A Sacramental People: the Church, the Body of Christ

Book 5: encountering christ in the sacraments | Chapter 1 Reading Guide

CHAPTER 1 A Sacramental People: The Church, the Body of Christ

Section One: Attend and Reflect 1. What kind of life-changing events might lead one to look at the bigger picture and question what life is really about? 2. What can shape the way we understand ourselves and others and how we grow in our sense of self-identity? 3. What are some of the criteria we use to interpret our experiences? 4. What types of experiences can make us aware of God’s presence in our lives? 5. Using the Faith Glossary, define ‘transcendence’. 6. From which Latin words does the Church get the terminology ‘mystery’ and ‘sacrament’? 7. Describe a ‘sacramental view’ of reality.

Section Two: Hear the Story 8. What is the truth, captured by the Church, in the ‘principle of sacramentality’? 9. What is meant by the faith term ‘economy of salvation’, or ‘sacramental economy’? 10. In the Book of Exodus, how did the sacred authors express the mystery of God’s inseparable and saving presence with the Israelites? 11. What was the focal point of the faith of the Israelites? 12. What do the liturgical rituals and traditions of the Catholic Church celebrate? 13. What is the heart and center of the Liturgy of the Church? 14. Name the Seven Sacraments and the categories by which they are classified. 15. How are Sacraments ‘efficacious signs of grace’? 16. What does it mean to say that the Sacraments were ‘instituted by Christ’? 17. Define the faith word ‘Sacrament’. 18. What was God’s response when Moses asked, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ 19. By using the divine name ‘I AM’, what did Jesus reveal about his identity? 20. Who is the sacrament of God? What is the universal sacrament of Jesus Christ in the world?

Section Three: Embrace the Vision 21. Why does God offer us grace? 22. How does grace empower and free us? 23. What is the meaning of the Latin word sanctificare? 24. How does the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults [USCCA] define ‘sanctifying grace’? 25. When is sanctifying grace first received, and how do we experience it? 26. How does the USCCA define ‘actual graces’? 27. In what ways can actual graces guide one’s life? 28. Using the Faith Glossary, define ‘Sacramental Graces’. 29. How do charisms and special graces support the Church? 30. What truth does the Latin phrase ex opere operato point to? 31. What is the truth expressed in the Latin phrase ex opere operantis?

Section Four: Think It Through 32. What is the meaning of the Latin verb salvare, which is the root of the word salvation? 33. What did the people of Israel believe about God from the beginning? 34. What is the Hebrew translation for the name ‘Jesus’? 35. Using the Faith Glossary, explain what it means to say that the Church is the ‘sacrament of Salvation’. 36. What does anointing with sacred Chrism signify?

Section 5: Judge and Act 37. In what year and country was Thérèse Marie-Françoise Martin (St. Thérèse of Lisieux) born? 38. Why did Thérèse pray for Henri Pranzini? 39. What action by Henri Pranzini prompted Thérèse to make praying for others part of her way of life? 40. Describe the ‘sacramental’ way of life that Sister Thérèse lived every day.