By Msgr. M. Francis Mannion

Sacraments as symbols

God uses created, visible human signs and symbols to communicate with his people

Question: I recently attended a set of classes designed to prepare our children for first Communion. The teacher kept emphasizing the fact that the sacraments are symbols. This bothered me as I was always taught that sacraments are more than symbols. Can you clarify for me?

-- Name withheld, Littleton, Colo.

Answer: The word "symbol" has many definitions, some weak and some strong. As people popularly use the word "symbol" the contrast is to real or substantial. One will hear news reporters speak of political gestures that are "more symbolic than real" or "more symbolism than substance."

As the term is used popularly, one can never say that the sacraments are symbols or that the presence of Christ in the sacraments is symbolic.

However, the term "symbol" also has a strong meaning. In the stronger sense, a symbol means something that makes tangible and visible a reality that would otherwise not be present. Human beings depend on symbols -- verbal and material -- to communicate. Without them no communication takes place.

To say that the sacraments are symbols means -- in the stronger sense -- that Christ is really and truly present and active in ordinary human realities.

So, there is a legitimate sense in which we can say that sacraments are symbols.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping with the divine pedagogy of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and human culture" (No. 1145).

The Catechism underlines the importance of human signs and symbols in the sacraments as follows: "In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God" (No. 1146).

God communicates to humankind through visible created things. In so far as they are created things "perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. The same is true of signs and symbols taken from the social life of man: washing and anointing, breaking bread and sharing the cup can express the sanctifying presence of God and man's gratitude toward his Creator" (no. 1148).

Since Pentecost, "it is through the sacramental signs of his Church that the Holy Spirit carries on the work of sanctification. The sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of social life. Further, they fulfill the types and figures of the Old Covenant, signify and make actively present the salvation wrought by Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven" (No. 1152). I would encourage anyone to study paragraphs 1145-1158 of the Catechism in order to gain a rich and profound sense of how the church uses the words "sign," "symbol" and "sacrament."

Favorite reading

Question: Do you have a favorite author or favorite book?

-- Name withheld, Murray, Utah

Answer: I have many favorite authors, but Cardinal John Henry Newman is probably at the top of the list. His "Parochial and Plain Sermons" is something I return to time and time again.

Msgr. M. Francis Mannion is a priest and theologian of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Send your questions to Pastoral Answers, Our Sunday Visitor, 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750 or to mfmannion@osv.com. Letters must be signed, but anonymity may be requested.