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Baptism,
Penance, Eucharist: Sacraments in Relationship It
would be a mistake to consider the Eucharist just one of the seven
sacraments. Rather, the Eucharist, as source and summit of the Church’s
life and the life of individual Christians, is unique among the
sacraments. The
Eucharist is the Church’s full celebration of the paschal mystery of
Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit.
The other sacraments are particular forms of celebrating that paschal
mystery and represent particular ways that it is applied in our
lives—for example, in our confirmation for mission, our reception of
God’s merciful forgiveness, or our living the loving and life-giving
covenant of marriage. When
we consider the great grace of repentance and reconciliation, we can
clearly see a particular relationship among the three sacraments of
Baptism, Penance, and Eucharist. Baptism
joins us to the dying and rising of
Jesus and therefore to his Father and to one another (see Romans 6:3–4)
as members of his Body, the Church (see Ephesians 4:4–6). It is
important to remember that Baptism is also a sacrament of repentance and
reconciliation because it sanctifies sinners. After Peter’s stirring
speech on the first Pentecost, people asked him what they ought to do to
be saved. Peter responded, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of
your sins” (see Acts 2:14–39). This Baptism for repentance
means that sins are forgiven, both original sin and personal sins, and
that we stand in a reconciled relationship with God. We are in communion
with the One who wants to share his life with us. Penance
has been called a second Baptism. It is
the sacrament for those who, after Baptism, after being irrevocably
claimed as God’s own sons and daughters, have sinned and found
themselves estranged from God and the Body of Christ, his Church. The
sacrament of Penance renews the grace of repentance and restores us to a
reconciled relationship with God and his Church. It restores us to the
communion with God and the Church established in Baptism. It also orients
us to the Eucharist that makes present and real the fullness of communion
and reconciliation given to us in the sacrificial death and life-giving
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Clearly, these three sacraments, Baptism,
Penance, and Eucharist, are integrally related as sacraments of new life,
repentance, and communion in that life. Briefly,
Baptism brings us basic forgiveness, a turning around of our lives, and
belonging to Jesus Christ and his Church. Penance depends on Baptism and
re-awakens or enlivens the forgiveness and belonging that had their
beginning in Baptism. At the same time, Penance enables our entrance into
the culminating moment of communion that is the reality of the Eucharist,
communion with the sacrifice of Christ and his Body the Church. With
this sense of the integral relationship of Baptism, Penance, and Eucharist
as sacraments of new life, repentance, and communion, it may be helpful to
focus more particularly on the Eucharist and repentance. How exactly does
our repentance, our conversion of heart, our search and acceptance of
God’s forgiveness, relate to our participation in the Eucharist as
communion in the sacrifice of Jesus and the life of his Body, the Church? The
Eucharist Presupposes Repentance To share in the Body and Blood of the Lord, to
participate in his sacrifice, to be linked at the deepest level of our
lives with other believers in the mystery of God’s redeeming love—all
this assumes a converted heart that is capable of this holy communion. If
we are truly estranged from God or our neighbor, we are incapable of
communion until we repent and receive God’s forgiveness. In Matthew’s
Gospel, Jesus says, “If, when you are bringing your gift to the altar,
you suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against you, leave
your gift where it is before the altar. First go and make peace with your
brother, and only then come back and offer your gift” Similarly,
Saint Paul writes, “. . . anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord unworthily will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of
the Lord. A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and
drinking from the cup. For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment
on himself if he does not discern the Body” (1 Corinthians 11:27–30).
In light of these biblical injunctions, the Church teaches that those who
are conscious of serious sin in their lives must first confess their sins
in the sacrament of Penance and receive forgiveness before they receive
the Body and Blood of the Lord in the Eucharist.
The Eucharist Includes There are
many prayers in the Eucharistic liturgy that call on God’s mercy and
forgiveness. They are prayers of repentance. For example, the opening
Penitential Rite includes a calling to mind of our sins along with a call
for God’s mercy, “Lord, have mercy,” or Kyrie eleison. The
Gloria includes the words, “Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin
of the world: have mercy on us.” The proclamation of the Gospel is not
only a call to repentance but a moment of forgiveness, as the priest’s
personal prayer at the end of the Gospel indicates: “May the words of
the Gospel wipe away our sins.” The Eucharistic Prayers repentantly turn
to God and seek forgiveness: “Though we are sinners, we trust in your
mercy and love. Do not consider what we truly deserve, but grant us your
forgiveness.” The words of institution bring forgiveness to the
forefront: “. . . the blood of the new and everlasting covenant . . .
will be shed . . . so that sins may be forgiven.” The Lord’s Prayer,
the Lamb of God, and the “Lord, I am not worthy” in the communion rite
all contain words of repentance and forgiveness. Though
it does not diminish the need for the sacrament of Penance, the Eucharist
is an event of new life, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The
Church teaches that through our participation in the celebration of the
Eucharist, venial sins are forgiven. Repentance,
Reconciliation, Our
participation in the Eucharist, according to the teaching of the Church,
enables us to avoid sin. In other words, the Eucharist gives us strength
to lead a converted or transformed way of life. Our celebration of the
Eucharist summons us in the course of daily life to a fuller communion
with God and one another in the Body of Christ. Saint
Paul’s teaching forms the basis for these convictions. He writes in 1
Corinthians: “When we bless ‘the cup of blessing,’ is it not a means
of sharing the blood of Christ? When we break the bread, is it not a means
of sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, many as
we are, are one body; for it is one loaf of which we all partake” (1
Corinthians 10:16–17). In the Eucharist, source and summit of the Church’s life and the life of individual believers, we find the culmination of our journey of repentance and communion. For here we find Christ who is our life and our peace. The sacrament of Penance or |