We Live in an Age and a Time That Is Quite Cynical. We Are a Suspicious People, Especially

The SacramentsÐ3

We live in an age and a time that is quite cynical. We are a suspicious people, especially when life seems to be quite good. ÒIt canÕt be this good!Ó we say. Too often we are tied to the principle, ÒWhat you see is what you get,Ó or, for the really suspect, ÒWhat you see is not what you getÑyou usually get less!Ó ItÕs very difficult for people like this to really enter into the spirit of the sacraments. You see, in the sacraments, what you see is not what you get. You always get something different, and it is always more than what you see.

How more wonderful could it be? Yet this is hard for people who have grown cynical and suspicious by nature. An example or two may help. In the Eucharist, you see bread, and indeed often a very poor example of bread. But you do indeed see bread. In the Eucharist you also see wine. But what you get is the Body and Blood of Jesus. You see food that may nourish you for a few minutes and drink that may wet your lips for a few seconds. But it is food that nourishes you into eternal life and drink that makes you never thirst again. Moreover, it is food and drink that saves spiritually and eternally. How can such common food and drink be so rich, so strong, so wonderfully life-giving? Because it is joined with Jesus who is rich, Lord, and life itself.

Consider next the love of woman and man. When a couple profess their love for each other in marriage in the presence of the Body of Christ, once again it is more than what you see, it is different from what it looks. The giving of the vows, the sharing of the words of commitment, uniquely and in mystery, make Jesus present to the couple. They say to each other, ÒI take you, ____,Ó and God says to them,Ó I take you, ____.Ó Marriage is more than companionship and more than friendship. These things are available anywhere. Marriage is covenant commitment. Honest and real love is the issue in marriage. And it is in this that the presence of Jesus is realized.

Think carefully about the fact that our culture so often prevents us from expecting real greatness from much of anything. We must abandon this kind of thinking when we enter into the sacramental life of the Church. Maybe only here, but at least here, we can expect more than what we see, because in the sacraments we are touched by Jesus and lifted into the very life of God.