From Empiricism to the Sacraments
The Sacraments are both source and summit
Welcome to the First Week of Lent!
We’ve come to the end of our series on the false assumptions we can fall into as we follow Jesus and how to move past those assumptions into a spirituality that is restorative, transformative, and abundant. Next week, we’ll be taking a break to prepare for our next series, where we’ll be doing a deep dive on how to experience the Church as a family.
You can catch up on previous articles in this series here:
It Works (Even When It Feels Like it Doesn’t)
How do you know something is true?
For the last few centuries in the Western world, one of the most prominent responses to this question is that which is empirically verifiable by data. For the most part, this emphasis on research and scientific method has been extremely valuable for the development of society, but there are some obvious areas where it falls short.
Morality, spirituality, and philosophy are all categories that are difficult, if not impossible to quantify scientifically. But even when we try to avoid the effects of empiricism when we’re exploring these topics, the cultural current is hard to resist.
Because these things aren’t really empirically verifiable, we tend to put them into a different category of “things that are up to you to discern what’s true and not true.” This has broad implications for how we approach all of our faith life, but I particularly see this showing up in how we approach the Sacraments.
I think in contemporary Catholicism, it can be kind of difficult to figure out exactly where the Sacraments fit. If we understood them simply as meaningful rituals to strengthen our relationship with Jesus it might be easier, but we don’t - as a Church, we believe that Sacraments are necessary and have a real, objective effect on the spiritual life.
This is where I think the danger of empirical thinking can creep in - even if we’re willing to acknowledge the reality of the Sacraments, it can be difficult to see why they matter if we’re not able to perceive what they’re doing in us.
It’s important for us to remember that in the spiritual life, God sets the boundaries of how we relate to Him. It can be easy to put all our spiritual emphasis on the disciplines where we can see immediate results (e.g. personal prayer, Sabbath keeping, community life etc.) and consider the Sacraments to be an afterthought. We miss out on the channels of grace to interact God has set up for us - rituals and rites that confer intimacy, reconciliation, healing, and a deeper relationship with Jesus.
I find it helpful to think of the Sacraments as both source and summit of our faith. A lot has been said about what the Sacraments do for us (source), but do I consider the Sacraments to also be the culmination of something happening in my spiritual life? Am I going to the Eucharist just to be fed by God or also to deepen a communion with Him and with His family that already exists?
That said, it’s important to remember that while yes, the Sacraments do something to us even when we don’t perceive it, God still wants the Sacraments to have a perceptible effect on us over time. Sometimes the issue is not so much that we don’t believe the Sacraments are capable of doing something in us, but that we don’t participate in the grace that’s available through them.
There’s an important both/and dynamic to the Sacraments. Of course they do something in us, but if we’re struggling to see those effects, maybe we need to consider if we’re preparing to receive what is being poured out in those Sacraments.
Practice
Given that the Sacrament we interact with most frequently is the Eucharist, we’ll centre our practice for this week there. We want to move from receiving the Eucharist just for its tangible effects to receiving the Eucharist in two distinct movements:
1 - Believing in faith that the Eucharist is a profound Source of grace
2 - Receiving the Eucharist as Summit of my communion with God and others
How you work out these movements in your life is up to you, but for the first I’d recommend reminding yourself at the next Mass you attend that God will do something in you through the Eucharist, even if you don’t perceive it. You might consider making an Act of Faith in the Eucharist (at the bottom of this article) before going up to receive.
For the second, I think it can be helpful to broaden our definition of what it means to prepare for Mass. The most common way we prepare is to go to Confession, so that we’re not in a state of sin before receiving. However, if the Eucharist is meant to be the summit of our communion with God, shouldn’t we want to prepare by drawing close to God in prayer? And not just to pray for certain intentions (while that is important), or even to hear God tell us something — but to draw joy and comfort from simply being with Him. Hopefully, this will remind us of our longing for God, and help us remember how amazing the Eucharist is.
It’s also a great practice to reflect on and review your relationships before going to Mass. This way, you can make sure that there’s no one you need to reconcile with before affirming your Communion with them through the Eucharist.
These practices, while simple, can open us up to even more profound experiences of the Mass and put us in touch with the objective reality occurring in the reception of Holy Communion.
Recommended Reading
A wide ranging book on spirituality with some interesting ideas about the Sacraments - The Holy Longing
An article I wrote a while back about why the Sacraments aren’t “working”
Real+True does the best animated videos explaining the Catechism - this is their unit on the Sacraments
Benediction
Just before we wrap up this series, I want to thank you for following along with us so far. For years, I’ve been dreaming of a Church that embraces these shifts - one that is deeply relational and communal, with a high value for the role of the Holy Spirit, and an approach to evangelization and catechesis that considers the whole person. We’re sincerely hoping that Becoming Love might have something to contribute towards making that vision of the Church a reality.
We have a lot of ideas for where we’d like to take this project in the future - things we’re really excited to share with you. We’re convicted that this initiative, as much as possible, needs to remain free - we don’t want ideas and resources about following Jesus into the abundant life to go behind a paywall.
If what we’ve been talking about the last few weeks has moved you, and you want to help us work towards a deeper experience of the life of the Church, would you consider upgrading your subscription to paid?
A paid subscription helps us to compensate our writers, afford the software it takes to keep this up and running, and expand to new projects in the future. If that’s something you’re able to do, we really appreciate it but even if not, please keep us in your prayers and be assured that we’re praying for you.
I’ll leave you now with this Act of Faith in the Eucharist by Isaac Payne:
Lord Jesus, I believe that the Eucharist is a real encounter with you. Even when I don’t see or feel it, I trust that you are working in me and drawing me closer to you.
With every step I take towards your Most Holy Sacrament, open my heart more and more to your love. Prepare me to receive you and be united with you today.
Increase in me a deep desire for you today and always - that nothing may taste as sweet as long as I am here on earth.
Jesus, you are MY source and MY summit. I believe Lord, help my unbelief!
Amen.
That’s all for this issue! We’ll be taking a break next week and we’ll be back on March 27th, to explore how we experience the Church as a family.