220. In what does the sacramental economy consist?
(Comp
220) The sacramental economy consists in the communication of the fruits of
Christ’s redemption through the celebration of the sacraments of the Church,
most especially that of the Eucharist, “until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
“In brief”
(CCC 1110) In the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is
blessed and adored as the source of all the blessings of creation and salvation
with which he has blessed us in his Son, in order to give us the Spirit of
filial adoption. (CCC 1111) Christ's work in the liturgy is sacramental:
because his mystery of salvation is made present there by the power of his Holy
Spirit; because his Body, which is the Church, is like a sacrament (sign and
instrument) in which the Holy Spirit dispenses the mystery of salvation; and
because through her liturgical actions the pilgrim Church already participates,
as by a foretaste, in the heavenly liturgy.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1076) The Church was made manifest to the world on the
day of Pentecost by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Cf. SC 6; LG 2). The
gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era in the "dispensation of the
mystery" - the age of the Church, during which Christ manifests, makes
present, and communicates his work of salvation through the liturgy of his
Church, "until he comes" (1 Cor 11:26). In this age of the Church
Christ now lives and acts in and with his Church, in a new way appropriate to
this new age. He acts through the sacraments in what the common Tradition of
the East and the West calls "the sacramental economy"; this is the
communication (or "dispensation") of the fruits of Christ's Paschal
mystery in the celebration of the Church's "sacramental" liturgy. It
is therefore important first to explain this "sacramental
dispensation" (chapter one). The
nature and essential features of liturgical celebration will then appear more
clearly (chapter two).
On reflection
(CCC 739) Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of
Christ, it is Christ who, as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among
his members to nourish, heal, and organize them in their mutual functions, to
give them life, send them to bear witness, and associate them to his
self-offering to the Father and to his intercession for the whole world.
Through the Church's sacraments, Christ communicates his Holy and sanctifying
Spirit to the members of his Body. (This will be the topic of Part Two of the
Catechism). (CCC 740) These "mighty works of God," offered to
believers in the sacraments of the Church, bear their fruit in the new life in
Christ, according to the Spirit. (This will be the topic of Part Three.)
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