FR EAMONN MC CAMLEY - SACRAMENTS A PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW

In order to make the Sacraments relevant and to better understand them in a modern age, it is important to look at the author of all the Sacraments - Jesus.

Jesus walked among the people. He was there for them in their moments of joy and in their times of sadness. When they were hungry he fed them. When they were in need of forgiveness and healing he was there.

He invited them into a new relationship beginning with Baptism. He called others to continue his ministry and he promised they would not be alone, that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide and protect and empower them. With the arrival of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus, the Church was born.

The Sacraments, by definition, are an outward visible or tangible sign of an interior reality. Sacraments are about people, and God, and their mutual daily relationship.
Sacraments and daily living are intertwined. They have been given to us as a free gift in order that we may remain always in a loving relationship with God no matter what difficulties we may encounter.

The Church has taken special moments of Jesus' life and made them sacred and placed them in Ritual. We all need ritual in our lives because we need order and meaning. We have to have goals in life. Our lives are enriched by ritual. The Sacraments are those Ritual moments where we meet the God of unconditional love.

Jesus understood the difficulties faced by people and he wished to be there at the different moments of their every day experiences.

A priest is, therefore, in a privileged position because he too meets people when they are in need, joyful, and in sad times. People look to the priest. They need to see Jesus reflected in words and actions. We are witnesses to the struggles many people have in relating to God, to others and to themselves.

A Sacrament is a special grace from God, the God who wishes to raise the dignity of His people and His Church and to assure us of His unending love. The Sacraments are ritual celebration of the complete and total love of Jesus for all humanity continuing through every generation and for all time.

When we were brought to the Church for Baptism we belonged to a particular family but through the reception of the Sacrament we become a member of God's family, a member of His church.

When we speak about God we are limited by our own incapacity to understand. Therefore, when we speak about God we can only do this with the knowledge accumulated from words and actions. So the Church puts into words and actions, in Ritual, what Jesus himself wished for the Church and his people. The role of the priest is to help people encounter the living Jesus, the Jesus who said "Do this in memory of me" and the Jesus who promised that He would send the Holy Spirit and be with them and us for all time. This is the Jesus that, in the Church, we proclaim in the "Good News." The Church is united in Heaven and Earth by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

When we speak to God we are linked to the whole body of Christ so that we build up one another and we build the Kingdom of God as well.

So what do the Sacraments mean for me as a priest? First of all, I must acknowledge that I have human needs, like everyone else. I too need to experience that I am loved by family, friends and by Jesus. I have a personal faith journey to undertake and through it I grow in the understanding and knowledge of Jesus as God and friend. To put it simply, I have the need of the Sacraments to help nurture, forgive, heal and bless me as a man and as priest.

I am privileged and humbled when I administer the Sacraments to others. I know personally what it means to need them and to humbly ask God for His personal gifts. As a priest, to have seen worries overcome or to be present when someone is spiritually healed is only a small part of the joy of being called to serve God and his people. I am only the instrument of this God that I know loves me and blesses me each day.