“Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth.

”—John 17:17

Catechetical Series:

What Catholics Believe & Why

THE
SACRAMENTAL
PRINCIPLE
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The Word Incarnate
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. … And
the Word become flesh and
dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14).
Jesus Christ, the Word of God,
took on our human nature and
dwelt among us. The unseen
God, that is, became seeable,
hearable, touchable.
Thus Saint Paul calls Christ
“the image of the invisible God”
(Col. 1:15).
The Sacraments Are
Patterned After Christ
Like the Lord, the Sacraments
which He gave to His Church
are visible signs that convey
God’s invisible grace to us.
The Sacraments do what they
signify. Water, for instance,
signifies life and cleanliness. By
the power of the Holy Spirit
descending upon the baptismal
font, the water of Baptism
cleanses the soul of original sin
and fills it with divine life.
The Sacramental Principle
This same sacramental principle
of the invisible made visible
exists by way of analogy in all
physical Creation.
Saint Paul, for instance, writes,
“For what can be known about
God is plain to them, because
God has shown it to them. Ever
since the creation of the world
his invisible nature, namely, his
eternal power and deity, has
been clearly perceived in the
things that have been made”
(Rom. 1:19-20).
The Sacramental Principle
The same is especially true of
the human person, who is
uniquely made in “the image
and likeness of God”
(Gen. 1:27).
Defending the faith to the
Emperor Antoninus Pius around
150 A.D., Saint Justin the
Martyr noted how the form of
the Cross is repeated in physical
objects and especially in the
human figure.
The Sacramental Principle
The Cross, he wrote, “is the greatest
symbol of [Christ’s] power and authority,
as [can be] shown from things you can see.
Reflect on all things in the universe [and
consider] whether they could be governed
or held together in fellowship without this
figure. For the sea cannot be traversed
unless the sign of victory, which is called a
sail, remain fast in the ship; the land is not
plowed without it; similarly diggers and
mechanics do not do their work except
with tools of this form. The human figure
differs from the irrational animals
precisely in this, that man stands erect and
can stretch out his hands, and has on his
face, stretched down from the forehead,
what is called the nose, through which
goes breath for the living creature—and
this exhibits precisely the figure of the
cross” (First Apology 55).
The Sacramental Principle
Saint Justin asserts the power of
the Cross can be “shown from
things you can see” and in “all
the things of the universe.”
Primarily, he references things
made by man—sails, ploughs,
and other tools—, and in a
special way he mentions the
human body itself. From
Justin’s point of view, this
preeminent sign of Our
Incarnate Lord is built into the
very fabric, the very stuff of
who we are.
The Sacramental Principle
Contemplating the signs of the
supernatural found in nature,
C.S. Lewis wrote, “[These
signs] are focal points at which
more reality becomes visible
than we ordinarily see at once. I
have spoken of how [Christ]
made miraculous bread and
wine and of how, when the
Virgin conceived, He had
shown Himself the true Genius
whom men had ignorantly
worshipped long before. It goes
deeper than that. …
The Sacramental Principle
“Bread and wine were to have
an even more sacred
significance for Christians … .
These things are no accidents.
With Him there are no
accidents. When He created the
vegetable world He knew
already what dreams the annual
death and resurrection of the
corn would cause to stir in pious
Pagan minds. …
The Sacramental Principle
“He knew already that He
Himself must so die and live
again and in what sense,
including and far transcending
the old religion of the Corn
King. He would say ‘This is my
Body.’ Common bread,
miraculous bread, sacramental
bread—these three are distinct,
but not to be separated”
(God In the Dock: Essays on
Theology and Ethics).
The Sacramental Principle
The sacramental principle lies at
the heart of all visible Creation,
so much so that to divorce the
material world from it—to view
Creation in a non-sacramental
way—is nothing less than to
remove from life its meaning.
What does it mean to say the
sacramental principle lies at the
heart of all visible Creation? It
means, simply put, there is
more to life than what one sees
with his eyes—far more
(cf. 1 Cor. 2:9; 13:12)!
The Sacramental Principle
The old cliché “stop and smell
the roses” is meant to encourage
one to break out of the
monotony of the everyday long
enough to notice what is going
on around him, to take the time
to enjoy the simple pleasures of
life. This wise adage fails,
though, if it entices one to only
enjoy the things of the world on
a sensory level.
The Sacramental Principle
To stop and smell the roses is
good as far as it goes. But to
relish only the fragrance of the
rose without penetrating the
deeper truths embodied within
it—its signification of romantic
love, the echoes of eternity
contained in the concentric
folds of its petals—is something
of a tragedy: the two-
dimensionalization of the rose.
The Sacramental Principle
The poet has ever derived
inspiration from this enchanting
flower. Dante Alighieri used the
imagery of the rose in its
unfolding glory to describe the
assembly of the holy ones in
heaven. “In fashion then as of a
snow-white rose,” he wrote,
“Displayed itself to me the
saintly host, / Whom Christ in
his own blood had made his
bride” (The Divine Comedy:
Paradiso, Canto XXXI).
The Sacramental Principle
Beyond enjoying the rose with
the senses, it is incumbent on a
rational creature to ponder how
it came to be. If it came to be
merely by the accidental forces
of nature, without plan or
design, then the glory of the
rose is ultimately hollow,
having no lasting meaning
beyond the momentary pleasure
it gives.
The Sacramental Principle
And why does it please us to
see and smell it? The experience
of the rose goes beyond simply
satisfying our sensory organs;
something intrinsic to it feeds a
yearning deep within us: the
desire for beauty. How is it that
we as human beings possess the
capacity to appreciate beauty?
Why are we driven to seek it
out in the world around us?
The Sacramental Principle
The human heart instinctively
seeks God; and whether we are
cognizant of it or not, He
continually calls out to us, even
through the things we see
around us in the natural world.
This is to be expected since the
world is His creation.
The Sacramental Principle
There is a divine truth conveyed
unceasingly in nature’s ongoing
cycle of sprouting, blooming,
withering, and budding new
life—a truth concerning our
own birth, death, and
resurrection. Nature, God’s
creature, daily serves to instill
this truth in our hearts and
minds.
“Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth.”—John 17:17

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What Catholics Believe & Why

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