Experience the power of the Sacraments

Summary

In 'The Bible and the Sacraments' series, Matthew Leonard explores the Catholic sacraments' significance and origins. He delves into their physical and spiritual aspects, explaining how sacraments use physical elements to convey supernatural grace. Leonard connects sacraments to their biblical roots, highlighting their role in salvation history and their evolution from Old Testament foreshadowings to New Covenant realities. The series aims to deepen understanding and appreciation of sacraments as essential means of God's grace.

Takeaways

• 🏛 St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Pasadena is a place where sacraments are regularly administered, reflecting the core practices of the Catholic faith.
• 📖 The study series 'The Bible and the Sacraments' aims to delve into the Catholic sacraments, exploring their meanings, origins, and significance in the faith.
• 🔍 The deeper mysteries of sacraments are illuminated by Sacred Scripture, offering a richer understanding beyond the basic Church teachings.
• 🌟 Sacraments are described as 'powers that come forth' from the Body of Christ, acting as channels of God's grace and the Holy Spirit's work within the Church.
• 🤲 Jesus used physical means for spiritual healing, emphasizing the sacraments' role in engaging human senses to convey spiritual truths.
• 🌐 The sacraments are the ordinary means through which Christ extends salvation to the world, continuing His mission through the Church.
• 🔄 The sacraments are not new but are the fulfillment of God's promises and dealings with humanity from the beginning of time.
• 📜 The Old Testament contains 'types' or foreshadows of the New Covenant sacraments, illustrating God's consistent method of sacramental interaction with humanity.
• 💧 The sacrament of Baptism, with its physical act of washing, is an efficacious sign that actually cleanses the soul from original sin, demonstrating the real effect of sacraments.
• 👪 Through the sacraments, individuals become children of God, partaking in His divine nature, which is a transformative aspect of Catholic belief.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of 'The Bible and the Sacraments' study series?

The primary focus is to examine and explore the sacraments of the Catholic faith, their meaning, origin, and importance to the Catholic faith, as illuminated by Sacred Scripture.

Who is Matthew Leonard and what is his role in the series?

Matthew Leonard is the presenter of 'The Bible and the Sacraments' and his role is to guide the viewers through the study of the sacraments.

What does the term 'sacrament' mean according to the Baltimore Catechism?

According to the Baltimore Catechism, a sacrament is defined as 'an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.'

How do sacraments function according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church?

Sacraments are described as 'powers that come forth from the Body of Christ,' which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in His Body, the Church.

Why did Jesus use physical means for spiritual healings?

Jesus used physical means for spiritual healings because as human beings, we learn through our senses, and He came down to our level to show us the true depth of what He has to offer.

What is the significance of the physicality in the sacraments?

The physicality in the sacraments is significant because it appeals to our human nature, allowing us to taste, touch, hear, smell, and see our faith, thus making the spiritual tangible.

How do the sacraments relate to Jesus' presence beyond His time on earth?

The sacraments extend Jesus' healing touch and presence beyond His time on earth through the Church He founded, allowing all to experience His grace.

What is the 'Great Commission' and how does it relate to the sacraments?

The 'Great Commission' is Jesus' command to His apostles to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. It relates to the sacraments as it was the foundation for the Church's continuation of the apostles' work in bringing people to Christ through Word and Sacrament.

What is the difference between sacraments and other types of signs?

While sacraments are like other signs in that they symbolize something, they are distinct in that they are efficacious signs that actually bring about the reality they signify, such as grace and salvation.

How does the concept of typology relate to the sacraments?

Typology is the process by which God's works in the Old Covenant prefigure what He accomplished through Christ in the New Covenant. It shows how Old Testament events and rituals foreshadow and are fulfilled in the New Covenant sacraments.

What are the three stages of salvation history as described by St. Paul and St. Thomas Aquinas?

The three stages of salvation history are the age of nature, the age of law, and the age of grace, each representing a successive stage in God's plan to save humanity.

How do the sacraments make us children of God?

The sacraments make us children of God by being avenues of real grace, through which we receive the ability to live as children of God and partake in His divine nature.

Outlines

00:00

🏛 Introduction to 'The Bible and the Sacraments'

The video script introduces St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Pasadena, California, as a place where sacraments are administered. Matthew Leonard welcomes viewers to 'The Bible and the Sacraments,' a Bible study series by the St. Paul Center. The mission is to explore the sacraments of the Catholic faith, their meaning, origin, and significance. The study will go beyond basic teachings to delve into the deeper mysteries revealed by Scripture. The series will reference 'Swear to God' by Dr. Scott Hahn, the Center's founder. The script hints at a transformative study experience, starting with a traditional definition of sacraments as outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace, suggesting a depth and mystery to be explored further.

05:01

🤲 The Physicality and Efficacy of Sacraments

This paragraph delves into how sacraments work through physical senses, aligning with Catholicism's tangible aspects. It emphasizes the use of physical matter in sacraments to provide supernatural benefits, serving as ordinary means for Christ to extend salvation. The script explains Jesus' use of physical means for spiritual healing, appealing to human sensory learning. The discussion continues with the idea that sacraments are not limited to Jesus' historical presence but are experienced through the Church he founded. The Great Commission is referenced, showing the continuity of sacramental practice from the apostles to the present Church, highlighting sacraments as efficacious signs that sanctify and cause grace.

10:03

🔗 The Connection Between Sacraments and Salvation History

The script explains that sacraments are not new but are the fulfillment of God's promises from the beginning. It introduces the concept of typology, where Old Testament events and rituals foreshadow and are fulfilled by New Covenant sacraments. The paragraph distinguishes between Old Testament 'sacraments' as signs of something sacred and New Covenant sacraments as efficacious signs of grace. It uses circumcision as an example of an Old Testament sign that prefigures baptism. The discussion serves to show that sacraments are deeply rooted in salvation history and are the culmination of God's interaction with humanity.

15:05

🌊 Typology and the Progression of Salvation History

This section uses typology to illustrate how Old Testament scenes prefigure New Covenant sacraments. It discusses how the flood and the crossing of the Red Sea foreshadow Baptism, and how manna prefigures the Eucharist. The importance of typology for interpreting Scripture is emphasized, as it helps understand the progression of salvation history through the ages of nature, law, and grace. The script outlines these ages, showing how sacraments were part of God's plan from the beginning and how Christ fulfilled and elevated the sacraments of the Old Testament, making the New Covenant sacraments fewer, simpler, and more powerful.

20:07

👨‍👧‍👦 Becoming Children of God Through Sacraments

The final paragraph emphasizes the transformative power of sacraments, making individuals children of God in a literal sense, not just figuratively. It suggests that the upcoming lessons will explore how sacraments宣誓 a covenant with God and how they integrate individuals into God's divine family. The script teases the profound implications of this reality and the transformative impact it can have on one's understanding and participation in the sacraments.

Keywords

💡Sacraments

Sacraments are defined in the video as 'powers that come forth from the Body of Christ,' which are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church. They are essential to the Catholic faith, serving as outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace. The video emphasizes that sacraments are not just symbolic but are efficacious, meaning they actually bring about the grace they signify. Examples from the script include baptism, which not only symbolizes the cleansing of sins but also restores grace.

💡Catechism

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is referenced as a source that draws from Scripture to explain the sacraments. It is described as teaching that sacraments are 'the masterworks of God' in the new and everlasting covenant. The video uses the Catechism to delve deeper into the understanding of sacraments beyond their basic definition, highlighting their role as life-giving powers from Christ.

💡Grace

Grace in the video is depicted as a divine gift that sacraments are instituted to give. It is the power to give grace that comes from God through the merits of Jesus Christ. The video explains that sacraments are channels through which God extends salvation to the world, emphasizing that grace is both a supernatural and natural benefit provided through the physical matter used in the sacraments.

💡Typology

Typology is introduced as the process by which the Old Covenant prefigures what is accomplished through Christ in the New Covenant. The video explains that Old Testament events, people, and places are 'types' that point forward to and are fulfilled in Jesus. For instance, circumcision is a type that foreshadows baptism, illustrating how the sacraments of the New Testament are the fulfillment of God's promises from the beginning.

💡Salvation History

Salvation history is the overarching narrative of how God planned to save humanity, as discussed in the video. It unfolds in three stages: the age of nature, the age of law, and the age of grace. The video connects the sacraments to this history, showing how they are essential to God's plan from the beginning and how they fulfill the Old Testament types and foreshadowings.

💡New Covenant

The New Covenant is described as the stage of salvation history that began with the advent of Jesus Christ. The video explains that the sacraments of the New Covenant are fewer, less complicated, and more powerful than the Old Testament rituals they fulfill. They are seen as God's gifts that make salvation possible and are the means by which God shares Himself with humanity.

💡Old Testament

The Old Testament is mentioned as a period in salvation history filled with types and foreshadowings of the New Covenant sacraments. The video uses examples like circumcision and the manna in the wilderness to illustrate how these Old Testament elements prefigured the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, respectively.

💡Baptism

Baptism is highlighted as a sacrament that cleanses from original sin and admits individuals into the Church. The video describes it as a physical act with spiritual significance, symbolizing the forgiveness of sins and participation in Christ's resurrection. It is also connected to Old Testament events like the crossing of the Red Sea and the great flood, showing how these events typologically prefigure baptism.

💡Eucharist

The Eucharist is referred to as 'the true bread from heaven' and is prefigured by the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness. The video positions the Eucharist as a sacrament that fulfills the Old Testament types and is a central part of the Catholic Mass, symbolizing the body and blood of Christ.

💡Liturgical Ritual

Liturgical ritual is mentioned as an important aspect of the sacraments, which involves the ceremonial practices of the Church. The video suggests that the physicality of the sacraments, such as the 'smells and bells' of the faith, appeals to human senses and is a way for God to relate to humanity through the sacraments, making them an integral part of the liturgical life of the Church.

Highlights

St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Pasadena is a place where sacraments are administered, including baptisms, confirmations, and marriages.

Matthew Leonard introduces 'The Bible and the Sacraments', a study series by the St. Paul Center.

The study aims to explore the sacraments of the Catholic faith, their meaning, origin, and significance.

Sacraments are described as 'powers that come forth' from the Body of Christ, actions of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

Jesus' physical healings in the Bible are outward signs of deeper spiritual healing.

Sacraments use physical matter to provide supernatural benefits, appealing to human senses.

The sacraments are the ordinary means Christ uses to extend salvation to the world.

Jesus commanded His priests to celebrate the sacraments with Him, continuing His presence.

The Great Commission instructs to baptize and teach all nations, reflecting the Church's mission.

Sacraments are outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace, with a depth and mystery to be explored.

Signs are visible symbols of invisible realities, and sacraments are efficacious signs that cause grace.

The sacraments of the New Testament fulfill and bring to light God's promises from the beginning.

Old Testament sacraments, like circumcision, foreshadowed the New Covenant sacraments.

Typology is the study of how Old Testament events prefigure and are fulfilled in Christ.

Salvation history unfolds in three stages: nature, law, and grace, with sacraments playing a key role in the age of grace.

Sacraments are not something we do for God but are God's gifts to us, making salvation possible.

Through the sacraments, we become children of God, partaking in His divine nature.

Transcripts

♪

St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Pasadena, California:

This is a gorgeous place.

And every day people come in and out of these doors

to partake of the sacraments.

Babies are baptized.

Children are confirmed.

Masses are celebrated.

Confessions.

Marriages...

Every sacrament has been administered

at some point or another inside these holy walls.

My name is Matthew Leonard.

Welcome to "The Bible and the Sacraments",

part of the St. Paul Center's

"Journey Through Scripture" Bible study series.

Our mission for this study is to examine and explore

the sacraments of the Catholic faith.

If this is the first time you've ever dug into the sacraments,

you're in for a treat.

But even if you're not a first timer,

I think you're going to find this to be a bit unlike

any other study on the sacraments you've ever undertaken.

Certainly we're going to look at the basic teaching of the Church

as to their meaning and origin.

But we're going further.

We'll also investigate the deeper mysteries

the sacraments contain

that are illuminated by Sacred Scripture.

Our goal is to understand where they come from,

what they mean,

and why they are so important and foundational

to our Catholic faith.

Since this is a Bible study, we'll be reading passages

from Sacred Scripture throughout.

The underlying themes we'll discuss

in the "Bible and the Sacraments"

come from a book titled "Swear to God"

by Dr. Scott Hahn,

the Founder and President of the St. Paul Center.

Now let's get on with it,

because this is the kind of study

that can change your life.

♪

Now I'm betting that some of you -

and I mean those of you who vividly remember

watching the lunar landing and skinny Elvis Presley -

you memorized a great basic definition of the sacraments:

"A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ

to give grace...

The sacraments receive their power to give grace

from God, through the merits of Jesus Christ".

That's right out of the old Baltimore Catechism.

This explanation is an excellent place to start.

But once you ponder it for a while,

you start to realize that it contains

a depth and mystery that needs to be unpacked.

That's what we're about to do and a great place to begin

is the newer Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Drawing from Scripture, the Catechism tells us:

"Sacraments are 'powers that come forth'

from the Body of Christ,

which is ever-living and life-giving.

They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body,

the Church".

I love this line -

"They are 'the masterworks of God'

in the new and everlasting covenant".

Now when we hear a phrase like,

"powers that come forth from the Body of Christ",

it often brings to mind

memorable images of Jesus' ministry:

particularly moments in which He healed people.

Remember when a woman in the crowd around Jesus touched Him,

and was healed?

On another occasion St. Luke tells us that

"all the crowd sought to touch Him,

"for power came forth from Him and healed them all".

You see, Jesus became flesh and blood

in order to heal our flesh and blood.

But His healing of humanity is more than physical.

More importantly, He brings us spiritual healing.

He brings us salvation.

Those physical cures we read about in Scripture were just

"outward signs" of a deeper and more lasting spiritual healing.

But notice that to perform these spiritual healings,

Jesus used physical means -

mud, spittle, spoken words, even simple eye contact.

Why?

He did it this way because He knows that as human beings

we learn through our senses.

So in order to show us the true depth of what He has to offer,

He came down to our level.

Well, the sacraments Christ instituted

work the same way.

We taste, touch, hear, smell, and see our faith.

And I think this is

one of the greatest things about Catholicism -

the nitty-gritty physicality -

the smells and bells of the faith.

God knows we relate through our senses

and so He set the sacraments up to appeal to our humanity.

So the sacraments use physical matter,

but provide supernatural and natural benefits.

The Church says they are the ordinary means Christ uses

to extend salvation to the whole world.

Now we know that Jesus came to earth

at a definite point in human history.

But we also know that the power and grace of His presence

isn't limited to that small space in history -

those 33 years He walked the earth

a couple thousand years ago.

Through the Church He founded,

Jesus makes it possible for us all to experience

His healing touch and presence now.

This is why He commanded His priests

to celebrate the sacraments with Him -

through all time - on earth.

Think about it.

When the apostles rolled into a new place

to establish the Church, what did they do?

They baptized.

They gathered for the Eucharist.

They ordained priests and anointed the sick.

In other words, they employed the sacraments.

Not just because they thought it was a good idea,

but because Jesus told them to.

And Jesus came and said to them,

"All authority in heaven and on earth

has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you;

and behold,

I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Many of you know that command

is referred to as "the Great Commission,"

and for two-thousand years,

the Church has continued the work of the first apostles,

bringing people to Christ in Word and Sacrament.

Now let's go back to that basic definition of sacraments

we mentioned at the beginning...

they are "an outward sign instituted by Christ

to give grace."

This idea of signs isn't new to us.

In fact, we use them

to represent something else all the time.

The words I'm speaking right now are signs.

I say "chair", and you probably think

of what you're sitting on right now.

A heart is often a sign of love.

A yellow light means speed up or slow down

depending on what kind of driver you are.

Of course, there are other types of signs as well.

For example, my wedding ring is a sign of my love and fidelity

to my wife Veronica.

Now, the gold out of which it is made is valuable.

But nobody really respects the ring

because of the material out of which it is made.

People respect what it stands for.

So signs are visible symbols of things that are invisible.

And they reveal something about the object they represent.

The circular shape of a wedding ring represents the fact

that it is a lifelong union, not to be broken.

But while signs reveal some things,

they don't reveal everything.

You can see the ring, but it doesn't show you

the full depth of the union it represents.

That's because signs and things that they represent,

are always distinct from each other.

The ring is not the same thing as the vow it represents.

No matter how hard you study the ring,

you can't define the marriage.

The relationship, in a sense, is a mysterious reality -

a mystery.

While a sacrament is like other signs,

it is also unlike them.

The symbolic value present in sacraments

goes way beyond normal signs and symbols.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.

Think of the last baby baptism you attended.

Usually, the baby is washed three times.

This is symbolic of:

the forgiveness of sins,

Christ's three days in the tomb,

and the babies' participation in the resurrection of Christ

as it comes out of the water -

a new birth.

Similarly, the sacrament of baptism also brings to mind

many scenes from the Bible,

like: The baptism of Jesus.

The Spirit moving over the waters at creation

signified by the blessing of the baptismal water.

St. Peter says the cleansing waters of the great flood

are signified by the washing of baptism.

Similarly, St. Paul discusses

Israel's passage through the Red Sea

in the context of Baptism in 1 Corinthians.

These are just a few examples.

And they're important because they show us

that sacramental signs -

like the waters of baptism -

can represent many realities at the same time.

It's also important to note that

these examples I just gave from Scripture

are not merely creative interpretations

of these Old Testament stories.

I didn't come up with them.

These are the sacramental interpretations

that the apostles and New Testament writers

gave to these events.

Of course, the many meanings of the sacraments

are not the only, or even the most significant way

sacraments are different from other,

more normal kinds of signs.

When a baby is washed with water at baptism,

that washing not only symbolizes

the soul being cleansed from original sin,

it actually restores grace.

It does what it symbolizes.

In other words, sacraments are efficacious signs.

They help bring about the very reality they signify.

They sanctify us.

They cause grace.

They get us to heaven.

As we move through our study of the sacraments,

we're going to come to understand

that while all seven sacraments of the Church

are actions of Jesus Christ,

they're nothing new to the story of salvation history.

It wasn't like Jesus sat around dreaming up ways

that he was going to give us grace:

Hmmm, let's see. How about we use water,

maybe a little bit of oil and bread.

In fact, make it unleavened bread.

That's not how it went down.

The New Covenant sacraments

actually bring to light and fulfill

God's promises that were present from the beginning.

God has always dealt with humanity

in a sacramental manner.

The sacraments we now celebrate

aren't some random things the Church concocted

so we could have some cool ceremonies.

They are the continuation and fulfillment

of how God has been dealing with us from the beginning.

What that means is

the Old Testament is full of sacraments

that foreshadow and point forward

to those which Christ instituted.

St. Augustine said "the sacraments of the New Testament

give salvation,

the sacraments of the Old Testament

promise a savior".

We need to make a distinction here

because I don't want anyone to be confused.

The sacraments of the Old Testament

were not sacraments of grace

as we now have in the New Covenant.

They're sacraments with a small 's' -

sacraments in the broader sense of the term.

They were signs of something sacred.

And St. Paul saw

many of these Old Testament, 'small s' sacraments

in the ritual worship of ancient Israel.

Circumcision is a great example of this.

If you remember, circumcision - severing a part of the foreskin,

was the rite by which Abraham and all his descendants

made their covenant with God.

This action signified their membership

in God's covenant family.

And in St. Paul's mind

this was but a foreshadowing of something far greater.

In Him also you were circumcised

with a circumcision made without hands,

by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;

and you were buried with Him in baptism,

in which you were also raised with Him through faith

in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

So Paul shows us that circumcised infants

prefigured those "newborn" in Christ, through baptism.

This kind of biblical foreshadowing

has a special name.

We call it typology.

This is derived from the Greek word

the New Testament uses for the process,

typos, or "type" in English.

Typology is a 25-cent word that basically describes the process

of how God's works in the Old Covenant

prefigure what He accomplished through Christ

in the New Covenant.

How the people, places and events of the Old Testament

point forward to, and are fulfilled in Jesus.

Now some of you might be thinking,

"Well, that's something I've never heard of before."

But in fact, we practice typology at every Mass.

In the Liturgy of the Word

we are invited to read the Old Testament in light of the New

and the New Testament in light of the Old.

And when we read Scripture this way,

we see that what God says and does in the Old Testament

points us to what Jesus says and does in the New.

Likewise, what Jesus says and does in the New Testament

sheds light on the promises and events we read about in the Old.

We'll talk more about the liturgy in a bit,

but for now,

let's return to a couple of the Old Testament scenes

we discussed a moment ago -

the scenes which remind us of Baptism.

Let's put this whole typology thing to work

and see how these scenes prefigure and point toward

the New Covenant sacrament.

In 1 Peter 3:21, we learn that the great flood and Noah's ark

prefigured salvation by Baptism

because through it the earth was cleansed of sin,

so to speak.

Likewise, St. Paul refers

to the Israelites' crossing of the Red Sea

as another foreshadowing, or type of Baptism

in 1 Corinthians 10:2.

In other words, they were physically freed from bondage

as they passed through its waters.

Similarly, we are freed from spiritual bondage to sin

as we pass through the waters of Baptism.

Another example of typology

is the manna the Israelites ate in the wilderness.

It prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread from heaven".

And as we move through our study of the sacraments,

we will return to these 'types' and discover new ones as well.

Now why is typology important?

Well, it's an essential tool for interpreting Scripture

because salvation history -

the story of how we're saved in the Bible -

it unfolds in three successive ages or stages

as God worked out his plan to get us to heaven.

You see these stages described by St. Paul in Romans chapter 5,

as well as in the writings of others like St. Thomas Aquinas.

What are they?

The first is the age of nature, which begins at creation,

runs through the era of the patriarchs -

so, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -

all the way to the time of Moses.

The second stage is the age of law,

beginning when Moses received the law from God at Mt. Sinai,

continuing through the history of ancient Israel.

And stage three?

The age of grace,

which began with the advent of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago

and continues to this very moment.

Now as Catholics, we read the Bible as a whole -

it forms one story

telling us how God prepared the world for Christ.

We learn how He fulfilled

what was prepared in the Old Testament

and how He will come again to finally complete His work.

So as we study these stages in salvation history

of nature, law, and grace,

it becomes apparent that since sacraments were essential

to Christ's saving work in stage three, the age of grace,

they were part of God's plan "from the beginning."

Natural sacraments in the Old Testament - like circumcision -

point toward their fulfillment in Christ

because they prepared the way for the Messiah.

The sacraments established by Christ in the age of grace

elevate all that was sacramental in the ages of nature and law.

"Christ took up the signs of creation, culture,

and the liturgy of Israel;

for He Himself is the meaning of all these signs,"

says the Catechism.

In other words, Christ took those types and foreshadowings

that were present in the Old Testament

and transformed them.

Old Testament sacraments and rituals

like water, bread, blood, and animal sacrifices

were more numerous, way more complicated,

but less powerful - weak against sin,

says the book of Hebrews.

But because of Christ's divine power,

the New Covenant sacraments of grace

are much fewer, less complicated,

and far more powerful - strong against sin.

We no longer have to deal with things

like the messy business of sacrificing animals at a temple,

or all the ritual purity laws

which comprise the entire book of Leviticus.

Christ has fulfilled all the signs and sacraments

of the Old Testament in Himself

and given greater grace through seven simple,

yet very powerful sacraments.

Rather than something we do for God,

in the New Covenant, the sacraments

are what God does for us.

They are His gifts to us.

And while they don't make salvation easy,

they make it possible.

They are avenues of real grace from which we receive

the ability to live as children of God.

And this is really what it's all about.

Through the sacraments we become the children of God.

This is a huge point.

Moving through this study,

we're going to see that being called a child of God

isn't figurative language.

It's the glorious reality of our faith.

You and I were created to be members

of the divine family of God -

partakers of his divine nature, says St. Peter.

God shares himself with us!

And he does it through the sacraments.

♪

I hate to stop now

because I feel like we're just getting warmed up.

There's so much to get into!

But not to worry,

because as we continue to lay some foundation

for discussion of the individual sacraments themselves,

in our next lesson

we're going to dive more deeply into this idea

that the sacraments really make us a part of the family of God.

We're also going to learn the importance of liturgical ritual,

and how through the sacraments of grace

we're actually swearing a covenant with God.

It's going to be very interesting

and may even totally transform the way you think about

and participate in the sacraments.

Until then, God bless you.