Seek – the Sacraments

”Seek first the Kingdom of God” Matthew 6:33

Seek: (verb) to go in search of, to look for, to try to discover.  Seek is an action verb.  

To find Jesus, the soul needs only to come to the Sacraments.
The sacraments were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church.  Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition. There are 7 Sacraments which are Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Confession and the Eucharist. This isn’t meant to be a lesson of the Sacraments.

The Sacraments are all given by Jesus as signs of His continued presence. They all use worldly connections of some sort (water, oil, bread, wine etc) to lift our souls to God. ASI sit here and pray over this post, I realize each of the Sacraments have one thing in common related to the topic of this post. In each, the soul must seek the grace, the body must approach Jesus’s grace in the Sacrament. Even Baptism and Anointing of the Sick have that aspect. In baptism of babies, the child is brought to the water of baptism seeking the grace of God. And, even in Anointing of the Sick as ‘last rites’ the person had need of the graces imparted by this Sacrament and typically is ‘carried’ by their loved ones in bringing the priest to their bedside.

When we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we come before the Merciful Savior seeking His Divine Mercy. “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. We humbly come to the confessional on our spiritual knees with nothing to offer Jesus. No payment is necessary for the forgiving words He provides in the Sacrament, Jesus has paid the debt. More on seeking Mercy later in the series.

”For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith as Catholics. There is nothing higher then Jesus Himself. Typically, when we receive the Eucharist it is at Holy Mass. We come forward, seeking to receive Jesus in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. We seek to consume the body and blood of Jesus in the form of bread and wine. “He who eats My flesh as drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him” John 6:56

We do this not only in memory of Jesus and His passion, but to consume His Divinity that we may become like Jesus. Once, an Emmaus brother in Christ told me a story that struck me spiritually as to the desired effect of receiving the Eucharist. He said he had recently received a bone marrow transplant from his sister. The days before the transplant as a way to celebrate this gift together, they had dinner. Her menu included several extremely spicy foods which she loved. Even the spicy smell made him cringe. He never liked anything ‘hotter’ than mild. He said the transplant went off without a problem and his recovery was going very well. A few months after the successful procedure, his family went to dinner together to celebrate his sister’s birthday. Of course, she ordered the hottest wings on the menu. When the order was brought to the table, his mouth began to water at the savory smell of the spicy wings. He ate half of her wings and ordered more. He said it isn’t uncommon for the one receiving a transplant to develop some of the habits of the donor. This includes allergies as well as love of some foods.
Afyer he finished telling this story, I couldn’t help but think this is exactly what Jesus intends in our receiving and consuming the Eucharist. This is Jesus fully in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. His DNA is within this bread and wine. By receiving the Eucharist, we too are receiving a transplant. Jesus takes our sinful and dark condition and gives us His Holiness in return. The Eucharist is fully capable of giving us a craving to be holy, as the Father is Holy. The Eucharist will make us desire to be more like Jesus as it removes and cures the sinfulness within our souls.

For those of us who are married, in the Covid quarantines, the one Sacrament we have kept close is the Sacrament of Marriage. Marriage gives us a great anchor to hold us from wandering into sinful paths. Marriage gives us someone who wants to see the greatest desire of our soul come to reality – to get to Heaven and be united with the Trinity. In this Sacrament, we have someone who sees us with God’s vision – someone more than we could ever see in the mirror. In this Sacrament, we have community. For in our Sacramental Marriage, we are joined as three – husband, wife and Jesus. Think of it this way. When you have two great partners in a dance, it is difficult to tell who is leading. The man needs to lead for the dance to succeed but his great partner accentuates his lead and brings beauty to his strength. When husband and wife dance to the music that is God, their dance is breathtaking and inspiring. I am blessed to have this kind of marriage. A wife who sees me through the Father’s eyes and holds me to a high standard, forgiving as Christ any stumbles. I have a partner in my wife who allows me to be strong in my lead and brings beauty to our dance.
“And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12