How is a Sacrament Both a Sign and a Symbol? (Research Paper Sample)

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SACRAMENTS BOTH A SIGN AND A SYMBOL
The definition of a sacrament as defined by the Catholic Church Catechism is a sign of grace whose institution was by Christ. This ensures that those who partake it receive God's life through the Holy Spirit's work and was entrusted to the church. The word Sacramentum in Latin means "a sign of the sacred" . There are seven sacraments in Catholic Church, which are ceremonies showing what is sacred and significant to Christians. Hence, there is the interpretation that the Sacraments are God's grace instruments and signs. The seven sacraments are Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Confirmation. However, for simplicity the study will focus on Eucharist.
The study of sacraments is a bit complex; there is the need to clarify the meaning of the two terminologies: sign and symbol for a better understanding and enhance the ability to distinguish the two. Symbol is definable as something representing another, one to one meaning. In its deeper meaning, a symbol is in its Greek form Symbaleo means, "throw together". In the study of sacraments then, symbol is a visible reality and invisible reality thrown together. The wine and bread in visible reality continue to exist as wine and bread although they become Christ blood and wine respectively. A sign, on the other hand, is a representation of something else. Sacraments are signs; symbols with deeper meanings.
The Eucharist symbolizes the presence of Jesus in what is called the "per modum symboli". This definition has its date back to the Christian era of the 4th century according to St. Augustine. The bread and wine do not turn into flesh and blood respectively hence they symbolize. In the taking of Eucharist, Jesus is present in the bread and wine. This significance is special to the believers who take the Eucharist but for those that are non-believers, there is no significance as the bread and wine are the bread and wine. In his understanding of the word sacrament, Augustine described a sacrament as a visible word that is the communication form God and the sacred reality symbol. However, he did not show any understanding of the invisible and outer reality that is signifies.
In his writings, Augustine instructs the newly baptized to recognize what they receive at Eucharist as the blood and body of Christ. It is the blood, which Christ shed at the cross to ensure that there is the forgiveness of sins of humanity and the bread as the body hanging on the cross. Augustine is of the opinion that there is the serving and offering of the body every time participants take the Eucharist. According to Augustine, he ate and drank the body and blood respectively every time he took the Eucharist and ministered it to others. There is the explanation that since Christ on earth took the form of flesh, hence the Eucharist signifies the serving of His body to Christians, and no one takes it unless he or she is a worshipper.
It is wrong to state that a symbol is an inferior substitute of that which is absent, but correct to state that a symbol manifests that is present by revealing what is hidden. It ensures that there is the sight of what is beneath the surface. The Eucharistic focus is on the communal act involving the breaking and sharing of bread understood as the symbol of God's continuous nurturing of His people. It symbolizes the mutual flowing, both in and out, of His divine love to the people.
As a symbol, the Eucharist changes its visible form. For there to be the presence of Christ as a whole, there must be the soul, divinity, blood, and body. With this in mind, then the bread and blood cannot remain as they are but must transform to ensure that Christ's glorified body and blood are present. The bread cannot be bread in substance form, but the Body of Christ and the wine becomes Christ's blood. In addition, Christ himself does not say, ".This bread is my body," instead he states, "This is my body." This means that he recognized that the bread he used was a symbol of his body and that bread was not in its physical form as it appeared with the naked eyes to those present with him at that particular time. Even after the Mass is over, the consecrated wine and bread do not cease to be Christ's blood and body respectively. Firstly, the two are not bread and wine. Secondly, when the two items change, their presence is supposed to endure as long as there is the subsisting of the Eucharistic species as in the Catechism number 1377.
Augustine defines a sign as something that influences the senses and thoughts. In simpler terms, it is an element intermediating between the signified object and the person perceiving it. The Eucharist is a sign of Jesus Christ, not the physical Jesus but the Risen Christ. The Eucharist is a sign of the believers' salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross. Therefore, the Eucharist is a thanksgiving praise sacrifice resulting from the work of creation. In this sacrifice, God loves His creation that he signals by ensuring His son died and resurrected. The church is in a position to offer this sacrifice through Jesus Christ. To the believers, the risen Christ calls them not to resist the turning of despair into hope and death giving birth to life. There is the request of believers to love others as the Risen Christ loves them. As there is metabolizes of wine and bread and the turning of human cells into actions, divinity allows the believers to participate in God's activities.
Sins of human beings make it impossible for them to share in God's life. Sin in this case is an obstacle that hinders human being from God. Jesus Christ's death was a sacrifice for the sins of humankind ensuring that there was the removal of this obstacle. As a sign, the Eucharist signals the conquering of sin and death while ensuring that Christians are reconciled with God. The Eucharist memorizes this sacrifice. The church comes together in the remembrance and the representation of Christ's sacrifice. There is the sharing of this sacrifice through the priest's actions and the Holy Spirit's power. It joins the Christian's in the sacrifice and receiving the benefits of these actions.
The Eucharist signals the singing of the glory to God by the church, as a sacrifice on behalf of the rest of ...