The importance and role of the Gospel and the sacraments in our Christian life

In these brief reflections we want to indicate the place that the Gospel and the sacraments must have in Christian life and in pastoral activity, according to the plan of God.

In the language of the Church Fathers, the term sacrament indicates any sensitive reality which embodies a divine reality and communicates it to us: in this broad sense, all the realities of the Church can be considered sacrament.

Here we intend to speak of the seven sacramental signs that accompany man on his earthly journey from birth (baptism) to decline (anointing of the sick). It is in this narrow sense that we use the term.

For evangelization, on the other hand, it is necessary to make the reverse: take it broadly. In fact, strictly speaking, it indicates the missionary announcement to non-believers, that is, the first form that transmits the announcement, with the dual purpose of arousing faith and of encouraging conversion. Next to it there is another form of preaching: catechesis. It is aimed at those who are already believers. Its purpose is to fortify the faith and broaden horizons, transmitting the content of Revelation in its entirety.

In our case evangelization stands, in a broad sense, for any type of announcement, that is, transmission of the Word, and includes both preaching and catechesis.

Indeed, it includes the same homily, which is the most complete and authoritative form of proclaiming the Gospel: complete because it takes on, each time, all the functions of Christian preaching; authoritative because, placed within the liturgical celebration, it imbues its atmosphere and participates in its effectiveness.

Therefore Word and sacraments are the two privileged instruments of salvation.

Let us explain. There is only one salvation: it is Christ, with his person and his work. There is no salvation in anyone else or anything else (Acts 4,12:XNUMX).

So every job is apostolate to the extent that it opens a way through which the brothers can walk towards the Lord.

All the immense pastoral effort is nothing but a pedagogy of encounter. But pastoral care must implement the means for the meeting to take place. The Gospel and the sacraments fulfill this task: to establish contact with Christ, with his word and his action. And be so saved.

It is true that the means are many: Christ uses everything to save us. But above all these two stand out in importance and effectiveness. The NT documents it: Preach and baptize, order Jesus to the disciples. The apostles leave to others tasks other than these, including charitable action (Acts 6,2) to consecrate all their energies to prayer and preaching the Word. The Fathers of the Church are the men of the word and of the sacrament, first and foremost. Today, as in other times and perhaps more than in other times, it is a question of saving the world and changing its face. In the face of such an enterprise, what good are some words thrown on people during the homily or a little water poured on the head of a child? It takes much more, someone will say. Of course, if it were human gestures or empty ceremonies, nothing more inept and useless. But in that Word and in that gesture it is God himself who acts. Effectiveness is proportionate to its divine power. It is he who, as the protagonist, guides the story. Now, in his action, the word and the sacraments are the points of most vivid light and most powerful efficacy (E. Schillebeeckx).

Between the Gospel and the sacraments there is an indissoluble bond rooted in the history of salvation. A widespread mentality between us tends to dissociate the two elements: as if preaching were to transmit a doctrine and the sacraments confer grace. Protestants unilaterally stressed the importance of the Word. In reaction, Catholics stressed the effectiveness of the rite. This polemical contrast has separated what is closely related in its nature. With serious damage to pastoral care.

One had the impression of having on one side a Word that says but does not do, and on the other a rite that does but does not say. This is absolutely not true.

The Word of God is alive and effective (Heb 4,12:XNUMX): God does what he says.

His Word is strength for the salvation of anyone who believes (Rom 1,16:XNUMX).

On the other hand, the rite, as a symbol, also expresses and communicates a message. The sacramental sign is not only a gesture, it is also a word. To put it briefly: preaching and sacrament are necessary phases of a single itinerary of salvation, one of which is the beginning and the other the fulfillment.

Christ is the font, original sacrament and the definitive word. He is the supreme gesture of God and his Word. He is God in human gesture, the supreme sacrament, because the term sacrament is intended to designate a sensitive reality that expresses and contains a divine reality. Jesus is the sacrament of the encounter with God. The Word becomes a fact and is called Jesus.

He is the decisive and definitive intervention of God in the history of men: the final realization of what he wanted to do. But it is also the definitive Revelation: everything that God wanted to say is expressed in him.

He narrates in words what he saw in the bosom of the Father (Jn 1,18:1,14). But before words, he reveals it with his being: the Word became flesh (Jn 1:1,1). That Word is no longer only audible to the ears, but also visible to the eyes and palpable in the hands (2 Jn 4,6). Jesus is the glory of God reflected on a human face (XNUMXCor XNUMX), it is the love of God which is revealed in the action of a man.

Jesus therefore reveals God with what he is, with what he says and with what he does. Jesus is the Word of God that becomes made, and the fact that it becomes so transparent and luminous that it becomes a word. All pastoral care is called to a precise and courageous choice: it must discover that it has an essential reference to the mystery of Christ and consequently shift the attention from the sacraments to the Sacrament: Jesus. We must look to the divine Master and confront him.

What is the process followed by him in bringing salvation? Normally he does this: first he preaches to arouse faith in listeners. Whoever receives the message goes out to meet him with lively expectation and total trust. Then the encounter takes place: a personal contact that makes healing. This occurs through physical contact with his humanity: from him comes a force that heals everyone (Lk 6,19:XNUMX). Healing marks the beginning of a new existence which becomes testimony of Jesus before the brothers