New Sacrament?

[LongingSoul]

All of the Sacraments allow us to touch Jesus, especially the Eucharist. When we celebrate the liturgy we are participating in the death of Christ on the cross, his sacrifice, but we are also celebrating his resurrection and all that entails (including encounters with the disciples). We encounter the risen Jesus in the most intimate way in the Eucharist. Nothing else can come close.

Oh yes, I do understand the meeting with Jesus in the Eucharist, but we must already be in a state of grace to make that meeting. Even Reconciliation requires an understanding of our sin and desire for absolution to begin with.

A thing that makes me so confused and curious, is the number of people that are drawn by something to the Church, but find it so difficult to believe. They question the teachings and sit in the pews, conflicted. I tend to think that the theory of atheism has infiltrated so much of our everyday lives in different ways, that its hard to even see how its affected our basic sense of lifes meaning. That’s who I pray the Divine Mercy prayer for most, that they might find the Holy wound for themselves and experience belief.

“Let the greatest sinners place their trust in my mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy.” (Notebook III, item 1146).

“Write that I am more generous toward sinners than the just. It was for their sake that I came down from heaven; it was for their sake that my Blood was spilled. Let them not fear to approach Me; they are in most need of my mercy” (Notebook IV, item 1275)

Christs words as relayed to St Faustina are incredible because lets face it… no matter how holy and devout we are, we all have sin.

As I said, my original thought was from a fanciful desire to just touch the blood and water of the wounds of Christ just like Thomas did for the healing of unbelief.

 

[TK421]

This is my opinion:

The sacraments, when they are experienced in their orthodox manner, are a stern winnowing fork that - painfully if need be - drags you into a state of grace. There is a sacramental ladder you have to climb if you wish to receive the Eucharist, that you may have life in you. You have to be in a state of grace in order to receive. This means if you’ve gone astray in some grave area, you must be absolved in Reconciliation and resolve not to do it again if you ever want to receive again. In fact, if you delay too long, and you haven’t received the Eucharist in a year, that in itself is dishonoring the Church, which is the breaking of the 4th commandment. The only other options are either insulting God and receiving anyway and pretending that everything is okay - which many people do - or removing yourself from religious living - which many people also do. God is not fooled by either of these exit options. If you want to be a Catholic that lives their faith authentically, choosing between sin or God is forced upon you through the experience of the sacraments. Anecdotally, I have found this to be enormously effective.

I am left extremely unconvinced that your notion would in anyway be beneficial to the soul. We must remember that God isn’t just active among those living in grace; he is every bit as active for those outside of it. If this wasn’t true, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation, because the Incarnation would never have occurred, and Christ would never have died for us. A person is sacramentally starved of God through the ordinary means outside of the Church, and I believe that is how it is suppose to be and should be. That starvation is what may draw people in. The denial of the sacraments is sacramental (something that points you to the sacraments).

btw, I submitted the question to AAA. I’ll be looking out for it.

 

[LongingSoul]

I am left extremely unconvinced that your notion would in anyway be beneficial to the soul. This is maternal to the point of irresponsible. We must remember that God isn’t just active among those living in grace; he is every bit as active for those outside of it. If this wasn’t true, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation, because the Incarnation would never have occurred, and Christ would never have died for us. A person is sacramentally starved of God outside of the Church, and I believe that is how it is suppose to be and should be. That starvation is what draws people in.

You are probably right there and I wasn’t thinking of the seriousness of such a conversation unfortunately, so please God I’ve led no one astray. The Divine Mercy devotions for the souls of people and the promises of Divine Mercy Sunday ie when receiving Communion in a state of Grace… are what the Church provides for our desires to meet Christ at the font of His Mercy.

 

[TK421]

You don’t need to be sorry. I’m just explaining why I believe you’re wrong and I’m right

 

[glendab]

Hello again TK.

The idea that it would be saying “Jesus didn’t complete His tasks when He was here and gave them to us” feels shaky to me since “The Seven Sacraments” is something that developed in the era of high scholasticism, centuries after the time of the early Councils. I’ve also heard it stated from one of my Deacons, who is a fairly knowledgeable guy, that the closure of the sacraments at seven isn’t dogmatically absolute.

This has got me curious, so I’m going to submit the question to AAA.

The Counsel of Trent is very clear on there only being 7 Sacraments and those who say otherwise are anathema. The term anathema means accursed. It is very strong language. The Sacraments were instituted by Christ. What has changed through the years is some of the discipline regarding them, but they themselves are unchangeable. They cannot be added to or subtracted from in any way without incurring anathemas and/or excommunication.

If you Deacon says that they can be added to then he is in error and I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. I counted 13 different Canons all ending with the word anathema regarding the Sacraments. That means there were 13 different issues regarding this subject that were under attack by the Protestants at that time that needed clarification for future generations. Thanks be to God for the Church’s teaching. Read what the Counsel wrote about this matter. it’ll do you some good.

Glenda

 

[TK421]

Is the cap of seven sacraments dogmatic

Fr Grondin responded. There aren’t going to be more than seven sacraments declared.

So if an Orthodox came into Rome, they would have to accept that the cap is seven. They believe in the seven sacraments but since they’re pretty distantly in time removed from the Church, I guess since they don’t have a papacy, there are many things that they believe according to tradition but are still not dogmatic according to them.

 

[Joe_5859]

Is the cap of seven sacraments dogmatic

Fr Grondin responded. There aren’t going to be more than seven sacraments declared.

So if an Orthodox came into Rome, they would have to accept that the cap is seven. They believe in the seven sacraments but since they’re pretty distantly in time removed from the Church, I guess since they don’t have a papacy, there are many things that they believe according to tradition but are still not dogmatic according to them.

I see how it is! You don’t believe it when I post the excerpt from the Council of Trent but you believe it when Fr. Grondin does.