Woodstock Report | Sacramental Grace and Woodstock's Mission

By Philip J. Rosato, S.J.

When in 1954 I was in seventh grade at St. William’s School in Philadelphia, and was attending the afternoon session of the parish retreat, I raised my hand promptly in response to a question posed to us by the Dominican retreat preacher, “Does any of you know what sanctifying grace is?” I forcefully and enthusiastically provided the answer learned verbatim from the Baltimore Catechism, “Sanctifying grace is the supernatural gift of God which enlightens the mind and strengthens the will to do good and to avoid evil.” The retreat giver shot back, “Bravo! You are going to write a book some day!” This has happened, but he did not predict that, after having served for twenty-three years at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where I explained how the sacraments bestow sanctifying grace, I would become a fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington and remember him fondly in my inaugural essay in the Woodstock Report.

What is a sacramental, or systematic, theologian doing at this center which is properly focused not on the attainment of holiness through ritual enactments, but on illuminating – with the light afforded by reason and intensified by the Gospel – the contemporary social and moral issues which arise in American life? Isn’t Woodstock a Christian research center staffed preferably by those who pursue the many divisions of moral and pastoral theology, rather than by those, like me, who reflect on the origin, the nature, and the efficacy of ecclesial words and symbols which ground human holiness?

In this short space, I attempt to indicate the importance of sacramental theology for the mission of Woodstock, precisely because sanctifying grace, resting on sound reason and firm choice, does illumine the mind and strengthen the will of Christians so that they grasp and articulate what is good in American society, and thus is to be fostered, and what is its evil propensity, and thus to be avoided. I do this first by referring to the values of Jesus Christ which underlie the four sacraments concerned primarily with justice, that is, Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick. Then I refer to the values of the Nazarene which undergird the three sacraments dealing chiefly with love, that is, Eucharist, Ministry, and Marriage. The brief concluding remarks aim to view the Woodstock Center in terms of its symbolic function, which presumes the sacraments of the Church, and actually advances in its unique way the justice and love they stand for.

The values of Jesus centering on justice and the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick

When the bishops assembled at the Council of Trent proclaimed that all seven of the ritual actions designated by the Church as sacraments were instituted by Jesus of Nazareth and not by his followers, they were attempting to offset the narrower view of some Protestants who claimed that only Baptism and Eucharist are evangelical sacraments, whereas the other five are simply “so-called” sacraments lacking solid biblical foundation. In recent years, Catholic theologians have come to recognize the Scriptures as the very soul of theology, and thus to ground the sacraments not so much in the words of Jesus, but in the prophetic actions of Jesus, which have a verbal component, while they are principally sacred street dramas. Jesus of Nazareth was aware of a mission, stemming from the one whom he called “Abba, Father,” to save all people, but he had no specific blueprint by which to achieve his goal. He freely decided therefore to adopt elements from the provocative street dramas enacted by the prophets of Israel, so as to render visible and palpable the indispensable values which he held dear, since they were the values of Abba. By knowing these values and adhering to them publicly and willingly, his followers would be shown the path to salvation and to holiness to be trod by them and by those who asked them what salvation and holiness mean.

Chief among these values of Jesus was justice: He proclaimed that all should seek first the kingdom of God and God’s justice, and everything else would be given to them (Matthew 6: 33). By justice, Jesus meant respect for relationships with human beings and with all other realities which Abba established at creation. This value is the leitmotif of the baptism of Jesus as it is recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew. When John the Baptist adamantly refused to pour water on the innocent young Galilean standing in the river before him, Jesus insisted that the ritual be performed on him, since he wanted to identify himself spiritually with the many sinners who came to the muddy banks of the Jordan, “Let it be so for now, for thus it is fitting that we fulfill all justice” (Matthew 3: 13-17). This prophetic act of Jesus, which provided the pattern of postresurrection baptism on the part of the Church, was an extraordinary act for the onlookers, causing them either to bond with Jesus or to depart from his community based on divine justice, provoking them to ponder if they make justice their chief concern, so that God’s will be fulfilled on earth, and indicating to them their promised future in the kingdom where justice would one day reign eternally.

The other sacraments centering on Baptism can be similarly traced to prophetic acts of Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth (Confirmation rooted in hopeful action announced in Luke 4: 16-21), the home of Simon the Pharisee (Reconciliation based on the non-violence and forgiveness espoused by Jesus in Luke 7: 36-50), and the synagogue on the Sabbath where the bent-over woman was healed (Anointing of the Sick grounded in the compassion manifest by Jesus in Luke 13: 1-10). In effect, Jesus taught that those who want to live by justice must at the same time be strong to give hope to despairing people, such as drug addicts and the mentally ill, to be advocates of non-violence so as to bring about social reconciliation and peace, and to be authentically compassionate to all those who suffer physically.

The values of Jesus centering on love and the sacraments of Eucharist, Ministry, and Marriage

The other principal value of Jesus of Nazareth was sincere love which stresses the striving for harmony which Abba desires for all people as surely as sincere justice urges respect for the basic equality of human beings which Abba demands. In that this love is self-giving, Jesus chose to exemplify it in the prophetic acts done at table throughout his public ministry, which culminate at the Last Supper, in those assigning his followers the authority and the zeal to go forth to preach the Gospel of salvation and to build up communities dedicated to justice and love, and in the referral to himself as the bridegroom of his disciples, his corporate bride deserving of care and fidelity.

The accounts of the many meals which Jesus attended, so as to reconcile people with each other and with Abba (Mark 2: 13-17), and of the Last Supper (Luke 22: 14-30) held only a few hours before his death on Golgotha accentuate how extraordinary, and capable of being considered blasphemous, his gestures were. These gestures built community among his resolute followers, prodded them to be generous in giving food and drink and other goods to those in need and provided them a foretaste of the unending harmony to be attained when Abba and all his people are fully united, indeed seated together at table, in the kingdom.

The other sacraments centering on love which are conjoined to the Eucharist, that is, Ministry and Marriage, are meant to ground two forms of Christian community, the public one at the liturgical gathering space and the intimate one in the family circle. When Jesus calls the twelve, groups them around himself (Luke 6: 12-16), and sends them out on mission (Luke 9: 1-6), he requires that they rely chiefly on the power of the Holy Spirit in the accomplishment of their mission, that they carry it out together without pride or rivalry, and that their service edify the community which they are sent to establish. Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom who will be sorely missed to the point that his bride-community must weep and fast until he comes again (Mark 2: 18-20). In doing so he shows that the fidelity practiced by the married members of the community is to reflect his own and teaches all its other members that their justice conjoined with love is holy and salvific, grasps actively for the good in any society, and avoids the evil.

Concluding remarks about sacramental grace and the Woodstock Theological Center

I hope to have shown that sacramental, or systematic, theologians who focus their attention on the Creed, can advance the moral, social, and cultural mission of the Woodstock Center. In fact, the center, as a Catholic and Jesuit institution, is rooted in the main tenets of the Creed, including the phrases in which the sacraments are clearly mentioned or alluded to. Yet, sacramental grace is not always explicitly mentioned by all the fellows as they strive to attain the mission at Woodstock, since its main purpose is to lead those who appreciate and support its goal to find the deepest form of rationality and energy provided first of all by human reflection on justice, hopeful action, non-violence, compassion, self-giving, service, and faithfulness.

This was the method adopted by Jesus of Nazareth as he envisioned the prophetic street dramas which were the precursors of the sacraments. Jesus made into extraordinary ritual gestures, which are salvific and sanctifying, the very values which human reason and divine goodness had prepared to guide the human family to what is good and to preserve it from what is evil. Many who know and applaud the work of the Woodstock Center will recognize that it transmits the essence of sacramental grace when it proposes paths towards the practice of sincere justice and love.

Philip J. Rosato, S.J., is a Woodstock fellow.