Second Sunday of Advent
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	“Outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace” is the often-memorized definition of sacrament, but through more than five decades of reform we have rediscovered the power of sacrament to bestow grace by reshaping our lives as individuals and communities. Not so long ago, most people were not attentive to the nature of sacrament as an act of the Church, a power that flows from the Body of Christ. Fifty years ago, we were inclined to see a sacrament as an encounter between Christ and an individual.
	Today, we see that definition does not go far enough. God’s grace is not a trickle, but a gushing torrent washing over the whole Church. Like a photographer pulling back the camera for a broader picture, today we are not only interested in the person who is being baptized, reconciled, or anointed. We think about how celebrating a sacrament transforms a community. We think about the grace given by Christ to the community that baptizes or marries or ordains or confirms. Sacraments are for the good of the community. Even when it appears to be a private, hidden moment, as in individual confession, a sacrament is always for the sake of the whole body, always more than “meets the eye.”
—Rev. James Field