Lesson 1

Sacred Liturgy And Prayer: “the liturgy as Exercise of the Priestly office of Jesus Christ”

Introduction

Life is a continuous, dynamic process of growth. In every stage of human development we experience trials,
difficulties, and purifications. As we struggle to grow, God gives us provisions to live a godly life. He gave us Jesus as
an expression of his great unconditional love for us.

We constantly pray to Jesus and unite ourselves to Him through active participation in liturgical celebrations and
deepening our sacramental life.

PRAYER is a powerful means to express to God the wishes of our heart. When our prayers are sincere and express
our surrender to God’s will, He will grant them.

PRAYER is our personal faith-relating to God

SOME VARIOUS WAYS IN PRAYING

1. MEDITATION
2. DEVOTIONS
3. EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION
4. PRAYING WITH SACRED SCRIPTURE
5. THE ROSARY

"Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to
adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking."

● PRAYING WITH SACRED SCRIPTURE: Spiritual reading of Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels, is an
important form of meditation. This spiritual reading is traditionally called lectio divina or divine
reading. Lectio divina is prayer over the Scriptures.

Devotions: Popular devotions are expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith,
culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

THE ROSARY

● The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its
elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a
compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive
Incarnation which began in her virginal womb.

EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION

● Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament flows from the sacrifice of the Mass and serves to deepen our hunger
for Communion with Christ and the rest of the Church.

Lesson 2

“Introduction to Catholic Sacraments”

Understanding the role of symbols in our everyday life enables us to appreciate the meaning of the Church and the
Sacraments, which are symbols of Christ’s presence in the world today. The Sacraments come directly from Christ
and the Church, the basic or fundamental Sacrament of Christ. The ultimate source of grace manifested by the
Sacraments flows from Jesus Christ Himself, the original Sacrament.

There are three categories that Grouped the seven Sacraments.

1. The Sacrament of Initiation (Birth & Growth)

What is a Sacrament?

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church or CCC (1131) tells us: “the Sacraments are efficacious sign of grace,
instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.”
• “Efficacious sign” means that the sacrament that is performed by the minister or a priest, effects in us the
invisible reality that is signifies.
• Through the Sacraments, we receive God’s “GRACE” which is a free and undeserved gift from God
through Jesus Christ. Grace allows us to respond to God’s call to be his children. In living our lives
according to the will of God, we can become partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

• The Eucharist occupies a unique place. Why?

Lesson 3

Called to God’s Family: “THE CHURCH AND THE SACRAMENT”

Introduction:

• The seven sacraments as we all know are the channels through which the Church dispense the graces to
nourish the faith life of her members. We will encounter qualifying terms like the Church as the
Fundamental Sacrament, Jesus Christs as the Primordial Sacrament; it classically termed seven sacraments
as Ritual Sacraments (cf. CFC 1517). Thus, the true meaning and significance of the liturgy and sacraments in
general will usher a more participative and highly conscientized young people, lovingly affiliated to the
Church, the Family of God, where they truly belong.

• The Church is a community of believers; whose head is Christ and all of us are members of His Body. In a
simple way, we call it God’s Big Family. It is where our faith-life begins, is nurtured, and grows to maturity
(cf. CFC-1375).

• The Church is also called a fundamental sacrament because it is means that Jesus, as the first sign of God’s
visible presence (or the primordial sacrament) uses to give graces to channel his life-giving sustenance of
our faith-life. The Church minister the seven ritual sacraments through which Christ continuously gives His
life-giving nourishment (cf. CFC 1517). It is within the context of the Paschal Mystery, that is, God’s salvific
plan in Jesus Christ, that liturgy gets its whole meaning.

Jesus as the primordial sacrament:

➢ He is the Sacrament of God’s love to men and man’s response to God.

➢ He is the origin and the primary agent of all the Sacraments.

➢ He is the fullest expression of all Sacraments.

➢ He is the realization of God’s plan of love, His purpose of grace, in spite of sin, to call men to perfect
communion with Him.

➢ He became the sensible, visible, and public form of God’s self-communication of love and grace.

➢ He is the sole source of grace and salvation.

• He is therefore the source, primary agent and goal of all sacramental activities.

• To take up the Church and the Sacraments together is to understand their intimate relationship. Our coming
together to offer our prayers to the Father under the leadership of Christ, the Head, and in the Holy Spirit is
 an official gathering. We call this liturgy, which means the official public worship of the Church, especially
the Eucharist and the administration of the Sacraments (CFC 1502).

• We realize that we are one Big Family of God, called the Church, or simply the “People of God.” When we, as
God’s people gather, we have community activities. We are oriented and guided by our common liturgical
and worship life. As Christians our spiritual life is nourished by our celebration of the sacraments which are
channels of God’s grace.

The Christian Concepts of History and “Salvation History”

• If we want to understand the basic concept of the liturgical year, we must first understand how the Church
views HISTORY. For us Christian, history is not a series of events that just happen one after another, or one
as a consequence of another. Rather, history is mankind’s long journey toward a final destination known to
God alone who has planned it with divine wisdom.
• That journey began with the Creation of all that exists. What will happen at the end is called “Eschaton”
(conclusion/end). The period of time and series of events between these two “Major events” is what we call
“history”.
• Unfortunately for all of us, human history has been tainted from the very beginning, and ever since, by sin.
This has disastrous consequences which continuously threaten to thwart God’s beautiful plan for every
human being and mankind as a whole. Hence, the need for God’s “special intervention” to save mankind for
the final disaster which threatens to engulf it. It is God’s presence and intervention which makes human
history “Salvation History,” i.e., a history whose final aim is to bring about the salvation of mankind and
the whole universe from the consequences of sin.
• God’s intervention in human history reached its climax when His Eternal Son became a human being in order
to teach people how to live as God’s children, and to do away with the destructive effects of their sins. He
did that by dying and rising from death, ascending into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit over the
Church he has founded.

Lesson 4

“Signs of God’s Presence and Care: MEANING OF THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL”

Introduction:

• We will deal at length with the Church and the Sacraments as well as the relationship to our human
experiences. The seven sacraments as we all know are the channels through which the Church dispenses the
graces to nourish the faith life of her members (cf. Lk 5:17; 6:19; 8:46 cited in CCC 1116). We emphasize
that CFC 1517 makes precision in using terms, i.e. calling the Church as the Fundamental Sacrament of
Christ, who Himself is the Primordial Sacrament. Then, the classically termed seven sacraments is the Ritual
Sacraments.

• The catechism of the Catholic Church number 1131 tells us that the Sacraments are efficacious signs of
God’s grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.
Efficacious signs mean that the sacrament that is performed by the minister or a priest, effects in us the
invisible reality that it signifies. Take for example the visible sign of water during Baptism. Water indicates
cleansing. Hence, when water is poured on a person during the sacrament of baptism, he or she experiences
the cleansing of the flesh. As an efficacious sign, baptism cleanses the person’s sin by the invisible reality of
Christ sanctifying grace.

• Sacraments are “saving symbolic acts or signs, arising from the ministry of Christ and continued in, by and
for the Church, which, when received in faith, fashion us into likeness to Christ in his Paschal Mystery,
through the power of the Holy Spirit” (CFC 1576). In addition, Sacraments are “powers that come forth”
from the Body of Christ which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his
Body the Church. (cf. Lk 5, 17; 6, 19; 8, 46 cited in CCC 1116)
THE NATURE OF SACRAMENTS

All the Sacraments are related to Christ.

• It is Jesus Christ who instituted the sacraments (cf CCC, 1114) and it is from the mysteries of His life that the
power of the sacraments originates. The sacraments are “powers that come forth” from the Body of Christ
and actions of the Holy Spirit in the Church (cf. CCC 1116).

All the Sacraments are related to the Church.

• It is the Church that discerned the seven sacraments instituted by the Lord (cf. CCC, 1117). It is through the
Church that the sacrament of Christ’s actions work and it is also the Church that manifests and
communicates to men the mystery of communion with God (cf. CCC 1118)

All the Sacraments are related to faith in God.

• The sacraments are prepared for by the word of God (scripture) and faith (belief). Hence, the sacraments
pre-suppose faith if the person who receives it desires to fully benefit from it, be sanctified, build up the
Body of Christ, and give worship to God (cf. CCC, 1123). Also, since the Church’s faith precedes the faith of
the believer, the law of prayer then is the law of faith. This means that no sacramental rite may be modified
or manipulated at the will of the minister or the community (cf. CCC 1125).

All the Sacraments are related to salvation.

• The sacraments are efficacious (confer the grace they signify) because it is Jesus Christ who is at work in the
sacraments: it is Jesus Christ who acts in His sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each
sacrament signifies (cf. CCC 1127). Because of this, the sacraments act ex opera operato which means that
“the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient but by the power
of God” (CCC 1128). Thus, the sacraments are necessary for salvation because through them, we receive
“sacramental grace.” The grace of the Holy Spirit, given by the Lord Jesus Christ, allows us to partake in the
divine nature by living our lives in union with Him. (cf. CCC 1129)

All the Sacraments are related to eternal life.

• The sacraments anticipate eternal life and through them, we receive the guarantee of our inheritance to
eternal life (cf. CCC 1130). The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1130 cites St. Thomas Aquinas who summed
up the various aspects of the sacramental signs: “Therefore, a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what
precedes it—Christ’s Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ’s Passion—grace; and
prefigures what the Passion pledges to us—future glory.”

Christ instituted the Sacraments of the new law—the seven sacraments.

• These touch all the stages and all-important moments of Christian life: a certain resemblance between the
stages of natural life and stages of spiritual life. They give birth and increase, healing and giving mission to
the Christian’s life of faith (CCC 1210).

SUPPLEMENTAL TOPIC

“SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY”

CHRISTIAN MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE

• The Encounter with Christ in Truth (light), Justice (grace) and Love transforms us. We become like Jesus.
• Beauty is revealed to us by Christ’s light.
• Christ’s light is intelligible - the sacred liturgy is imbued by an inner-logic, logos, that conveys meaning in a
way that appeals to our senses through a harmony of word and work, signs and symbols, rites and
ceremonies, through which the logic of God communicates Christ’s light.

SELF-OFFERING IN THE LITURGY

ANAMNESIS

History v. Geschichte: History is the study of past events through a scientific method. Thus, history relies on
empirical data: videos, pictures, eyewitness accounts, etc. Geschichte is knowable through our human experience
and ability to be in relationship with an event in the past, even though we are unable to have empirical data to prove
its occurrence. For instance, there is no empirical data for the Fall and original sin, however, we all know that
humanity lives in a condition where it chooses evil and that this had to have a beginning.

JESUS CHRIST

• The Hypostatic Union - Unites Divinity with Humanity, two natures and two wills, in the one person Jesus Christ. •
Ministerial Priesthood - Bishops & Priests - Sacramental Character - in persona Christi Capitis. • The Sacraments are
the Actio Christi. • A Bridge between Heaven and Earth.

EX OPERE OPERATO V. EX OPERE OPERANTIS

The holiness or lack-thereof of the minister does not effect the validity of the sacrament celebrated. (See Pope
Innocent III, Profession of Faith prescribed to the Waldensians)

• Sacramental causality and Trent: “If anyone says that through the sacraments of the New Law grace is not
conferred by the performance of the rite itself (ex opere operato) but that faith alone in the divine promise is
sufficient to obtain grace, anathema sit. (Council of Trent, Seventh Session, Decree on the Sacraments, c. 5

FORM, MATTER & INTENTION

• All the Sacraments have a form, matter and intention without which there is no sacrament or by modification the
sacrament is not validly celebrated. Thus, form, matter and intention directly effect validity.

• Form: The formula of words or arrangement and nature of a Sacrament. Its properties and essential elements.

• Matter: The material objects (e.g. pure water) or Subject of the Sacrament.

• Intention: of the minister and the recipient. Christ himself acts through the person of the minister, thus the
minister must intend to do what the Church does. The recipient receives God’s bestowal of grace, but with due
respect to human freedom. 4 Types of Intention: Actual, in reality fully engaged; Virtual, the act of the will was
placed previously but was never rescinded; Habitual, the minister normally has this intention but his will is not
directed toward this particular celebration; Interpretive, an intention after the fact.

SACRAMENTAL EFFECTS

• Sacramental Character: an indelible mark made by God upon one’s soul. These Sacraments are unrepeatable.
Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.

• Sacramental Grace: is bestowed by a Sacrament for a particular purpose and can be renewed. Sacramental grace
includes: gratia sanctificans/ elevans

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUAL AND SACRAMENTAL PRESENCE

• Spiritual Presence of God: in the Word of God, in the community of the Faithful at Prayer. The Spiritual presence of
God means that the Spirit of God is present amongst us to provide inspiration, guidance, and grace.

• Sacramental Presence: There are two types: an encounter with God through signs and symbols that guarantee the
efficacy of a sacrament, such as the washing of sins in the Sacrament of Baptism; and, Real and True Sacramental
Presence in the Eucharist which is the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus.

SACRAMENT V. SACRAMENTAL

• Sacraments: “The Sacraments of the New Testament were instituted by Christ the Lord and entrusted to the
Church. As actions of Christ and the Church, they are signs and means which express and strengthen the faith,
render worship to God, and effect the sanctification of humanity and thus contribute in the greatest way to
establish, strengthen and manifest ecclesial communion. Accordingly, in the celebration of the sacraments the
sacred ministers and other members of the Christian faithful must use the greatest veneration and necessary
diligence. (c. 840)”

• Sacramentals: “Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a
resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through
the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various
occasions in life are rendered holy. (CCC, 1667)”

LESSON 5

“Empowered To Be and To Be For”

THE SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION: BAPTISM,

INTRODUCTION:

• In our first lesson we have discussed among other things the Church as our Big family, wherein Jesus Christ is
Our Head and we, the members being nourished by Him through sacraments. Jesus as the first visible sign of
God is called the Primordial Sacrament. Then, through His Church, the basic of Fundamental Sacrament, He
channels the life-giving graces.

• The Christian scriptures also speak of a Jew named John who preached a message of conversion and
repentance, and who baptized those who accepted his call for a complete change of heart. The Greek word
“bapto” means to dip or to immerse, and it is likely that John's baptism as well as early Christian baptism
meant being completely submerged under water. Jesus underwent John's baptism before he began teaching
in public, but the message that he preached went further than John's, and the baptism that his followers
practiced took on additional meaning after his death.

The difference between the Baptism of John and Jesus’ disciples.

• The baptism of John was a call for repentance by confessing the sins. It includes not only a change of mind
but a new direction of the will, an altered purpose and attitude. The old life style is gone and a new way of
life begins when a person decides to follow the Lord and walk in His steps.

• The baptism of Christ, on the other hand, was for fulfilling all righteous which goes beyond just repentance.

“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I
have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so
now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:13-15).

After repentance, the Lord calls the believer to fulfill all righteousness.

Thus, we see the progressive experience with God:

1. Repentance
2. Baptism
3. Remission
4. Reception the Holy Spirit