In this final of three in our series on the sacraments, we look deeper at the two sacraments at the Service of Communion. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states: Two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God. (CCC 1534)
In the Old Testament, ekklesia designated the assembly of the Chosen People, especially on Mt. Sinai where Israel received the Ten Commandments and was established by God as a holy people. The early Christian community adopted the name because it recognized itself “as heir to that assembly.” In terms of Christian usage, the word “church” has three inseparable meanings: the liturgical assembly, the local community and the whole universal community of believers.
St. Catherine of Siena, whose feast we celebrate this month during the Easter season, is one of four women recognized as a Doctor of the Church. She based her teaching about the spiritual life on love, and she knew God’s love for her. In her book, The Dialogue, she has God call her “Dearest Daughter.” She based her teaching on growth in the spiritual life and on the quality of one’s personal love, specifically, whether that love is selfish or unselfish. Because Catherine learned from the Scriptures and sermons, not from academic study, she was keenly aware of the commandment to love God and to love neighbor and of the teaching in 1 John: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 Jn 4:20)
Continue your Easter joy through the season of Eastertide (which continues until Pentecost on May 19) which contains a host of feasts, solemnities and other celebrations.