Handout#1: Sacraments of Initiation

DE LA SALLE SANTIAGO-ZOBEL SCHOOL

CHRISTIAN LIVING HIGH SCHOOL

GRADE-9 TERM 1

Sacraments With Christian Morality

Handout#1

Sacraments of Initiation

Introduction:

Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist are the three sacraments of Initiation of the Catholic Church. In the first two hundred years of the life and practice of the Church, these sacraments were received by adults as three symbolic actions making up the one ritual of initiation.

Initiation in the Early Church: The Catechumenate

Initiation simply means the process of becoming a member. In the early Church, a lengthy period of instruction called the catechumenate was required of the individual to be baptised. Only after completing the catechumenate was the person ready to be welcomed into the community of believers. During the catechumenate, which sometimes lasted for a few years, the person learned the doctrines and teachings of the Church. People preparing for initiation were also expected to serve the needs of the community. A person had to demonstrate that they were a committed, serious believer before attaining full membership in the community. Enquirers were enrolled in the order of catechumens (those under instruction) and assigned one or more members of the Christian community to accompany them on their faith journey.

Particularly in times of persecution, aspiring members had to prove their reliability before being admitted to attendance at community gatherings, especially for Eucharist. And even then, they were dismissed after the readings and homily.

In the early Church the initiation ritual took place on the Saturday before Easter at a special celebration called the Easter Vigil. The bishop was the celebrant. The candidates for initiation gathered together and walked down into a pool of water. They were submerged three times as the words of Baptism were said: "I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." When they walked out of the water, they received and put on a white garment symbolic of their new life in Christ.

After the immersion, the candidates were anointed with oil and the bishop placed his hands on their heads and prayed that they be filled with the Holy Spirit. The high point of the initiation rite was the receiving of Eucharist. A candidate's participation in this rite meant that he or she was accepted as a full member of the community. They were welcomed as new Christians and now entered into a further period of instruction and active involvement in community life.

Initiation in the Contemporary Church: The RCIA

Reforms to the Church’s liturgy after the Second Vatican Council re-introduced the ancient catechumenate that had lapsed when infant Baptism became the norm. Today the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) provides the model for admission to church membership. It involves the three elements common to initiation rites discussed above: instruction, testing and admission. However, the central aspect of the sacraments of initiation is conversion. The introduction to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults states:

The rite of Christian initiation is intended for adults. They hear the preaching of the mystery of Christ, the Holy Spirit opens their hearts, and they freely and knowingly seek the living God and enter the path of faith and conversion. By God’s help, they will be strengthened spiritually in their preparation and at the proper time they will receive the sacraments fully.

A ceremony of enrolment begins the period of instruction. Catechists, who unfold the basic teachings of Christianity in a way suited to the candidate, lead this instruction. Sponsors assist the candidates with their study of the faith, pray with them and introduce them to the work of the local faith community. Several rituals such as the giving of the creed and anointing mark the ‘journey to Easter’. These are the testing moments. Finally, at the Easter Vigil, the catechumens are initiated into full membership in the Church through Baptism, Confirmation and First Eucharist.

There follows an important period of further instruction and settling in to active participation in the Church’s mission through, for example, active engagement in the local parish community. This is called, the mystagogia (a period of entering more fully into the mysteries celebrated at the Easter Vigil).

Sacraments of Initiation

Christian initiation for children is adapted to suit their age and needs. Baptism at infancy is normal. The basic practices of the faith are learned in the home as the child grows. At school age, more formal instruction begins with religious education. If the child and family are ready, at about seven years of age Confirmation and First Eucharist are celebrated at the same time. Education in faith is a life-long task and continues as the young person moves into adulthood and continues in their church ministry, which began with their initiation into the Church’s mission at baptism.

The Sacraments of Initiation are so named because all three of them are necessary for one to be a full member of the Christian community. Baptism is a re-birth of the individual into sharing the life of Christ. According to Church tradition, set free from sin, the baptised now becomes part of God’s family. To carry on Christ’s mission in the world, the Christian needs the gifts of the Holy Spirit that filled Christ in his lifetime. These are bestowed through Confirmation. The daily living of the gospel is not possible alone. It must be done in union with the whole Body of Christ and relying on the nourishment that God gives. First Communion introduces one to the Eucharist, which especially among its liturgical celebrations is the ‘summit and source of the Church’s life’.

Baptism as Welcoming

Each sacrament is an action of Jesus Christ working through the Church that is the Body of Christ. Thus the Church acts sacramentally. It is a ritual through which God is present, touching the life of both the recipient and the faith community in some particular way. Baptism is a rich reality in which one is immersed (the Greek baptizein) into the life of the Risen Christ. This involves a death to sin and a rising to a new life as son or daughter of God.

The ceremony of Baptism expresses other aspects of the sacrament. It begins at the church door where the community gathers to welcome the candidate. After being named and marked with the sign of the cross, the candidate is led in a joyful procession of welcome into the church. There the community prays for its new member through intercessions, anoints against the power of evil and shares in a profession of their common faith. Sponsors are appointed from the community to assist the neophyte in taking up the responsibilities of membership.

Confirmation as Sealing

Confirmation (or Chrismation in the Eastern Church) is the sacrament through which the baptised are sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The symbol of anointing with oil (chrism) is used. This points to one's consecration as a Christian: sharing more completely in the mission of Jesus and in the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which Jesus is filled. A seal is a sign of authority, of personal ownership. So slaves and soldiers bore the seal of their master. Confirmation imparts a spiritual seal or character, which marks the Christian as belonging wholly to Christ. It calls one to share in Christ's priestly, prophetic and kingly mission.

Eucharist as Nourishing

No sacrament is richer in meaning and symbolism than the Eucharist. Vatican II described it as especially, among the liturgies of the Church, ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, I, 10). The primary elements of the Eucharist are bread and wine, symbolic of basic nourishment for life. These core symbols, however, require the necessary interrelationship of the other symbols of the Eucharist: the presider, the Word and the gathered community. By invocation of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, is present sacramentally. Christians are fed at this table of the Lord. The first fruit of their sacramental nourishment is a closer union with Christ. ‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.’ (John 6:56) Consequently, through Communion, one is bound more closely in charity to all who form the mystical Body of Christ. One is fortified against sin and strengthened to meet the challenges of the Christian life.

Not to be neglected is the nourishment received from the word of God that is proclaimed and broken open during the Mass. ‘The Eucharistic table set for us is the table both of the Word of God and of the Body of the Lord.’ (Vatican II) When the Scriptures are proclaimed in the community, Christ is present as God's Word, nourishing our minds and understanding, and deepening our faith.

Summary

Baptism, Confirmation and the first reception of Eucharist combine to form the Sacraments of Christian Initiation. Through them one enters fully into the life of the Church. They are celebrated together for adults as the completion of the catechumenate – the lengthy process of preparation for Church membership. In the Eastern Church, they are also celebrated together in the case of infants. In the Western Church, it is customary to baptise infants; but Confirmation and Eucharist are delayed until later. It is becoming more common for the traditional order of the sacraments to be restored, with Confirmation preceding first Eucharist. Today it is also more common to test the intentions of those seeking Baptism for their children and to offer instruction to them by way of preparation. Thus children vicariously through their parents experience those other elements of initiation that are incorporated into the adult initiation process.