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SIGN, SACRAMENT AND SACRAMENTALITY

CHRIST – CHURCH – SACRAMENTS
The Theological Foundation of the Sign-Character of the Liturgy

Pope Paul VI in his opening address before the second session of the Second Vatican Council in
1963 defines “sacrament” as “a reality imbued with the hidden presence of God.” One can therefore
speak of a sacramental perspective, one that “sees” the divine in the human, the infinite in the finite,
the spiritual in the material, the transcendent in the immanent, the eternal in the historical. Likewise,
one can speak of the sacramental principle which affirms that God uses material, finite, concrete
realities to communicate himself and his will for man’s salvation.

SACRAMENT: SIGN, PRESENCE, COMMUNION

While the concept of sacrament evokes the more basic reality of a “sign”, sacramentality
suggests other properties that makes that which is “sacrament” more than a mere sign. While an
ordinary sign, by its materiality and visibility, merely signifies ( = manifests, reveals) another reality, a
sacramental sign, in addition, realizes ( = makes present, brings about, mediates, effects) what it
signifies. Furthermore, a sign which is sacrament also unites, that is, it brings about an encounter
between the person who stands behind the sign (that is, the person who made it a sign) and the person
who approaches it as a sign (that is, the person for whom the sign is intended). In the words of the
Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, “sacrament” is all at the same time “sign” and
“instrument” of “communion” (LG, n. 1).

CHRIST, SACRAMENT

God willed to accomplish his plan to reconcile humanity with himself (= redemption) the
sacramental way, cf. Heb 1:1. The Incarnation is the culmination of such sacramental way in which God
dealt with humanity all throughout human history. In Jesus Christ, the invisible God became visible. He
is the Sacrament of our encounter with God for he is the perfect sign of God’s presence among us. In
Christ, all three elements of sacramentality are met:

In all wisdom and insight, God has made known to us the mystery of his purpose,
according to his good pleasure which he determined beforehand in Christ, for him to
act upon when the time had run their course: that he would bring everything
together under Christ as Head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth
(Eph. 1: 8-10).

By his human nature, his public ministry, and the paschal mystery of his death and glorification,
Christ did not only reveal the Father; he mediated the presence and saving will of the Father. He is the
one Mediator between God and man.1 As he signified God’s presence among us, he was actually God
present among us.

1
2 Tim. 2:5.
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The saving plan of God is directed toward communion, that is, the union of humanity with God
and unity among themselves. This, too, is realized perfectly in Jesus Christ for it is in him that the
Father chose to “bring all things into one in the heavens and on earth.” 2 In a unique exercise of
mediatorship, Christ offered himself as sacrifice of reconciliation between God and man.

CHURCH, SACRAMENT

The Church, in a similar manner, is the fundamental sacrament of our encounter with Christ and
of Christ with us. In her composition and visible structures as a community of faith and in her various
ministries, the Church continues to make visible the living and saving presence of the Risen Christ
among us. By the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the Church is a living sign of God’s presence in
Christ.

We can also speak of the mediating role of the Church. Intimately connected to her
sacramentality, the Church is an efficacious sign, i.e. actually causing what it signifies. Through the word,
the sacraments, and its various ministries, the Church mediates and communicates to her own and to
others the saving grace which she embodies so that “when the [Church] baptizes, it is Christ who
baptizes” (SC 7). In the words of the venerable Pope Leo the Great, “What was visible in Christ passed
over to the sacraments (mysteries) of the Church” (Sermo 74,2).

But LG 1 speaks also of the Church as mystery/sacrament of communion, that is, sign and
instrument of union with God and of unity among men and women. The Church is a corporate or
communal expression of the union and unity which God wills for the whole human family. The Church,
or the gathering of the redeemed community, is the sign and instrument of what God is in fact doing
for all.

LITURGY, SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATIONS

By its very nature, the liturgy is the Church’s self – expression. What she is and called to do in
the world is signified and actualized, above all, in the liturgy, especially in the celebration of the
sacraments. The sacraments are the signs and instruments by which that ecclesial encounter with
Christ is expressed, celebrated, and made effective for the glory of God and the salvation of all. 3

This relationship between liturgy and sacramentality with its three elements of sign, presence,
and communion can be shown using the description of liturgy offered by SC, 7:

Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus
Christ. In the liturgy, the sanctification of man is manifested by signs perceptible to
the senses, and is effected in a way which is proper to each of these signs; in the

2
Cf. Eph. 3:10.
3
The term “sacraments” in this statement is taken in the sense of Pope St. Leo I’s usage in his famous statement “Quod conspicuum erat in
Christ transivit in Ecclesiae sacramenta” (Sermo 74:2), that is, the Church’s liturgical actions in general.
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liturgy, full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Christ, that is, by the
Head and His members.

The conciliar definition says that the ultimate aim of the liturgy, that is, the perfect glorification
of God and the sanctification of the community celebrating it, is signified and brought about “by means
of signs perceptible to the senses.” It is the signs and symbols—the words, gestures and symbolic
objects --that give to the liturgy its sacramental dimension. In the liturgy, signs or symbols consist of
words like sacramental formularies , gestures like handlaying, and material elements like water, bread,
wine and oil.4 Through the sacramental rites, signs and symbols and the gathering of the faith
community for worship, the Church shines forth as a living sign of God’s presence through the
empowerment of the Holy Spirit. It is, indeed when the Church is gathered for worship that she best
shines forth as the ekklhsia, the people whom God has called from darkness into his marvelous light. 5

It is also through and in the liturgy – the word, the sacraments and its various ministries -- that
the Church mediates to the faithful and even to those outside the saving grace which she signifies. The
conciliar definition of the liturgy includes the basic concept that Christ is truly present in the
celebrations of the Mass, the other sacraments, the Word of God, and the Divine Office. At Mass, Christ
himself “now offers through the hands of the priests, who formerly offered himself on the Cross.” The
Constitution, quoting St. Augustine, further claims that in the celebration of the sacraments, “when a
person baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes.” He is present in the proclamation of the Word
and “when the Church prays and sings.” All these affirmations emphasize the active role played by
Christ in the exercise of his priesly office which he performed as he preached the good news, healed
the sick, freed those in bondage and culminated by his death on the cross, resurrection from the dead,
and bestowal of the Holy Spirit.6 The same conciliar provision speaks of Christ “associating the Church
with himself” in the continuation of his saving work in the world today.

The conciliar definition explicitly calls the Church the Mystical Body of Christ, Head and members.
As has been mentioned earlier, it is in her gathering at worship that the Church manifests her deepest
nature, where she is best seen as the sign and instrument of that communion that God planned for
humanity and which he revealed and realized in the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery. Her being
the Mystical Body of Christ is most perfectly expressed whenever she celebrates the mysteries of Christ
in the liturgy, in the sacraments. Therefore we can speak of the Church as sacrament of communion in
her celebration of the liturgy in two dimensions: a) the liturgy as the faith-community’s encounter with
the Triune God, and, b) the liturgy as the continuous building up of the Church as the People of the
Covenant.

a) When the Church assembles for worship, the faithful enter into the presence of the triune God
both as a body and as individual members. The liturgy is the Church’s encounter par excellence with
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The liturgy is sign and instrument of communion in the sense that
the community meets the three divine Persons according to the particular role each of these plays

4
C. Vagaggini, Theological Dimensions of the Liturgy. A General Treatise on the Theology of the Liturgy. Collegeville 1976, 32 – 124; A.
Verheul, Introduction to the Liturgy, St. Albans 1972, 102 – 16; A. J. Chupungco, “Introduction,” in Handbook for Liturgical Studies 1:
Introduction to the Liturgy, ed. A. J. Chupungco, Collegeville 1997, 5.
5
Cf. 1 Peter 2:9 – 10.
6
Chupungco, 4-7.
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in the history of salvation. In the Church’s liturgy, the divine blessing is fully revealed and
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communicated. The Father is acknowledged and adored as the source and the end of all the
blessings of creation and salvation. In his Word who became incarnate, died and rose for us, he fills
us with his blessings. Through his Word, he pours into our hearts the Gift that contains all gifts, the
Holy Spirit.8 It is also in the liturgy that the faith-community’s acknowledgment of these divine
blessings takes place. In the liturgical celebration, the Church offers worship to the Father, through
Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit: Ad Patrem, per Filium, in Spiritu Sancto. In the liturgy, the
Church normally addresses the Father, through Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. The principal
prayers, especially the Eucharistic Prayer, are directed to the person of the Father. Prayers are
concluded invoking the mediation of Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit is called upon the people
and sacramental elements.9

b) It is when the Church gathers for worship that she is best seen as the priestly People of God, a title
that manifests the organic link between the Church and Israel, the people of the Old Covenant. The
Jews, were called in the Old Testament “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (cf. Ex. 19:6; Is. 61:6).
The baptismal catechesis given in the second letter of Peter passes on this prerogative to the New
People of God, the community of the baptized: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, God’s own people, that you may proclaim the wonderful deeds of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God’s
people” (1 Peter 2:9-10). Since the beginning of the liturgical movement, the preceding text has
been cited to affirm the common priesthood of the faithful that one acquires in baptism. It is
exercised above all in worship and is most clearly seen in the active participation of the faithful in
the liturgical action. But this common priesthood of the faithful expressed in worship is equally
invoked by the New Testament writers to express the demands for the baptized to strive for a life
that constitutes an acceptable offering – one that is characterized by justice and holiness. The
worship life of the Christians demands a fundamental attitude of service and charity that gives to
worship spirit and soul, making it worship in spirit and truth. 10 It is this fundamental horizontal
attitude at worship that builds up the Christian community. It is a gathering of “two or three in
Christ’s name” which renders him present in their midst. Thus, the liturgy expresses and realizes
the nature of the Church as sacrament of communion – of union with the Triune God and unity
among the members of the faith-community.

CONCLUSION

This essay is an attempt to present the theology of sacramentality in the post-Vatican II context. It
employed a framework that runs from God to Jesus Christ to the Church to the Sacraments. The
elements of sign, presence, and communion apply to the person and mission of Jesus Christ in the first
place as the Sacrament and Mediator of the salvation God willed for his people and as the One who
restored the Communion lost by fallen humanity as a consequence of sin. Then, in the second place,
they apply to the Church, affirmed by the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church as the Sacrament, that

7
Ibid., 7.
8
cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1082-3.
9
Chupungco, 7.
10
Verheul, 79.
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is, sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of all mankind. In the third place,
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while the Church exercises and lives out this nature and mission by her many ministries in the world, the
LITURGY, her celebration of the sacraments, above all, is “a sacred action surpassing all others. No
other action can match its claim to efficacy and, nor equal the degree of it.” 12

Supplementary Readings

1. CCC nos. 1145-1155

2. A.-G. Martimort, "Liturgical Signs," in The Church at Prayer 1: Principles of the Liturgy, ed. I.-H. Dalmais,
et al., Collegeville 1983, 173-225.
3. A. Verheul, "The Sign Character of the Liturgy," in Introduction to the Liturgy. Towards a theology of
Worship, St. Albans 1987, 102-116.
4. A. Adam, "The Language of Liturgical Signs," Foundations of Liturgy. An Introduction to Its History and
Practice, Collegeville 1992, 65-79.

11
LG, no. 1.
12
SC, no.7.