“Jesus Christ was speared in his heart from where blood and water gushed out and were formed the seven sacraments of the Church. And he showed us his love for us and our respect for the sacraments and our fervour to receive them.”

(Reloj de la pasión, en EE p. 200).

SACRAMENTAL SPIRITUALITY

The sacraments carry out the privileged presence of Jesus accompanying his Church. Each sacrament is a personal meeting with Him. It is He who has taken the initiative of offering us – from birth to death- a sacrament for each important moment of our life as believers. In the baptism he welcomes us sons of God, his Father and makes us his own. The eucharist is spiritual food that strengthens us for growing and fighting against the evil. In the reconciliation he shows us his compassionate heart so that our weaknesses may not discourage us. The confirmation emphasizes us the presence of the Spirit in us. The marriage and priestly ordination give a special power to undertake a particular ways of life and sustain us in them. In the sacrament of anointing of the sick we experience the healing presence of Jesus in our physical weakness.

Claret lived the sacraments not as empty or magical rituals, but as an intimate and deeper relationship with Christ. “How fervently and with what devotion and love” (Auto. 38 & 40), he exclaims when remembering his Eucharistic experience of the childhood. His usual meeting with the Lord in the Eucharist is “indescribably tangible”, “When I am before the Blessed Sacrament, I feel such a lively faith that I can’t describe it. Christ in the Eucharist is almost tangible to me; I kiss his wounds continually and embrace Him. When it’s time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from his sacred presence” (Auto. 767). This intimate relationship with Jesus- Eucharist (Auto. 695) was getting deepened throughout his life to the point of arriving at “the great grace” (Auto. 694) and feeling called to fight the hostile powers against God.

How do you live the sacraments? Are they merely a “good habit” or they mean a permanent process of deepening your life of faith and commitment for charity?