Love or the Sacraments

One

Why Bother with Sacraments?

If the goal of this life is to be holy, that is, to be perfectly virtuous, then what do the sacraments matter? After all, there are plenty of people who don’t receive the sacraments, and yet they seem to be more virtuous than a lot of the folks that do receive the sacraments. Put differently, does Jesus care about the sacraments? 

Obviously, what matters most to Jesus is that we love. That we love God and we love our neighbors. That’s pretty clearly Jesus’ top priority. Okay, well, what’s the Church’s top priority?

Actually, at Vatican II, the Church said that it was the Liturgy, which means, the celebration of the sacraments which are the “Source and summit of the Christian life.”

So the sacraments are the source and summit? The starting place and the high point? That makes it sound like the Church’s top priority is the sacraments. So which is it? What should be our top priority, love or the sacraments? Because it couldn’t be that Jesus and the Church have different priorities… could it?

Two

Sacraments are there to make us holy

It’s true that love is the top priority, that the holiest person is the one who loves the best. All the other virtues exist to support that highest virtue which is love. So love is the mark of holiness and the goal of all virtue. But the sacraments have to do with holiness and virtue as well. In fact, that’s why they’re called “sacraments,” a name which derives from the same root as “sacred,” which is just another word for “holy”.

We’ll never love the way we should, and we’ll never be prudent, or just, or as faithful or as hopeful as we need to be unless we are brought to an intimate closeness with God. It’s the sacraments that are meant to bring us into that closeness. It’s the sacraments that unite us to God, who in turn is the only One who can make us virtuous.

Three

Holiness and Virtue are coextensive

Throughout the history of religion, there has always been an effort to separate our relationship with God from the moral life. People come up with all kinds of tricks and techniques to try and feel holy without becoming virtuous.

Some have tried to be baptized as late as possible. Some have tried to use an indulgence or a scapular as a short-cut to heaven. Some have tried to cultivate a strong sense of faith, and then say that’s all God cares about. Some go to events where they have powerful religious experiences and then don’t do anything to work at getting over their sins.

Well, the truth is that none of that works. Holiness and heroic virtue are coextensive. To be close to the Lord means being like the Lord and there’s no getting out of it. What that means, in practice, is that the moral life (which means trying to grow in virtue) and participating in the life of the sacraments are two blades on the same pair of scissors. If you try to just use one without the other, it won’t work the way it’s supposed to.

Four

This is why the virtues and the sacraments are meant to go together

In fact, when St. Thomas Aquinas asks why there are seven sacraments, one of the answers he gives is that they are meant to correspond to the seven virtues.

Baptism is the first Christian sacrament, and it bestows the grace of the first Christian virtue, which is faith. Confirmation is the sacrament which strengthens our resolve to live a heroic life for Christ. So it’s the sacrament meant to build up the virtue of fortitude. The Eucharist is the supreme sacrament, Christ Himself, and when we receive Him we receive the grace for the virtue of charity, the greatest virtue, which most perfectly imitates the God who is love. Confession restores the relationship between God and the sinner and so it serves justice, which is the virtue that establishes and preserves right relationships. Anointing of the sick prepares us for our final journey to Heaven and is the sacrament geared at the virtue of hope, where we keep our sights on that final homeland. Holy Orders is the sacrament for those in authority, which is designed to aid our Church leaders with the prudence they need not only to lead their own lives, but to lead the Church. Marriage is the sacrament which channels and sanctifies one of the strongest urges we have, the urge for physical, personal, and creative love. It therefore grants us a grace of temperance, which is the virtue that properly directs and controls our urges, especially the strongest ones.

So you can’t separate the sacraments and the life of love and virtue. They go together. Each only makes sense with the other. 

Five

The Sacraments and the Moral Life

Christ is the one who told us to love, but He’s also the one who gave us the sacraments. Because if you’re trying to be radically holy, if you’re trying to be perfectly virtuous, and if you’re trying to love as Jesus loves, well, you’re going to need spiritual help.

That’s what the sacraments are. They are the special aids Christ gave His Church to help us be configured to Him. Which means that, if you’re trying to live as a good Christian but you’re not making use of the sacraments, it’s like trying to drive a car without gas in the tank. Yeah, you might be able to put it in neutral and make a little progress by pushing, but that’s really not how it’s meant to be done.

By the same token, if you’re receiving the sacraments, but you’re not being diligent about trying to root out vice and make your life better, well, then you’re blocking the sacraments from having their full effect. The sacraments are meant to flower in a life of love, of justice, of prudence and hope. To receive the sacraments without trying to advance in these areas, well, you might as well put a seed in a metal box instead of in the ground.

The sacraments will only bear fruit if you cooperate with them. So receive them regularly and then put the grace they offer into practice.