but a few of those times when the visible signs of God’s grace being poured down upon me were very special — there are many more. And then the blessing of the ongoing nourishment of God’s unconditional love and his ongoing forgiveness, as I receive the sacraments of Eucharist and reconciliation on a regular basis.

A Benedictine priest I know quoted this phrase from T.S. Elliott that seems to me to summarize the essence of what I have come to understand sacraments to be: “Sacraments don’t just tell us the truth, they make the truth more real (tangible) to us.”

Said a different way, we believe in faith, reaffirmed by the Church throughout the ages, that Christ instituted the seven sacraments and they provide us grace. As a matter of faith, we as Catholics believe that Jesus gave us these wonderful signs we call sacraments and through the power of God’s love his grace flows to us calling us to action as his ministers here on earth.

Sacraments are “outward signs instituted by God to give grace.” What we understand and believe today, however, goes beyond that — there is more. There is a way for us to experience in our human weaknesses, in our human condition, the touch of God. The beautiful gifts of our sacraments are such a blessed way for us to draw closer to our heavenly Father — Jesus is the sacrament.

This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic April 27, 2007. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.