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The Sacrament Idea

Four addresses delivered on The Catholic Hour from June 6, 1954

through June 27, 1954 by the Rev. Gerald S. Sloyan. The program is

produced by the National Council of Catholic Men in cooperation with
the National Broadcasting Company.

BY

REV. GERALD S. SLOYAN

First Edition

August 31, 1954

National Council of Catholic Men

1312 Massachusetts Ayenue, N.W.

Washington 5, D. C.

Printed and distributed by Our Sunday Visitor

Huntington, Indiana



Nihil Obstat.

REV. EDWARD A. MILLER

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

Hh JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D.D.

Archbishop, Bishop of Fort Wayne



TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Sacrament Idea 5

Torrent Of Newness 11

Olive And Power 17

Life In Wheat And Wine , 25





THE SACRAMENT IDEA

Address Delivered on June 6, 1954

Ten years ago today the Nor-

mandy landings took place. In

a bold stroke that ranks fairly

with the tactical triumphs of

all military history, 176,000

troops in 4,000 craft made the

spearhead assault on a 60-mile

coastline, supported by an air

cover of 11,000 planes. Presi-

dent, then General Eisenhower,

had the unified command of

what was the largest amphibi-

ous operation in human history
— “Operation Overlord” —
better known as “D-Day.”

We had got our first taste of
peacetime compulsory military

training as a nation on Septem-

ber 16, 1940, with the passage

of the Selective Training and

Service Act. The draft is a fa-

miliar part of national life now,

but when almost sixteen and a

half million men registered,
one month to the day after that

law was passed, America had

the feeling she had entered on

a new and strange era. What

was a commonplace to ancient

empires and modern sovereign-

ties, but what had heretofore

been foreign to her tradition,

became the normal thing: re-

quired service under arms at

a time when the nation was not
at war.

Ancient Rome knew the
phenomenon well. Compulsory

military service in the empire

was sometimes called sacra-

mentum — “the draft,” we say
— by way of a short-cut of
language, deriving from the

oath of allegiance the inductees

had to take to the protective

gods of Rome. After all, it was

a sacred matter to serve under

the imperial eagles. Home and
hearth were at stake. The Ro-

man peace had to be extended,
moreover, for the barbarians’

own good.

The military oath was simply

part of a larger picture. When-

ever you made a binding oath

before sacred altars, or deposit-

ed stakes in a wager or a suit,

you had obliged yourself by

sacramentum. That word or

that object was your bond, and

a sacred bond because the gods

had been invoked in witness.

It was an outward sign, a re-

ligious sign, of a man’s inner

intention to serve his country

or to redeem a pledge.

When the followers of Jesus
of Nazareth in the West began

to speak Latin instead of the

Greek that had earlier been

more common, they had a seri-

ous problem in terminology on

their hands. This would be in

the second and third centuries

at Rome and in North Africa.
There was no problem in what

to do as a follower of Christ.

Their ritual behavior and their



6 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

suprahumanly good conduct

had been the same from the

start — ever since his apostles
began to spread the good news

of new life in God through His

only Son, Jesus. No, the prob-

lem was not one of practice but

of how to describe that prac-

tice which had been so long

agreed upon. To be a Christian

was to engage in a spirit of

faith, in certain rites whereby

God was worshipped and His

grace or favor received. You

may put it as simply as that.

A bath in water, sacred anoint-
ing with olive oil, a small meal

in wheaten bread and grape

wine — there is no historic
Christianity whatever except

in terms of this ritual behavior.

But how to speak of it?

Well, at the start the Christ-

ians felt under no compulsion

to describe it at all, so long as

they engaged in it. But after

a while a word from Greek

pagan religion seemed to suit

their purpose well, the word

mysterion, and so it was taken

over. For the Greeks it had

meant any matter that was sec-

ret (originally, “shut up”), in

the sense of ritual behavior

whose precise character one

was not free to divulge. If the

devotee had witnessed or ex-

perienced something symboli-

cally significant in the temple

rites, he had to keep mum
about it. He was bound to sec-

recy over the “mysteries,” or

sacred rites, of his religion.

Now, what the followers of

Jesus had engaged in from the

beginning was a whole series

of religious acts which had re-

ference to the body with its

senses, as well as to the mind

and heart. Some of it was of

their own devising, like placing

honey on the lips of a child, or

giving milk to the newly bap-

tized, but much of it was the

Master’s direct command. They

felt no freedom to do or not to

do certain things as they

pleased, if He had specified

them. Such an act was the lay-

ing on of hands by an apostle,

or by someone who had had an

apostle lay hands on him, for

the designation of a man who
would by changing the bread

and wine into the Body and

Blood of Christ make possible

the offering of the sacrifice-

meal known as the Lord’s Sup-

per. Like the Supper itself, this

form of deputation was re-

quired behavior in a context of

sacred worship. Interior reli-

gion, which is of course the

only important kind, was

roused or expressed or given

outward embodiment by some

visible object or outward ac-

tion. It was the Lord’s com-

mand, and He had said that the

proof of love was to keep his

commandments. Therefore,

never was there a time in the

history of the assembly called

by the Master His Church, when

there was no “sign” — or
“symbol” — activity in the
realm of sacred behavior.

Mysterion, we said, was the

Christian choice of a term to



THE SACRAMENT IDEA 7

describe a supernatural reality

or truth hidden beneath an ex-

terior available to the senses.

The Latins were not especially

good at thinking up equivalents

for Greek words. Sometimes

they just got lazy and spelled

the Greek word in their own

way, as is the case with the

word rodeo north of the Rio

Grande, and el Biesbol south of

it. Mysterium was an early way

used by the Latins to describe

the wonderful boon of God’s

invisible grace under visible

signs, but after a while the

word sacramentum won out as

a translation of mysterion. It

is not a very exact translation,

but it does the job. Any holy

thing or pledge, remember, but

especially the miltary oath,

was a sacrament to the Romans.

To the Church of Jesus Christ,

a sacrament has ever been a

pledge or token in the order of

the senses, of that infinite love

of God for man which no eye
can see.

There are certain people who

say they can not abide ritual

behavior, and indeed there is

much to be said in their favor.

If you have ever been caught

in an initiation ceremony or in

some fraternal activity where

the facts scarcely warranted all

the solemnity, you will recog-

nize the feeling. It is down-

right embarrassing to dress

oddly, to employ grandiose

formulas and gestures, to duck

and bob and weave at stated

times, when a few silently ex-
pressed sentiments of loyalty

to the organization and its

ideals would serve just as well.

Yet contrariwise, it seems en-

tirely proper to most minds

that an outstanding military

figure should be relieved of his

last command with honor on

the parade ground, full military

ritual being employed.

It would be quite erroneous

to conclude from what we have
just said that all fraternalism

is sham and all patriotism un-

der arms a sincere or even sac-

red matter. By no means. The

principle that does emerge is

that a thing must be vastly im-

portant in the realm of ideas

before it really deserves to be

translated into symbolic behav-

ior, but that when it is thus

important, nothing better or

more fitting, humanly, can be

done with it than so to act it

out. Do you recall how Saul’s
daughter Michol looked from

her window in scorn when she

saw her husband David the

King dancing wildly in the

street to celebrate the return

of the ark to Juda? “How glori-
ous was the king of Israel to-

day, uncovering himself before

man and maid, his own sub-
jects, graceless as a common
mountebank!”* The substance

of David’s reply was that to

make oneself a fool, even a

clown in the Lord’s eyes had a

lot to recommend it when He

had been good enough to

choose one king over His own

people, and not any other.

*11 Kgs. (II Sam.) 6:16



8 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

When the matter in hand

transcends human littleness ut-

terly, surely some special note

should be made of the event

by a man in his whole person,

not his silent inner self only.

And when that event is the

highest and holiest thing that

may occur to him in this mor-

tal life — namely, a sharing
in God’s blessed knowledge and

appreciation of Himself in a

way more proper to Him than

to us — then, should a man
sing and dance and play, he

acts not only reasonably but

one might even say in surpris-

ingly subdued fashion, given

the joy of the occasion.

Happily, there is no require-

ment of emotional exaltation in

Christ’s religion. While it may

easily prove untrustworthy, it

is nonethless not forbidden.

What He did impose was con-

verse with His Father through

the expressive language of

signs. This type of communica-

tion was the most natural in

the world, and as nature’s

Master (with the Father and

the Holy Spirit), Christ fitted

everything creaturely to the di-

vine plan.

How do Christians use signs
to speak to God, or more pro-

perly, how does He use signs

to converse with them?

There is essentially the use

of some stuff or substance, or

a formula of words in the or-

der of nature for its proper

purpose, which has the effect

of reminding the user and all

the Church of a loftier signifi-

cation in a world above the

everyday world of nature. For

example, water is good for

washing; you can also slake

thirst with it, and this some-

times makes it the difference

between life and death; a man
can be submerged in water to

the point of forfeiting his life,

drowning. Oil is helpful in re-

storing bodily strength, wheth-

er medical science be primitive

or highly perfected. Bread sus-

tains life; wine does that and

more. A spoken promise binds
a man, while a spoken charge

or commission can give him

both obligations and status. All

these uses and transactions are

the very stuff of human life.

They are symbolic of a man’s

course of days on the earth.

What more ingenious than that

the Author of Life should have

designed that the unseen real-

ity of the life of grace be trans-

mitted by means of signs that

closely parallel it in the order

of nature? The Christian does

not say, “It is entirely fitting.

Let us assume that Christ did

it.” He says, “From the New
Testament and from that early

Christian practice which the

New Testament partially re-
flects, it is evident that He did

it. Was this not because He

deemed sacramentalism so well

suited to our nature and our

needs?”

There are a few special

points that need to be raised

about sacraments, because they



THE SACRAMENT IDEA 9

are so widely misunderstood.

Let us list them in order.

1. A sacrament does not
merely remind the recipient of

God’s love. It bestows that love

in measure. In other words, the

sign of supernatural birth or

resuscitation or growth or nour-

ishment achieves the very thing

it signifies. Water gives divine

life, oil protects it, what seems

bread and wine sustains it.

God’s grace is not only be-

spoken by the sign, but resides

in the sign in virtue of His de-

termination of the thing, and

not by any human poetry or

guesswork. The outward real-

ity in nature is the instrument

of an unseen reality from on

high.

2. No man can be sanctified
against his will. He must have

a disposition to love God —
which includes sorrow for sin

— else barrels of oil, signs of
the cross and forgiveness —
formulas without number will

leave him totally unaltered ex-

cept for the worse guilt of sac-

rilege.

3. A sacrament is meaning-
less except in terms of the re-

demption in Christ’s blood won
for all men on Calvary, ratified
by God through His resurrec-

tion and ascension. All prayers,

rites and formulas are lifeless

observances but for the blood

of the new Lamb.

4. That the Master should

have designated how He chose
to save is enough for the dis-

ciple. But His choice of sym-

bolic prayers and actions is

subject to this much scrutiny:

it is very comforting to be as-

sured that on certain distinct

occasions, if we are not delib-

erately and in cold blood re-

jecting God’s grace, we are

really receiving it. No prayer

or work of charity gives the

same high certitude of this as

does a sacrament.

5. Many sacred signs over the
course of twenty centuries

have been described as sacra-

menta. Slowly but very surely

a distinction became clear be-

tween a restricted few and all

the rest. From the beginning,

three were in no doubt what-

ever as having power to sanc-

tify men in virtue of the effi-
cacy dwelling in their sign:

baptism, confirmation, and the

Lord’s Supper. Last anointing,

forgiveness of sins, matrimony

and sacred ordination were

four others which, while prac-

ticed since the beginning like

the other three rites gradually

emerged clearly even, being

equal to the other three in

grace-giving power.

6. A sacrament is simply an
extension of the Incarnation in

space and time. If God really

sent His Son to be one of us

men, nothing is more likely

than that His Son should at-

tempt to reach our innermost

selves through the only avenues

proper to man as a learner and
a lover, his senses. Such was

the means He used when with

us, and the Son of Man is not
a one to change.



10 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

Outward show of religiosity

is a pompous, hateful thing.

Jesus spent all His energies in

combating it. Real religion is

of the heart, a matter of God’s

spirit and man’s locked in the

embrace of truth. Jesus spent

His days in fostering it. The

sacrament idea? It is not sham

—It is Love, known by a sign.



TORRENT OF NEWNESS

Address Delivered on June 13, 1954

In the Times Literary Sup-

plement of London for April

30 last, the British cultural his-

torian Arnold Toynbee had a

letter to the editor in which he

took strong exception to the

views of Mr. Douglas Jerrold,

also an historian. He criticized

the latter for making any spe-

cial claims for western civiliza-

tion on the ground that it is a

Christian and hence a superior

one. Let me quote him:

“Christ’s unique merits can-

not be appropriated by any hu-

man being or by any institu-

tion, either secular or ecclesi-

astical. To claim to appropri-

ate them is to commit the sin

of pride. The pretension is un-

tenable, because no human be-

ing or institution ever has the

monopoly of being Christ’s in-

strument . . . Pride is a desper-

ate sin, because it is a denial of

the sinner’s need for God’s

grace — and God’s grace is for-
feited when it is taken for

granted.”

So Mr. Toynbee, now that is

earnest confusion at the very

highest level. For if there is

one thing sure about the preach-

ing of the apostles and of those

who came in succession after

them, it is precisely that they

claimed a monopoly as Christ's

instrument. Peter and Paul and

John, Barnabas and Silas were

agreed on one thing more surely

than any other: that the unique

merits of the Master were avail-

able through His living Body

the Church, and not, by positive

design of God, through any oth-

er means. You may not like
their claim, but you had better

not deny that they made it,

short of resolutely determining

never to look in the New Testa-
ment again. The same men who

preached the humble Christ

proclaimed in all humility that

salvation was not to be found

elswhere than in His name,

whose word they preached so

confidently (Acts. IV, 30). He

told them, “He who hears you,

hears Me.” (Luke X. 16), and

they never for a moment acted

as if they doubted the identifi-

cation. The assembled church in

Jerusalem, wishing to hammer

out some basic legislation for

the Gentile converts of Syrian

Antioch, prefaced their direc-

tives with the phrase, “It has

seemed good to the Holy Spirit

and to us.” (Acts XV, 28). On

Mr. Toynbee’s reading of things,

the apsotles and elders could

not have got much prouder than

that. Instead of deserting them,

however, God’s grace went on

to accomplish even greater

marvels through their instru-

mentality.

“The Father has put every-

thing under His dominion,” St.

Paul wrote of Christ, “and

made Him the head to which

the whole Church is joined, so



12 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

that the Church in His body, the

completion of Him who every-

where and in all things is com-

plete” (Ephesians I, 23).

The first Christians never

took God’s grace for granted

—surely that is sin; but they
took for granted once the Mas-

ter had taught it to them, that

there was no source of grace

above the Church and its sacra-

ment — surely that and that
only is historic Christianity.

“Each of us, brethren,” wrote

Clement, Bishop of Rome,

around the year 96, “must in his

own place endeavor to please

God with a good conscience,

reverently taking care not to

deviate from the established

liturgy . . . we are obliged to

carry out in fullest detail what

the Master has commanded us

to do at stated times ...” (XLI,

1 and XL, 1).

First and foremost of these

commands was that of giving a

ritual bath as a sign of initi-

ation. “Go, and make disciples

of all nations,” Jesus said, “bap-

tizing them in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of

the Holy Spirit ...” (Matt.
XXVIII, 19). History’s record

is that no one was considered

to have any part with Christ

until this was attended to.
* * *

Almost at the very beginning

of the Bible, in its opening book

called Genesis (which means

beginning”), you read these

lines:

The earth was waste and

void; covered by the abyss, and

the spirit of God was stirring

above the waters. (Gen. I, 2-3)

Within the past three years

there have been a number of

excellent books available, on

the riches of life in the depth

of the sea. Miss Rachel Carson

of the United States Fish and

Wildlife Service has given us

“The Sea Around us” and the

the earlier Under the Sea

Wind, and a year or so ago

there appeared The Silent

World, by Captain Jacques Ives

Cousteau.

Far from being a silent tomb

of lifelessness, however, the sea

is shown by these marine biolo-

gists to be the relatively noisy

home of millions of animal and

plant species. There is life there

in abundance, and water, while

not the cause, is the condition

of it undoubtedly. In fact, with-

out the waters of the seas, no

life anywhere on the earth

would be possible.

We live out our human lives
so long as blood keeps flowing

in our veins. Like so many

liquids, blood is largely water,

and in our blood “sodium, pot-

assium and calcium are com-

bined in almost the same pro-

portions as in sea water.” The

sea gives evidence of being our

mother, in the sense that she is

a necessary condition for our

life.

Did Moses, did the ancient

Jews know all these things

about the waters of the abyss?

Hardly so; but they knew that

God in His all-persuasive power



TORRENT OF NEWNESS 13

was like a mighty wind. They

called Him “Breath’’ or “Spirit”

because, although He was un-

seen, He was the cause of all.

They could not describe His

creative power better than by

declaring, under the influence

of divine inspiration, that the

darkness of the abyss, its tur-

bulence, and its chaos, were

completely under the sway, now

gentle, now mighty, of the life-

giving God. “The spirit of God

was stirring above the waters.”

In Christian art you some-

times see a dove fluttering over

the waters of a stream, usually

near the font in a baptistry. The

symbolism is evident. This is

the Holy Spirit, a Person of the

tri-Personal God, who was

seen as a dove by Jesus and by

John the Baptizer, as the latter,

hesitantly doing as he was told,

immersed his cousin from

Nazareth in the waters of the

Jordan.

In Holy Baptism, the sacra-

ment or rite of initiation into

Christian life, the spirit of God

stirs above the waters. The can-

didate is enlivened. He already

possesses the life proper to

man’s nature — human life —
in itself a great gift. He is giv-
en in addition new life, a kind

of existence more proper to God

than to man. He begins to live

on a higher plane than before —
born of water and the Holy

Spirit. He lives unto God.
God is the cause of this new

life. One is tempted to say;
water is its condition. But that
would be wrong. That would

not be good sacramental doc-

trine. Christians have believed

from the beginning that God

takes the water and makes it

to become the very instrument,

the cause, of new life. We live
to God in baptism, He lives in
us, with the saving flow of

water as the instrumental

cause. Water gives us more-

than-natural life. That is why
the Fathers of the Church used

to love to describe the baptis-

mal font as the womb of Mother
Church, which the Holy Spir-

it has made fruitful.

Our Lord said to Nicodemus,

that influential Pharisee who

came to visit Him by night

:

“Do not be surprised, then, at

my telling you, ‘You must be
born anew,’ ” He had been sur-

prised, though. He had been

skeptical, and it was only na-

tural because the claim Jesus

made was so startling.

“Believe me,” Our Lord went

on to say, “no man can enter

into the kingdom of God unless

birth comes to him from water,

and from the Holy Spirit. What

is born by natural birth is a

thing of nature, what is born by

spiritual birth is a thing of

spirit.” (John III, 6-7).

At the University College of

Cork in Ireland there is a re-

markably beautiful little church

for student worship, a memori-

al, called Honan Chapel. The

sanctuary walls in their en-

tirety are a rich blue mosaic in

which dozens of fish play in the

running stream. The graphic



14 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

representation is an old one,

going back to the days of the

catacombs. The fish are bap-

tized Christians and the waters

are their life-giving element.

Why fish? Well, it was early
discovered that the five-letter

Greek word for fish, ichthys,

was formed by the first letters

of the five Greek words for

“Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Savior,” and since much had

to be done in secrecy in per-

secution times, and earlier still

out of a reticence over holy

things this symbolic word “fish”

was substituted for our Lord as

a harmless code word to throw

enemies of Christ off the scent.

Every baptized person is an-

other Christ, and he is at home

in the “living waters” of the sac-

rament. He lives again in the

new element—water.
Traditionally, in Christian

practice, certain blessed objects

or blessings have been used to

excite believers to thoughts of

trust in God, of love, of the

shortness of life, of sorrow for

sin. Such objects are ikons or

images of Christ and the saints,

ashes, palms. The lifeless ob-

ject has an effect, but chiefly

through the action of God’s

grace on a free human will. By

employing these sacramental

objects, Christians are moved

to action. The efficacy of the

object of itself is at a minimum,

compared with the prayerful

disposition of the user.

That is how sacramentals

work. With sacraments it is dif-

ferent. Sacraments are like-

wise signs and reminders, but

they are much more powerful

than sacramentals. They are a

marvelous new creation of

Christ our Lord, not of men,

and are like nothing else in the

world. They are a family of

seven signs—things that we use
and do — which He has devised
to act as vehicles for His won-

derful work of redeeming and

sanctifying us. What He accom-

plished for us on Calvary’s hill,

He shares with us in this most

soul-satisfying way. They give

to the soul not temporary helps

to holiness but God’s permanent

grace, the love that lasts as

long as we continue to love in

return.

They are signs which bring

about in the order of grace that

marvel which, in the order of

nature, they somehow parallel.

While hands are in motion or a

thumb is tracing a cross in

olive oil a transaction is, at that

very moment, in progress be-

tween heaven and earth. Sacra-

ments are not just reminders

They are real causes or effectors

of holiness.

What does the outward sign

of holy baptism convey to the

mind? Two things: a burying,

and a washing. What are the

spiritual gifts that holy bap-

tism transmits? They are like-

wise two: burial with Christ

only to rise with Him again,

and cleansing of all guilt of sin.

In our Lord’s day and for

many centuries afterwards in



TORRENT OF NEWNESS 15

warm climates, the usual man-

ner of being baptized was to

be wholly immersed. It was

custom, which the Church, act-

ing as Christ in the world, felt

free to modify when it became

difficult to realize for practi-

cal reasons. The candidates for

baptism, so called because of

their vestes candidae, or white

robes, were led down by the

administering bishop or priest

into a bath which had steps in

the form of a V. They buried

in the waters the man they had
been with his life of sin; in this

grave or running water they left

all former wickedness, just as

Christ had left His mortality

behind Him in the rock tomb
provided by Joseph of Arima-

thea. Christ's resurrection in

glory is paralleled by the can-

didate's emergence from the

water, who comes to life in a

new kind of life. He has died

a sinner and risen a supernatur-

al man.

“In our baptism," says St.

Paul, “we have been buried

with Him, died like Him, that

so, just as Christ was raised up

by His Father's power from the

dead, we too might live and
move in a new kind of exist-

ence." (Rom. VI, 4).

A new kind of existence!
Washed in water, the universal

sign of cleansing, the Christian

goes cleansed and takes on a

more than earthly lustre. He is
a member of Christ, a sharer in
all He won for His brothers,
new-born unto God whether

two weeks old or thirty years,

or eighty-three.

Sometimes an abrupt change

is required in putting on the

full mind of Christ. There is a

considerably altered outlook

necessary before some adults

can say: “I would be brought

to life in this supernatural

world." They may find the price

of full Christian faith too high;

they know they must break

with the past and are not ready

to; they realize that burial of

their former selves is neces-

sary, with an abrupt end to

these habits or familiar ways,

those attachments or forbidden

loves, and they are not equal

to the choice.

“Give me chastity," the

young Augustine prayed, “but

not yet awhile." “I sighed and

longed to be delivered, but was

kept fast bound, not with out-

ward chains but with my own
iron will. ‘Presently,' ‘by and

by'; but this ‘presently' did not

presently come, these delays

had no bounds, and this ‘little

while' stretched into a long

time."

Christian baptism is a double

choice. It is God’s loving choice

of men, and their responsive

choice of God.

A baby cannot choose, cannot
love, and so the Church believes

for that child, hopes, and loves

for him, until at the discretion-

ary years, he comes to choose to

be a member of Christ in his

own name. We know that by the
second century, the custom of



16 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

baptising infants was already

widespread. The earliest pattern

of Christian baptism was the

burial and the cleansing of

adult pagans and Jews. Many

of the latter were just and many

pagans sincere, but others had

lived their lives up to that point,

on very different terms. Per-

haps they had envied or lusted,

been gluttonous, or deceived.

That is why the prayers ac-

companying even infant bap-

tism seem so mysterious to us,

with their numerous quizzings

about fidelity to Christ and

their several exorcisms of the

devil.

The modern ceremony is a

simple telescoped version of a

whole series of rites that used

to be spread over several years,

in the lives of grown-ups.

“Sylvia, what do you ask of

the Church of God?”

“Faith.”

“What does faith bring you

to?”

“Life everlasting.”

And for that introductory ex-

change, the thirty-six year old

matron Sylvia would embark

on a two-year training course as

a catechumen. Signed with the

cross on brow and heart and

still tasting the symbolic salt of

heavenly wisdom, she would

begin to learn of the mysteries

of God, chiefly at the Sunday

instruction, before Holy Mass

proper began. On the Wednes-

day following the third Sunday

in Lent before her baptism, she

would embark on n series of

final tests in religion called

“scrutinies.” Only in these last

two and a half weeks of non-

Christian life would she hear

the Lord’s Prayer and the Apos-

tles’ Creed for the first time and

have them explained to her. She

was on the brink of a heavenly

existence; its secrets must be

unfolded.

Life in the Church of Christ

is a life of signs. There is pro-

gress in holiness, which is a

thing unseen, through a series

of outward signs. At the font

or bapistry we are brought to

birth in the living Christ. Water

is the sign that has done it. Ev-

ery time we come to God’s holy

temple to take part in the

Christian Sacrifice we sign our-

selves with holy water. It is a

sacramental, not a sacrament,

and so it says: “Remember,

Christian soul, that by water

you live again. By water you

were enabled to believe the

words you hear read and

preached, by water you were

given power to pray the Mass

in union with Christ. You are

a person of supernatural worth

you are a creature who can be

to the world a treasure, because

you live again by water and the

Holy Ghost.”

That water was a torrent

once, a coursing stream that

brought only life and newness.

Cracked cisterns can make

parched fields, dry lips. Is there

life, still from the former fresh-

et? Or does it lie in the future,

for souls who have yet to come

alive, in water and the Holy

Spirit?



OLIVE AND POWER

Address Delivered on June 20, 1954

In 1680, the Dutch scientist

Christian Huygens described an

internal combustion engine
which would utilize gunpowder.

It has only been in relatively

recent times, however, that suc-

cessful engines have been con-

structed to burn gasoline and

fuel oil. Nikolaus Otto introduc-

ed this principle of the internal

combustion engine in 1876,

burning gas, but it was Gottlieb

Daimler who constructed the

first gasoline engine ten years

later. Rudolf Diesel’s invention

came only in 1895. The com-

mercial exploitation of petrole-

um in this country had begun
in Titusville, Pa., in 1859, with

the opening of Drake’s oil well.

The energy of the sun has

been stored in the ground in

historic plant life compressed

by the centuries. All fuels are

storehouses of potential energy,

and this heat energy is convert-

ed by engines into useful work.

Surely, then, it is no exagger-

ation for our modern petroleum

companies to proclaim in their

advertising, “Oil is power.”

Oil is power in another and

quite different sense. Why do
we read that the Iranian gov-

ernment and the British com-

monwealth dispute so bitterly,

that Russia would play the

Arab world off against Israel,

and vice versa, if it is not simp-

ly that oil is wealth, oil is pow-

er. You have all heard amusing

stories, I suppose, about the

Cherokee Indians who have it
as a problem in modern Okla-

homa, which Cadillac they shall

use. Again, oil has done for

them what four centuries of pa-

tronizing interest in their sur-

vival could not accomplish.

Oil was a sign of power in

the ancient world just as it is

in the modern. It was the oil

of olives then, but still, a com-

modity which spelled influence

and power.

Joel the prophet, wrote of the

Lord God; “His answer comes,

Here is grain and wine and oil

to your hearts’ content; no more

will I let the nations mock

you.” (Jl. II, 19). That was the

trinity of commerce which re-

curs continually throughout the

Bible, “grain and wine and oil.”

Moses called Palestine a

“land of olive oil” (Deut. II, 8).

Nobody can remember a time

when olive trees were not

growing there. The kings of

pre-Christian Samaria derived

the chief wealth of their realm

from fat olives of the Samari-

tan highlands. Before that, King

Solomon had paid Hiram of

Tyre for the services of carpen-

ters in hewing cedar for the

Temple in olive oil in lots of

20,000 quarts.

Nourishing oil was extracted

from the olives by crushing

them with heavy stones. The



18 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

oil was a staple food, taken

with coarse bread; it was stored

in stone jars, to be employed as

a medium of exchange; it was

used to make soap; it was ap-

plied as an external curative

and salve.

Because oil stood for wealth

and power and health, the anci-

ent Jews saw in it a sign of di-

vine approval. The Old Law re-
quired that tabernacle and ark,

holy tables and the appurten-

ances of sacrifice, all be anoint-

ed with especially scented and

spiced oil. “The oil used for

anointing is a thing set apart,”

says the Book of Exodus, . . .

and you must keep it holy” (Ex.

XXX, 311).
•

It was not only sacred objects

which the Jews of old anointed.

Three classes of men who had
in the God-governed nation of

Israel received their designa-

tion by way of symbol: priests,

prophets, and kings.

In the Book of Exodus the

Jews were told, “sprinkle with

(ram’s blood) and with the oil

used for anointing, Aaron and

his sons. . . . By this elevation,

in the Lord’s presence, Aaron

and his sons are to be consecrat-

ed” (Ex. XXIX, 21, and 25). So

did it happen with the family

to whose charge was committed

the sacrificing priesthood.

When it came time for the
prophet Samuel to designate

Saul as the Jews’ first king, we

are told: “And now Samuel took

out his phial of oil, and poured

it out over Saul’s head; then he

kissed him, and said, Hereby

the Lord anoints thee to be the

leader of his chosen people” (I

Kgs. X, 1). Thus was the chief

man of the Jews anointed with
oil.

The order of signs establish-

es a relationship between the

outward thing done or portray-

ed and the concept represented.

When the relationship is arbi-
trary, we call that a conven-

tional sign. A striped pole bears
no essential relation to barber-

ing; the pole might as easily

have been decided upon to

stand for a butcher shop. With a

pair of glasses hung in neon

over an optician’s shop, how-

ever, it is a different matter.

That is a natural sign, just as a

cloud is a natural sign of rain,

or an extended palm, facing out,

a natural sign to halt.

A sign that bears a pair of
eyeglasses in outline is a natur-

al sign but not in itself an ef-

fective one. It indicates to the

passerby: “There is a man here
skilled in grinding lenses to the

eye-doctor’s prescription.” The

sign does not cause your eye-

sight to improve; it indicates a

means which you are free to

take toward improving it. It is

a helpful sign in that it tells

you something, but there its

efficacy ends. It does not, of

itself, effect or bring about the

improvement it signifies.

Sacramentals are like that.

Rosary beads remind the user,

“Pray with me. Raise your

thoughts to God and keep them



OLIVE AND POWER 19

tethered with my little markers.
That is what I am for.” The
plaques or medallions of the

Way of the Cross — Stations, as
they are called — convey to
the mind: “I am an excellent
means for meditating o n

Christ’s sufferings. Use me to
that end.” And so the believer

prays, and the transient helps

needed for holy living are mul-

tiplied by the loving God

through that prayer. Sacramen-

tals are outward signs which

are occasions of passing graces.

Sacraments are outward signs

which are causes of permanent

grace, or God’s abiding favor.

Water, and the words of Christ

whereby the three Persons are

invoked, just as surely cause

birth in His Kingdom as con-

ception and the nine months of

gestation bring a human to

birth in the order of nature.

The sacraments do not work

automatically, that is to say

apart from the human will. No,

for God’s grace is His love, and

for love to be perfect there

must be a return of love. We are
not sanctified despite ourselves.

Sacraments are signs which

cause human holiness only if we
have it so.

Water, we reminded our-

selves last week, is the sign

of cleansing, and of resurrec-

tion from death and burial.

What is the significance of oil

in the sacramental system? It is

used in conjunction with priest-

hood, which is authorized pow-

er to offer gifts to God — tech-

nically, “sacrifice”; it has to do

with teaching also, and with rul-

ing. In a word, oil signifies for

the Christian what it did in a

religious sense for the Jew of

old, except in much fuller mea-

sure. Priest, prophet or

teacher, and king was he to

be whom ancient prophecy
called Mashia — all three in
one. The word Messiah means

“anointed”; it was with oil that

the prophet was designated, the

priest consecrated, and the king

raised to his high office. Tne

title “Christ” is simply “Mes-

siah” translated into Greek,

“the Anointed.” The Expected

One, it was thought, would be

given power from on high and

fulfill the three roles admirably.

When He came, Jesus of Naz-
areth said, “Absolute authority

in heaven and on earth has been

conferred upon me.” (Mt.

XXVIII, 19). He claimed to be,

and by many was believed to

be, God’s Anointed — the
Christ.

What is it to be a Christian

but to be another Christ? It is

not possible, therefore, to be

born into the Kingdom, His

Living Church, without receiv-

ing some power to act as He

did, some active sharing in His

triple role.

Extend for a moment, if you

will, the thumb and the first

fingers of either hand, and tuck

the last two fingers in against

your palm. From thumb to in-

dex to middle finger is a pro-

gression in the normal hand.



20 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

They provide an old device to

teach the progressive sharing

in Christ’s priestly power that is

given to His members through

a series of sacramental signs. In

holy baptism, the thumb, we are

empowered to become offerers

of Christ’s sacrifice—the Mass
—as members of His living
Body, the Church. He is an in-

finite Person; He shares our

poor manhood. In union with

Him we grow capable of offer-

ing to the Father a perfect gift.

Confirmation, the index finger,

gives a second measure of

priestly power, in the sense that

he who is an offerer now has

the public responsibility of

sharing with others faith in the

mystery of the Mass. With or-

dained priesthood and with its

fullest measure, the bishop’s of-

fice, the middle finger, comes

power not simply to offer Christ

in sacrifices but also effectively

to produce Christ, by a spoken

word, as the victim for sacri-

fice. All members of the Church

have some priestly power; the

ordained have the unique power

to make Him really present

whom all the baptized will of-
fer.

Three of the seven Christian

sacraments can not be received

more than once because they

change or modify the recipient

in a way that is lasting. They

are baptism, confirmation, and

order, and the change they

bring about is nothing other

than to give a share in Christ’s

priestly power. You can not re-

ceive them again because, hav-

ing first come to life and then

been deputed to a certain task in

the kingdom, you cannot receive

that existence, or that commis-

sion again. You cannot because

you need not, just as it is im-

possible to commission an army

major as a major. A baptiszed,
or confirmed, or ordained

Christian, is such forever.

It seems, perhaps, that in a

family of three such signs, all

would have oil as their common

element, if oil is the ancient

symbol for the priest-prophet-

king. For reasons of Christ’s

mysterious choosing, it is not so.

In confirmation only is olive oil

the necessary object for sign.

There is an anointing in the

rites both of baptism and priest-

ly ordination, but in neither

case is it precisely that sacra-

ment-sign which gives the

grace. The oil is used in addi-

tional ceremony which follows

the grace-giving water in the

one case, and the laying-on of

hands in the other. In holy bap-

tism, the Christian is anointed

in the form of a cross on shoul-

ders and breast with the oil of

catechumens, that is to say can-

didates, and again on the crown

of his head with an oil called

chrism. The first is to make him,

symbolicaly, supple and strong

in the contest with man’s ad-

versary, the devil; the second

cross-sign is priestly in charac-

ter, symbolic of his new power

to have a part in Christ’s sacri-

fice and worship. He has be-

come a member of Christ Who is
the High Priest of God’s new



OLIVE AND POWER 21

kingdom. Says the baptizing

priest, “May almighty God . . .

anoint you with the Chrism of

salvation in the same Christ

Jesus, our Lord unto life ever-

lasting.
n

When a priest is ordained,

one of the steps subsequent to

the laying-on of a bishop’s

hands, which is the efficacious

sign, is to anoint his hands with

the oil of catechumens in two

arcs or crescents — from one
thumb to the opposite forefing-

er tip and then the other way

about. After that the bishop an-

oints the palms all over, and for

each new priest he prays: “Be

pleased, O Lord, to consecrate

and hallow these hands by this

anointing, and our blessing.

Amen. That whatever they

bless may be blessed and what-

soever they consecrate may be

consecrated and hallowed, in

the name of our Lord Jesus

Christ.” Then the bishop re-

moves the oil and hands over a

chalice of wine and water, and

a dish with a wafer of bread on

it: “Receive the power to offer

sacrifice to God, and to cele-

brate Mass, both for the liv-

ing and the dead, in the name

of the Lord, Amen.”

The Church of Christ must

grow, being a thing alive. This

moral body is not simply an or-

ganization, as many conceive it

to be, but an organism. Growth

is the very condition of its life. It

cannot grow by force of vio-

lence. Man must hear God’s
voice in invitation and freely

choose to be of that living Body,

members in Christ, the Head.

In ancient times, the admission

of new Christians commonly

took place on the vigil of Easter.

They would go immediately

from the baptismal font to be

confirmed, then to receive the

Paschal Eucharist. Here is a de-

scription of it from the pen of

Hippolytus in the year 215 or so.

He is describing the Church at

Rome, in a practical Handbook

called Apostolic Tradition. First

the baptizing minister submerg-

es the candidate three times,

asking him, in order, if he be-

lieves in God the Father Al-

mighty, then in the Son of God,

then in the Holy Spirit in the

Holy Church. “After this, pour-

ing the consecrated oil from his

hand and laying his hand

on his head, he shall say,

T anoint thee with holy oil in

God the Father Almighty, and

Christ Jesus and the Holy Spir-

it’ and sealing him on the fore-

head he shall give him the kiss

of peace ...” Then the candi-

dates go in to take their first

full part in Christ’s sacrifice,

the bishop saying as he gives

them their first Communion,

“The Bread of Heaven in Christ

Jesus,” to which each replies,

“Amen.”

The spread of the Church

means the spread of love —
human happiness on the in-

crease, with God’s glory leading

it on. There is such a thing as

being naturally reticent of

temperament. There is also a

spirit of delicacy which keeps



22 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

men from speaking offhandedly

about the most sacred matters.

A complete unwillingness t o
share the treasure of faith,

however, is a different case en-

tirely. Any follower of Christ

who feels no compulsion what-

ever to act as God’s instrument

in bringing others to the joys of

baptismal font and altar, needs

to examine hi? use of the graces

he received at confirmation.

This apostolic desire is worlds

apart from the crude prosely-

tism that would force faith on

the listener, or even a hearer,

whether he will it or not. Our

Lord did say, in a graphic fi-

gure of Oriental speech, that

what is sacred should not

be thrown to the dogs. Pearls

have their place in necklace and

brooch, and not in a pigsty mix-

ed with bran mash. The secrets

of the Kingdom are only for

those listeners who show a basic

willingness to hear them. There

do occur times when scoffers at

religion need to be called to

time, and their obvious bad

faith made a point of. In the

main, however, what they need

mcst is to be loved and treated

kindly even in their rudeness.

When the bitter adversaries of

religion are subtracted, there

remains that great population

of fair-minded neutrals whose

whole careers in time and eter-

nity could be altered if the Holy

Spirit of God were given freer

play in the souls of those who

are confirmed Christians.

When the sacrament of con-

firmation is discussed, the no-

tion of fortitude is often so

much to the fore that all else is

drowned out. “Soldiers,” is the

common term, “commissioned

officers in Christ’s army,” as if

the normal conditions of every-

day life were siege, attack, and

blasphemous attempt to make

the Christian apostatize.

Well, of course there is some

of that, and the opposition

should not be minimized, but

actually the chief effect of con-

firmation is spiritual maturity,

which means a priestly func-

tion. Holy Baptism gives life,

but it makes the candidates to

be “as newborn babes” (I Pet.

II, 2), regardless of their age.

Confirmation is adulthood in

the realm of the spirit. A child is
an individualist, essentially. He

lives, so to say, only for him-

self. The dawning of manhood

should mean his beginning to

exert his activity on others.

Manhood requires the person to

take his place as a citizen and

bear his burden as a member of

society.

Pentecost meant for the apos-

tles the shouldering of a burden.

“
. . . ‘The Holy Spirit will

come upon you, and you will re-

ceive strength from Him; you

are to be my witnesses to the
ends of the earth.’ ” (Acts 1,-8).

The fire that Christ had come to

enkindle on the earth they set

about spreading, so that soon

the whole Empire was a blaze

of faith and charity.

Confirmation makes the sim-

ple baptized Christian to be



OLIVE AND POWER 23

spokesman and defender for the

message of the Master. He does

not hold the good tidings close

to himself, either in uncertainty

of their truth or in selfishness

of possession. He proclaims the

mystery of the Church ‘like a

standard set up unto the na-

tions, calling to Herself those

who have not yet believed” (DB

1794). He spreads the good odor

of Christ in all his deeds, v/hich

become as the scented balm that

adds fragrance to the chrism’s

soothing strength.

By confirmation a man is
dedicated wholeheartedly to the

Christian cause. It is the com-

pletion of what was begun in

baptism, the sacrament of initi-

ation. Marked twice with the

seal of Christ the Priest in the

deepest recesses of one’s being,

the member of Christ joins that

other at the altar who from his

priestly ordination is thrice-

sealed, and together they offer

Christ — Friend, Brother, Vic-
tim, Lover — to God.
There comes a time in every

Christian’s life when his exer-

cise of priesthood in union with

Christ the Head, whether
through confirmation or sacred

ordination, approaches a close.

There comes a call to death

with its “change of mettle . . .

its light upon light upon light.”

Now is the time for a gathering
to greatness, and the “ooze of

oil crushed” is employed by the

Church for the last time, to this

purpose.

Christ entered into His glory

through suffering and physical

death. The servant should not

expect to be any better off than

He, the Master. At death, and

sometimes in virtue of it and all

its grim preliminaries, souls

hope to be made perfect, free

from all sin and imperfection.

If oil stands for bodily strength,

and surely in all the history of

medication that is the case, then

it should serve as an excellent

sign of that preparation for the

life of glory made by the “ex-

treme unction,” life’s last an-

ointing in a sacrament-sign.

This sacrament is traditional-

ly associated with those ill in

body, ever since the apostle

James counseled calling in the

priests of the Church for anoint-

ing in oil in the name of the

Lord. “That prayer, said with

faith, will save the sick person,

and the Lord will restore him to

health. If he has committed sins,

they will be forgiven him.”

(James V. 15). And so you see,

it is a kind of complement of

the effects of penance, just as

convalescence achieves what a

successful operation cannot
quite do. Full restoration of the

spiritual health and strength

that marked baptismal inno-

cence and eucharistic perfection

is what the Church prays for in

extreme unction. If the recipi-

ent’s dispositions include perfect

faith and love and sorrow, he

can expect full remission of the

effect of his sins — namely, all
punishment and spiritual weak-

ness. He can hope to enjoy



24 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

straightaway the company of

the Blessed God.

Primarily the change effected

by oil and prayer is a spiritual

one, for a religion without suf-

fering and death as necessary

has no claim to be called Chris-

tianity. Far be it from God’s

Church, however, to keep Him
from healing in body when He

chooses, and so the prayers of

this sacrament petition restora-

tion to health, if such be God’s

will. Frequently enough the

soul, new in grace, will have

a short-term or even a long-

term vivifying effect on a

weakened body, and often the

“last anointing” proves not to

be last at all, but a turning

point on the way back to health.

Gerard Hopkins tells the

• course of things in the life of a

blacksmith he had anointed:

Sickness broke him. Impatient

he cursed a first, but mended

Being anointed and all, through

a heavenlier heart began

some

Months earlier, since I had our

sweet reprieve and ransom

Tendered to him. Ah well, God
rest him all rood ever he of-

fend!

Life in Christ is a life of signs,

Water brings first holiness; oil

second in confirmation, for a

few third in priesthood. In

many lives, it is the last sign of

God’s love. But the chief sign

of Christian life is that visible,

edible object which not only ac-

complishes our sanctification

but is its very Author. That

sign, of course, is Christ Jesus,

the living Bread, heart and cen-

ter of the sacramental system.

But of that, next week.



LIFE IN WHEAT AND WINE

Address Delivered on June 27, 1954

Anyone who describes Jesus

of Nazareth as an itinerant

moralist who had a total un-

concern for forms of worship

or refinements of dogmatic

teaching betrays himself imme-

diately as unfamiliar with the

sources on His life and work.

These documents, historic in

character, are cast in the form

of memoirs. They number

four, two being the work of

close acquaintances of Christ,

Matthew and John, and two

written by intimate friends of

the twin giants of the primitive

Church, that is to say, by Mark

and Luke, who were the travel-

ling companions, respectively,

of Peter and Paul. The four to-

gether make clear that the Man

of Nazareth was keenly insist-

ent that men hear from His lips

a single, clear message from

heaven, and act on it in certain

specified ways. In general:

they must believe strongly all

that the Father reveals through

His Son and His Holy Spirit,

match that faith with the qual-

ity of their hope and their love,

and receive an increase of

the Father’s love continually

through contact with a series

of sacred signs which give life.

Consider, if you will, the re-

vealing conversation that Jesus

had at Jacob’s well in Samaria

with a woman of rather leisure-
ly domestic habits. John tells

the story in the fourth chapter

of his gospel. He is alone in it,

probably remembering to old

age the jar he got when he

came out with the rest from

buying food in the town of

Sichar, to discover the Master

talking alone to a strange wo-

man, and a despised Samaritan

at that!

Christ had gambled every-

thing on the significative power

of a dipper-full of well water

at midday. All the hot and

dusty routine of daily chores

and casual loves, He promised,

could be replaced by a “foun-

tain of water welling up (with-

in her) into eternal life’’ (Jn.

IV, 14). It was no good. She

was too literal-minded for Him,

or else by long habit too guard-

ed to be drawn into any conver-

sation on things beyond what

met the eye. In either case —
dull or provocatively brazen —
she said she would welcome the

water He spoke of if it would

save her these daily trips to the

well. With that Jesus changed

His tack. He told her to sum-

mon her husband, and used her
denial that there was any such

person to indicate that He knew

well that of six tentative candi-

dates for that honor, none, in-

cluding the present sharer of

her domicile, had been troubled

with scruples of legality. She

grew rattled at Christ’s evident

detailed knowledge of her

career and like many whose



26 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

moral lives are disordered, im-

mediately found it convenient

to raise the dogmatic question

of which was the true religion.

Probably pointing to nearby

Mt. Garizim, she acknowledged

Him to be a prophet, and then

proceeded, with a womanly non

sequitur, to say, “Well, it was

our fathers’ way to worship on

this mountain, although you

tell us that the place where

men ought to worship is Jeru-

salem.”

“Believe me, woman,” Jesus

said to her, ‘‘the time is coming

when you will not go to this

mountain, nor yet to Jerusalem,

to worship the Father. You

worship you cannot tell what,

we worship knowing what it is

we worship; salvation, after all,

is to come from the Jews; but

the time is coming, nay, has al-

ready come, when true worship-

pers will worship the Father in

spirit and in truth. . . (Jn. IV,

20 -23 ).

Get that clear distinction of

His between Judaism, the true

revealed religion, and Samari-

tanism, the seven-century old

heresy from it. Notice, too, the

firm tone in which He prophe-

sied—He who within moments
was to identify Himself to her

clearly: “I Who speak to you,
am the Christ”—prophesied an
end to religion that was essenti-

ally local and national. He first

distinguished carefully between

divinely authorized worship

and unauthorized, and spoke of

both as shortly to be succeeded

by more perfect forms. What is
this if not a dogmatic mind dis-

criminating clearly among man-

ifestations of human reverence
for the divine, as more and less

pleasing to the loving Father

who is honored?

Worship, after all, is “worth-

ship,” a fair evaluation of an-

other’s dignity, and when that

other is the Creator and Lord of

all, why a creature’s only reas-
onable response is fitting ac-

knowledgment. He must pay

homage, which in this case does

not mean a cringing vassalage,

but simply playing a man’s

part. When an employer de-
mands acquiescence or boot-

licking as the price of an em-

ployee’s job, we call that a dis-
tinguishing performance be-

cause the human importance of

the one is falsely magnified,

while the human dignity of the

other is disregarded. It is a

vastly different matter when

the Boundless and the Timeless,

whose love has resulted in a

creation, expects that some rea-

sonable response be made by

rational creatures to the fact of

the difference between them.

Left to themselves, men have

always engaged in a kind of

worship behavior called sacri-

fice. They know instinctively

that rectitude of moral behavior

is the essential thing, however

twisted a moral code they may

have devised, but they have

never been quite satisfied with

that. It seems so colorless; also,

it is very hard. Some basic



LIFE IN WHEAT AND WINE 27

human needs go unsatisfied, it

seems, unless there is an out-

ward acknowledgement of

God’s dominion over human

destinies and everything that

men possess. What form does

the acknowledgment take?

Well, you give to the gods what

you think will please them most

according to the best informa-

tion you have on who directs

the forces of nature you stand

daily in awe of. But if you have

been told, as the ancient Jews

were told, that their Lord was

the only God interested in jus-

tice and mercy and uprightness

of life, then you slaughter and

offer to God the best of your

animals, and burn grain and

fruits, and send up clouds of

incense, as a token of your per-

fect obedience. In early desert

days, the sacrifice of the Jews

was a pretty crude performance

but it was from the heart. Twice

they were crushed by conquer-

ors and carried off in exile, but

each time they returned to re-

establish their blood sacrifice.

They knew the terms well

enough, but it was so easy to

forget.

Religion always tends to re-

vert to mere ritualism; it is na-

ture’s tendency. Temple and

altar were daily occupied. The

levitical priesthood fattened on

the rich revenues. But the nat-

ural language of signs came to

be betrayed, because the re-

quired destruction of the richest

and best was not taking place

and when something like it

with poor substitute beasts did

transpire, there was little genu-

ine spirit of obedience and love

being acted out.

“What do I care, the Lord

says, how you multiply those
victims of yours? I have had

enough, and to spare. Burnt of-

ferings of rams, and the fat of

stall-fed beasts, and the blood

of calves and lambs and goats

are nothing to me. Think you it

is a welcome sound, the tramp

of your feet in my courts,
bringing worship such as yours?

. . . Wash yourselves clean,
spare Me the sight of your busy
wickedness; keep holily from

wrong-doing. Learn, rather,

how to do good, setting
your hearts on justice . . . then

come back, says the Lord, and

make trial of Me.” (Is. I, 11-

18)

Sacrifice is sign language. It

is a particular case of gift-giv-

ing to furnish the receiver with

proof of affection. When the
gift is given but the heart not

along with it, we have a sham.
It is like Judas’ kiss in the gar-

den, or the kiss of a lover who
loves only himself and the

pleasurable sensations he can

garner.

The idea of blood sacrifice

was not unworthy of God. He
had specified it, legislated for

it in detail in the inspired Books

of Moses. It takes courage for

a man to separate himself from
costly heads of stock and see

their carcasses go up in smoke,

especially if they represent a



28 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

good part of his earthly for-

tune. Something of himself is

given in the gift. The chief

troubles with the destruction of

symbolic victims under the Mo-

saic Law, however were these:

a) The sacrificing priesthood,

being human, was itself

sinful, so that the gifts to

God would always be

slightly tainted in the

very transmission.

b) Human sins occur daily
which means that there

would forever be need of

daily sacrifice, just to

keep even with things.

c) Splendid as was Solo-

mon’s Temple and that of

Herod the Great after it,

it was all a pretty puny

business contrasted with

the majesty of the Infinite

God.

d) There was that old, un-

fulfilled promise of God

about a priest who would

continue forever, in the

line of Melchisedech. Now,

Melchisedech was outside

the blood lines of the

hereditary priestly famil-

ies, and his symbolic gift

had been bread and wine.

e) The Lord of Israel was

over the Gentiles as well.

Like it or not, the Jews

had received from Him a
progressive multiplication

of prophecy that their na-

tional mission would come

to a close when the Mes-

siah came to rule over all

the nations. Geographic

universality was to mark

his reign, his priesthood

and his sacrifice.

When Jesus of Nazareth

came, He said, “I, who speak to

you am the Christ.” He said it
too often and to the wrong peo-

ple, not in so many words, but

by miracles, courageous indict-

ment of evil, and by shattering,

superhuman goodness. As the

poet puts it, “The devil didn’t

like Him, and He died.”

Now here are His qualifica-
tions as a sacrificer, or gift of-

ferer in worship:

a) He is a high priest suited

to our need, “holy, and

guiltless and undefiled. .

.

one who has no need. .

.

to offer sacrifice day by

day, first for his own sins

...” (Heb. VII, 26f).

b) ‘‘Of those other priests

there was a succession,

since death denied them

permanence; whereas
Jesus continues forever,

and his priestly office is

unchanging.” (23f).

c) Jesus is neither an angel

of God nor a servant, like

Moses, but a Son
—

“the

radiance of His Father’s

splendor, and the full ex-

pression of his being; all

creation depends, for its

support, on his enabling

word.” (Heb. I, 3)

d) The Law had nothing in
it of final achievement. It

was admirable for out-

ward observers, but Jesus

arose, a fresh priest to



LIFE IN WHEAT AND WINE 29

fulfill the type of Mel-

chisedech, and in the pow-

er of His unending life

brought a fuller hope.

When the priesthood was

altered, the Law necessar-
ily was altered with it,

Heb. VII, 12-19)

e) He was the giver, and He

was the gift. God receiv-

ed a perfect sacrifice of

praise in the perfect obe-

dience of His son, Jesus.

The token of it, the sign,

was “his own blood, not

the blood of goats and

calves . . . the ransom He

has won lasts forever.”

(Heb. IX, 12, 13)

The night before He gave His

life in sacrifice, Jesus took in

His hands v/heaten bread —
yeastless because of the Jewish

feast—and grape wine, and de-
clared them to be His body as

offered, His blood, as shed. In

His public career He had been

a master Teacher. He had used

common, everyday objects to

make His points: weeds, fish-

nets, coins, children’s games. He

Who was the unseen God in
tangible human flesh could sac-

ramentalize anything, making

visible objects bear invisible

burdens much weightier than

themselves. This was His mas-

ter stroke. His whole message

had been: “I am life.” He chose
to remain behind in the form of

staples without which there is

no life. He taught unity in love,

the crushing of self for the good

of all. Here was He in His own

hands, a moment before wheat

ground to powder, grapes
crushed to a fiery consistency

of oneness. He said the Son of

Man had come to give His life
as a ransom for the lives of

many (Mt. XX, 28); here in an

unforgettable symbol of the ex-

change was the Ransomer and

the ransom, the Giver and the

gift, the sacrificing Priest and

the victim. It seemed to be

table fare, but in fact, “It is the

Lord.”

Sacraments are effective signs

which give the grace they sig-

nify. Ail seven of them be-

speak, in some measure, life of

a kind above and beyond the

existence proper to man. One

of the seven is the very Author

of that life, Jesus Christ, the

living Bread Who has come
down from heaven. A thousand
years of discipleship went by

before anyone questioned that

He was truly and substantially

present at the priest’s word, as

He had said He would be, and

the foodstuffs present no more.

Thirteen centuries elapsed be-

fore it occurred to anyone to

deny that the Lord’s Supper,

that is to say, the Mass, was one

Sacrifice with Calvary, that

supreme example of worshipful

gift-offering which could never

be repeated nor ever improved.

“As often as the commemora-

tion of this oifering is celebrat-

ed, the work of our redemption

is renewed.”

‘‘The time is coming, nay,

has already come when true



30 THE SACRAMENT IDEA

worshippers will worship the

Father in spirit and in truth.”

Christianity is not meant to di-

vide men but to unite them, to

make all men brothers of that

elder Brother Who is their spot-
less high priest. It hopes to

draw them away from the

mountain of this national spirit

or that sectarian aloofness, up

to the summit of perfect gift-

offering. Calvary was a place,

made sacred in a distant time.

By God’s loving design its ful-

lest effects are available to men

of every nation, even to the

world’s end, in the realm of

sign. Says a prayer of the

Mass at Christmas: “Through

Him Whom we recognize as
God made visible we are car-

ried away in love of things in-

visible.”

Through water, and oil, and

bread and wine, through impo-

sition of hands, and promise,

and prayer, God’s love becomes

real to us. Our highest achieve-

ment, God’s greatest gift, comes

when we offer to Him His Son
in sacrifice. Christian life has

always been and forever will

be, this loving exchange known

by sign.



THE PURPOSE OF THE CATHOLIC HOUR

(Extract from the address of the late Patrick Cardinal Hayes at the in-

augural program of the Catholic Hour in the studio of the National

Broadcasting Company, New York City, March 2, 1930.)

Our congratulations and our gratitude are extended to the National

Council of Catholic Men and its officials, and to all who, by their financial

support, have made it possible to use this offer of the National Broad-

casting Company. The heavy expense of managing and financing a

weekly program, its musical numbers, its speakers, the subsequent an-

swering of inquiries, must be met . . .

This radio hour is for all the people of the United States. To our

fellow-citizens, in this word of dedication, we wish to express a cordial

greeting and, indeed, congratulations. For this radio hour is one of

service to America, which certainly will listen in interestedly, and even

sympathetically, I am sure, to the voice of the ancient Church with its

historic background of all the centuries of the Christian era, and with

its own notable contribution to the discovery, exploration, foundation

and growth of our glorious country . . .

Thus to voice before a vast public the Catholic Church is no light

task. Our prayers will be with those who have that task in hand. We
feel certain that it will have both the good will and the good wishes of

the great majority of our countrymen. Surely, there is no true lover

of our Country who does not eagerly hope for a less worldly, a less

material, and a more spiritual standard among our people.

With good will, with kindness and with Christ-like sympathy for

all, this work is inaugurated. So may it continue. So may it be ful-

filled. This word of dedication voices, therefore, the hope that this radio

hour may serve to make known, to explain with the charity of Christ,

our faith, which we love even as we love Christ Himself. May it serve

to make better understood that faith as it really is—a light revealing
the pathway to heaven; a strength, and a power divine through Christ;

pardoning our sins, elevating, consecrating our common every-day duties

and joys, bringing not only justice but gladness and peace to our search-

ing and questioning hearts.



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