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Sacraments have over the year played a critical role in the Catholic Church. The sacraments have acted as unions for the catholic faithfuls; playing pivotal and symbolic roles in marriage and holy orders. The two, marriage and holy order sacraments have symbolically had crucial roles in the shaping the family unit and the church as a family. Similarly, the use of the sacrament have always been of critical import to the church; marking the unit of purpose within the church.
Sacraments of loving service are those sacraments that show the unit of purpose. These sacraments are used to show the commonality of purpose that a group or a pair has in common. This sacraments show the bond that the said pair or group is bound by. Within this mandate the two sacraments are viewed clearly as sacraments of services. Loving Services would ideally be used contextually as the willingness to offer help without the need for returns. The sole returns are utterly the blessing from the almighty.
Discussion
The sacraments of vocation are similar in all aspects to other sacraments. These are unfolding realities and continuous in orient in the lives of the catholic faithfuls. These are viewed as a path towards full redemption in the Catholic Church (Martin, 1997). These practices are meant to move us closer to salvation hence a stronger relationship with God and subsequently our relationship with each another. Within the mandate of this assertion, both the matrimonial and holy order sacraments are indeed sacraments of loving service.
The bible according to Hebrews introduces the catholic faithfuls to the life of sacramental activities. Sacraments are not only a means of showing our commitment to the word and service to God but commitment towards serving those that we live with. Besides, Jason (Jason, 2010) argues that the sacraments being developed from the acts of Jesus, there is union that is derived from the sharing in this Holy Communion by the participants in the communion.
The priest and the other church leaders are called upon to serve the faithfuls. As preacher of the holy word, one celebrating the holy sacrament, the priest is called upon through this Holy Communion to be sacred in the day to day practices (Richstatter, 2009). The ideals explicated in the practice of the sacraments are the services that are both charitable and loving. Subsequently, this forms the basis for the having the two as being devotion practices. Ideally, by so doing he not only serves the faithfuls but also serves God.
The basic calling for the Christians is the call towards discipleship. Within the precincts of this cardinal pillar of Christianity, the most common sacraments for vocation have been the initiation that has been characterised by baptism and confirmation (Sacraments, 1996). It is through the sacraments that the members of the Catholic Church are formally introduced to the faith. Subsequently the sharing of the sacraments makes the member fully ordained to Catholicism. The sharing solemnly celebrates and invites the new believer into the practice of the Catholic Church. After baptism members share the sacraments as a way of becoming members of the family and the great universe of the persons of Christ.
The calling for baptism has always been viewed as the highest and most intimate show for the acceptance of the creator. Nevertheless, the vocation of baptism plays out as not only critical but also evidence of open commitment to the principles of the family which is inherently enshrined within the family. Whichever the perception on the components of the family, this the sharing whether referenced to the blood family or the church family shows the centrality of the sacraments in the cementing of any relationship.
The similarities exhibited within the commitment inherent within matrimony and priesthood were early never explored. However, there is very pronounced correlation between the two commitments. Formative, one seems to be ideally shrouded in the secular realm of daily livelihood of the congregation shared with the non believers, while the other seen as dully withdrawn from secular realms and working within the religious realms alone. Inasmuch as this appears to bring the two to disrepute; there is sufficient evident that there is just very much in common.
In the two forms of vocations there is total commitment of an individual to the service of the others (Monica, 2002). This commitment has been done with the intention of being life-long. Besides, both the two have not only inclusive but also very exclusive in their characteristics. The two have throughout the Christian cycle been viewed as very essential building blocks of the Christian Catholic family and community. Ideally without these vocational sacraments, the church would not be strong enough to live the tide.
The church is meant to be a community comprised of the faithfuls and a place for God’s people. This is ideally realised at the very basic low level of the relationship development process. This basic level is the family which is equally cemented through the use of the matrimonial sacrament (Jason, 2010). The church is indeed brought in to existence via the continual maintenance of sharing the Eucharist’s- the Sunday Eucharist that is ordinarily shared during Sundays. The other uniting factor is the relationship between the human societies that is started at the family unit that is built on the sharing of the Eucharist during marriage.
Over the years it has been the Eucharist that has made a people a community of Christ. Martins (Martin, 1997) assert that the Eucharist has been linked directly to the ordination of Christ followers. Within the use of the holy sacrament, the holy orders are to constitute presiding, gathering, concentrating, preaching and proclaiming the holy word of God. The gathering that is prompted by the Eucharist is what makes the church and therefore its centrality in the church cycle.
The argument has been over the year on whether the Catholic Church can be without the administering of the Eucharist. Yet still there can be not Eucharist without an ordained priest. The two are so interdependent that the absence of one tends ti the render the other useless (Richstatter, 2009). While the Eucharist would well be administered by anybody, it would only serve the purpose if it was administered by an ordained priest. The priest has to consecrate the Eucharist before it can be taken by the church family.
The priests are normally ordained by the bishops who are in turn ordained by other bishops. This chain of flow of the ordinance shows that there is a link between the congregations world over. It is this uniting bond that is very important. During the ordainment of the priests the Eucharist shared is intended to prepare him for the life challenges that are ahead. Similarly, the Eucharist in marriage is normally prepares the couple for the responsibilities ahead.
The centrality of the sacraments shows the justification for which the holy order’s sacrament. The sacraments tend to martial the energies for the consecrated person towards Christ’s service and the preparedness towards the crucial task ahead of the priest or the family. Sacraments are meant to show commitment to the calling and therefore great wisdom and generosity is required. Besides, the sacraments offer the partakers of sufficient grace for which the execution of the tasks and the meeting of the great expectations.
There has been a lot of premium that has been placed on the necessity and the vitality of the priesthood within the livelihood of the church. Nevertheless the doctrines of the Catholic Church do appreciate that there are two sacraments of vocation (Richstatter, 2009). The central rationale for referring to the marriage sacraments as a vocation sacrament is because it equally does call for a lot of commitment and a critical role in fashioning the church. Subsequently is plays a critical role in redeeming the entire world.
The scripture guidance tends to point to the fact that the complementarities between the partners in any marriage have a critical role in the shaping of the church and the society at large. Through the family, the human community is intended to be made a success. Besides, through the family commitment, the society would be less competitive, less ruthless and with reduced injustices and cruelties. Subsequently the society would survive on brotherly and Christian basis.
During the Eucharist for the ordainment of the priests, there is a commitment to remain dedicated to the church at whatever cost, similarly, the commitment between the couples is that whatever the circumstance their will remain together (Sacraments, 1996). The children will be for both of them and none will run away from the responsibility. These ideally bring the two families from which they hail together and the Eucharist at the bonding celebrations is the zeal for the commitment. Subsequent, through the marriages in the church bonds are build that form a basis for mutual support that extends to the church.
Though there is a lot of complexity in the human understanding, brought about by the rivalries and the feuds, injustices and bullying, exclusions and prejudices, marriage in Christ is meant to act as a redemptive act (Monica, 2002). These marriages are meant to transcend various societal challenges and create the wholeness in the within the family cycles and percolate to the community. Ideally this is a critical element in the building of relationships within the church.
This too is an essential element of building the church, the community of the followers of Jesus. This too is a sacrament of vocation, of the calling to build up the church that participates in the work of redemption. Within the marriage setting, the sacraments are taken in the church before the priest as the witness (Jason, 2010). This shows the relationship between the two vocation; matrimonial and priesthood.
The two sacraments have sufficient complementarity. Intrinsically and more theologically no plausible evidence exists on the exclusiveness of the sacraments for matrimony and the sacrament of the holy orders. While the present discipline of the Catholic Church needs much celibacy in its priests; this does have to be the case through. Consequently, any body would be called upon to build the body of Christ, by bringing the believers together through the administration of the Eucharist, doing this through family to family relationships.
Conclusions
It is evident from the foregoing discussion that anybody would come in to develop a body of believers through the two vocations; matrimonial or holy order. This would be done through the development of a redemptive relationship between the families which subsequently percolates into the church.
Like the other sacraments, the sacraments for devotion are far from the ceremonies that come and go. These ceremonies are meant to be perpetual reminders of family commitment and the priestly commitment of the priests and the bishops to Gods purpose and so are the sacraments in the family. Continually sacraments are constantly unraveling the realities in the lives of the lives of most faithfuls for full redemption. The sacraments have been ideally viewed as the dynamics that contribute to our closer movement towards salvation.
