N I G H T I

In my homily this weekend,I alluded to the definition of a sacrament,as I learned it in second grade ---“an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.”May I ask how many of you recognized that definition?

For Catholics of my generation, it just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?It’s from the Baltimore Catechism,which was one of the primary tools of religious education in this countryin the years before Vatican II.For those of you for whom the definition is not familiar,let me explain.

The Baltimore Catechism used a methodof memorized questions and answersto teach the fundamental truths of the faith to children.Each week we would be givena prescribed number of questions and answers to memorize,upon which we would be tested the following week.

Who made you? God made me.

Why did God make you? To know, love and serve Him in this life,

and to adore Him in the life to come.

It was an effective system, insofar as more than fifty years later,many of us can still rattle off the questions and answerswith hardly a thought.

But of course, that’s also part of the problem…..…..that ‘with hardly a thought,’ part.But I wonder whether, even with a little thought,many Catholics could explain what it means.

“an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace…”

All these years later,it seems rather too crimped and mechanical a definitionfor experiences like the eucharist…or baptism…or the anointing of the sick.

“Sacrament” is a word that one seldom encounters outside of church.It’s a Latin word that is usually translated as ‘sign.’But the scriptures weren’t written in Latin,and weren’t even translated into Latin until the third century.

The gospels and earliest homilies and theological writings of the Churchwere all written in Greek.And the Greek word that the Roman Church choseto translate as ‘sacramentum,’ was ‘mysterion,’which is also the root of our English word, ‘mystery.’Since Vatican II we’ve also incorporated ‘mystery’ into our liturgies ---“as we enter into these sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins.”

And although I think that that word --- ‘mystery’ ---gets us closer to the reality of what sacraments are,there are also problems with that translation,insofar as, in English, when one says the word, ‘mystery,’most peoples’ minds go to ‘murder mysteries,’or think simply of difficult puzzles or riddles.

The difficulty of describing what sacraments areis further complicated by the fact that we live in a more ‘literal’ agethan our Christian forbearers.Modern Christians prefer a more black and white approach to faith,and are left uneasy with the more symbolic and metaphoric language

that one finds in the scriptures,and in the writings of the early Fathers and Mothers of the Church.

Symbolic language can provoke suspicion among modern listeners.I remember once, years ago, watching the newsand hearing an earnest reporterdemanding of our now-deceased former Senator, Paul Simon,“Are you telling the truth, Senator,or are you just speaking symbolically?”‘….just…symbolically.’

Sad, I think, insofar as it is my convictionthat symbols reveal the deepest movements of the human spirit.My Dad tells a storyabout the early years of his and my Mom’s marriage,when he came home one Saturday, after playing eighteen holes of golf,and asked my Mom whether she would mind, if,while he was playing golf, he removed his wedding ring,because it pinched when he swung his driver.My Dad reports that she didn’t answer ---instead, her lower lip started to tremble, and her eyes filled up,and she just looked up, sadly, into his eyes.

And so my Mom and Dad,who this June will mark their 67th anniversary of marriage,have never removed their wedding rings from their fingers.Don’t try to tell me that symbols don’t matter.

I’m not sure how one can hope to understandthe words and teachings of Christwithout having a little bit of the mind of a poet.

From the infancy narratives, to the parables of Jesus,to the entire Gospel of John,the gospels are full of poetic and metaphorical languagethat does not yield to simple or even ‘single’explanations or interpretations.The words of the scriptures and the words of the sacramentsare full of poetic and symbolic language;which is why, for two thousand years, preachers and theologianshave proposed countless explanations of their meanings.

And so, this evening, and for the next several evenings,I’d like to propose a more expansive understandingof what sacraments are,than the more limited definition that many of us learned as children.

Rembert Weakland is the retired archbishop of Milwaukee.

Before he was named archbishop, he was the Abbot Primateof the worldwide confederation of Benedictine monasteries.In that role,he was involved in some of the major discussions of Vatican II.When I was studying liturgy in Rome, I met him a couple of times,when he would return to Sant’ Anselmo for a visit.Sant’ Anselmo is the world headquarters of the Benedictines,and is also the location of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute,where I studied, and where I lived for awhile while I was in Rome.Archbishop Weakland is eighty-eight years old now, but still sharp.As a young monk,he studied music at Julliard and Columbia University,earning a Doctorate with his thesis on ancient Ambrosian chant.He still plays piano to relax --- and to pray --- several hours every week.Several years ago he published a memoir that I found fascinating ---he’s had a full and significant life,in a time of major changes within the Church.Early in his memoir, Weakland writes this:

St. Benedict saw the whole of life as an expansion of the eucharist.

St. Benedict said that the tools of the monastery should be seen

as extensions of the vessels of the altar ---an idea that has always stayed with me.Everything is sacramental, a place for finding Christ.Therefore, one can distinguish between good and evil,but not between secular and sacred.St. Benedict saw Christin the abbot, the sick, the guest and the needy.The search for God becomes more explicit in the search for

Christand the place to find Christ becomes everywhere.

‘…Everything is sacramental, a place for finding Christ…The search for God becomes more explicit in the search for Christ,and the place to find Christ becomes everywhere.’

And so as we set out, over the next several evenings,let us take that as our starting point in our contemplationof sacraments and sacramentality.

‘Everything is sacramental, a place for finding Christ.’

I hope to leaven my remarks over the next few eveningswith stories and examples that have helped me over the years.

I apologize, in advance,if you’ve heard me use some of these stories beforein my homilies and in my conversations.I retell them only because I think they will help us to apprehendthis more expansive understanding of sacraments and sacramentality.

With that in mind, see if you recognize this one.

Some years ago, an essay appeared in the New Yorker magazine.The woman who wrote itis recalling a camping tripthat she took when she was youngin the beautiful mountains of Washington State.

By evening we were completely wet ---tent, clothes, sleeping bags, shoes.I found a small clearing among the close trees,and someone else found some dry wood,sheltered from the rain.

We made a fire ---a feat that seems almost a miracle to me now ---and set our tent under the canopy of trees.

The night leaned in, strong.The firelight was hot and yellow.

We cooked egg noodles in Campbell’s tomato soupand passed a bottle of brandy around.The sweet tomato sauce on the buttery noodles was a feast,the cheap brandy was hot and sharp,and we sang softly whatever came to mind.

We huddled under our parkas in the rain,not bothering to crawl into the wet tent,and water fell from our hoodsand dropped, hissing, into the fire.My friend’s faces were shadowed,and their words rose up from under their coats.

I find it hard to imagine ever being happier,or being more willing or able to be happy,than I was that night.

I was a very small thing in a very large place,at the mercy of immense forces.And there was tremendous relief in that.It was immortality that I felt.

My significance had to do with fit, not size;

and I had no greater dutythan to be troubled about nothing. (2 x’s)

Although there is nothing explicitly religious in her words,I would argue that the author is using clearly sacramental language.What she is describing is an experience of ‘communion,’first, with the friends with whom she was camping,but at the end, and more forcefully,an experience of communion with the universe and her own place in it.

My significance had to do with fit, not size…and I had no greater duty than to be troubled about

nothing.

Now see whether you recognize this.

Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter.But the word of the Lord came to him,‘Why are you here, Elijah?’He answered,‘I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts,but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant,torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword.

I, alone, am left, and they seek to take my life.Then the Lord said,‘Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord;the Lord will be passing by.’A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountainsand crushing rocks before the Lord ---but the Lord was not in the wind.After the wind there was an earthquake ---but the Lord was not in the earthquake.After the earthquake there was a fire ---but the Lord was not in the fire.After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.

When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloakand went and stood at the entrance to the cave.And a voice said, ‘Elijah, why are you here?’

Throughout the scriptures,God repeatedly reveals himself through nature and creation.From his encounter with God in a burning bush,to his encounter with God in a parted sea,to his encounter with God in a pillar of fire,to his encounter with God amid the lighting and thunder on Mt. Sinai,Moses could tell us plenty

about the ways in which God can reveal himself through creation.

And throughout the gospels, Christ uses nature and creationto illustrate his meanings, in his parables, and in his miracles.

◦ A sower went out to sow some seed…

◦ He commands the storm, and it obeys…

◦ He spit on the soil and made a paste out of mud, and spread it on the blind man’s eyes…◦ Consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. They neither spin nor weave, yet Solomon, in all his

splendor, was not clothed as one of these…

Throughout the scriptures, creation itselfis seen as a sacrament of the Creator.And even in our modern, more scientific age,creation and nature still maintain their ability to inspire and awe us.

Listen, if you will, to this.It’s written by Gerald May --- an accomplished lawyer,but less well-known than his more famous older brother, Rollo May.

I was on vacation in the mountains.Two friends and I had hiked most of the morningand we were very tired.I lay down by a tree stump and slept.When I awoke, it was late afternoonand everything had become quiet.The crickets had silenced their chirping,and even the breeze had stopped.

All I can say is that moment was an eternity,and it was the moment of my birth.I was forty-five years old,but in those few minutes I was born.I had no thought at the time --- everything was just there.I had no reaction except for a deep and quiet peace.This is hard for me to say,but t some point I remember thinking,There is a God. There is a God.

And my life hasn’t been the same since.I still practice law, and I keep the same friends.I still worry about money and politics.I still snap at my wife when I’ve had a hard day;but I’m different.Somewhere deep down, something has changed.

Now I look for God ---I seek the wonder of life,and while I appreciate being here on the face of this earth

---more than ever before ---I also fear death less.I sit alone sometimes,and now and then I enter that moment again.

‘Everything is sacramental, a place for finding Christ.Therefore, one can distinguish between good and evil,but not between secular and sacred.’

I trust that most of you can recall a moment --- or more than one,when nature or creation inspired awe in you.◦ Tipping your chin to the night sky, trying to count --- trying to fathom the stars and planets and galaxies, trying to get your mind around the universe.◦ Viewing, for the first time, the sonogram of your unborn child.◦ Walking along the shore of Lake Michigan as evening comes on, and the lake changes from green to violet to indigo.

I was very fortunate, as a teenager, to visit, with my family,

a number of our national parks.In the summer of 1968, we travelled east;in addition to visiting Washington and New York,we saw Shenandoah National Park in Virginia,and Acadia National Park in Maine.We drove onto Cape Cod, and visited the White Mountains of Vermont.and on the way home, we saw Niagara Falls.The following two summers we went west,to the Grand Canyon and Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks;to Rocky Mountain National Park, in Colorado,and Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.Northward, we saw Glacier National Park in Montana,and then Banff and Lake Louise,and all the way up to Jasper National Park, due west of Edmonton.I remember that the sun didn’t set there, in summer, until after eleven.

We were at Lake Louise on a Sunday,and the only Mass we could find was in French,presumably intended for French Canadian visitors.The Mass was to be celebrated in a banquet room

of the Chateau Lake Louise.The portable altar was set up in front of a floor-to-ceiling glass window,looking down Lake Louise toward the glacier at its western end.Although I didn’t understand a word of French,I was able to follow the rough outlines of the Mass,simply by following the priest’s movementsfrom chair, to pulpit, to altar.But as the priest finished the Preface,I was puzzled when he turned his back to us,so that he was facing the magnificent view with us…And then the assembly began to sing:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!Heaven and earth are filled with your glory!

Hosanna in the highest!

I don’t remember the words in French,but I recognized well enough what they meant.

I was just a teenage boy,so I was embarrassed by the tears streaming down my cheeks.Wonder and awe can do that.

So what I’m suggestingis that there are infinitely more sacraments than just the seven.

Sometimes theologians distinguish the twoby using a capital ‘S’ when referring to the Church’s seven,and a lower case ‘s’ when referring to the others.But I think that these other ‘natural’ sacramentscan help us when we turn to the seven of Christ,which we will be doing more explicitly tomorrow and Tuesday.

But I think it is important to start here,considering the sacrament of nature, the sacraments of creation,partly because they demand no creed.They are, and always have been, universal in their appeal,and universally experienced.

I’m just old enough to rememberthe speech that President Kennedy deliveredonly about five months before he died.He was addressing the need for a nuclear-test ban,and he said, of ourselves and the Soviet Union,‘We all breathe the same air….We all cherish our children’s future….And we’re all mortal.’

Again, they are not explicitly religious words,

but they challenged, at the time,the jingoistic impulse to reduce our enemiesto some kind of alien species.And I’d like to think that, although not explicitly religious,his words were sacramental,in that, in acknowledging the humanity of our enemies,he was seeing them, for an instant,as God sees them.

…as God sees them…for whom a thousand years are as an instant,and an instant as a thousand years.

Speaking about a thousand years…I fear that I may have talked too long.Is everybody with me?

Is there anyone who would like to share an experienceof recognizing God in nature, or creation?

Tomorrow evening we will consider ‘the sacramentality’ of Christ,by which I mean the ways in which Christ reveals who God is,and the ways in which Christ continues to challengesome of our presumptions of who God is.

We’ll begin again at 7:00.But for now, let me conclude with this…from the Book of Daniel.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the LordPraise and exalt Him above all forever!Angels of the Lord bless the Lord.You heavens, bless the Lord.All you waters above the heavens, bless the LordAll you hosts of the Lord, Bless the Lord.Sun and Moon, Bless the LordStars of heaven, bless the Lord.Every shower and dew, bless the Lord.All you winds, bless the Lord.Fire and Heat, bless the Lord

Cold and chill, bless the LordDew and rain, bless the LordFrost and chill, bless the LordIce and Snow, bless the LordNights and days, bless the LordLight and darkness, bless the LordLightings and clouds, bless the Lord

Let the earth bless the LordPraise and exalt Him above all forever.

Mountains and hills, bless the LordEverything growing from the earth, bless the LordSeas and rivers, bless the LordYou dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord

All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord.You sons of men, bless the Lord.

Praise and exalt him, above all forever!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.Amen.