An examination of the symbols of worship, tracing their origins, what they have meant through the ages, and whether their meaning is clear for Christians today.

Sacraments speak a language and disclose their power through symbols. Beyond ‘representing’ another reality, sacramental symbols are intimately connected with the reality they express and sources of joy, solace, confrontation, peace, healing, strength, and life-giving sustenance to the initiated.In its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the Council the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) urged that sacramental symbols be more transparent to their sacred reality to disclose the reality of the Christ event —the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—so that mystery, and not confusion, could flourish.The seven sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Marriage, Orders and the Anointing of the Sick - reveal a link to social justice. The contributors to this book are theologians with pastoral sensitivities—including marrieds, parents, pastors and priests. This present work the social implications of worship, the history of each sacrament, and but also an integrated understanding of the transformation that is inextricably linked to each sacrament, as well as the active presence of Christ who lives in expectation of our response to participate in the urgent response to unjust policies and systems that affect the most vulnerable in our global family.

This work comes at an opportune hour: a time in which many complain that contemporary theology lacks a general theory of sacraments. Chauvet charts a reorientation in sacramental theology from the scholastic treatments, which appropriated the metaphysical categories of causality and substance to develop an essentially instrumentalist appreciation of grace, in favor of an approach through the category of symbol." In this approach the subject is as much "grasped" (and transformed) by the symbolic representation as is the object being interpreted. Chauvet commands a wealth of scholarship which he deploys to powerful effect. His work in developing a foundational theology of sacramentality will remain the standard for years to come. "

This resource helps you prepare a reverent, artful, and interactive experience of the symbols of the liturgy followed by reflection on their meaning for groups of adults or teens.

The Early Church read the Scriptures with the conviction that (in the words of St. Augustine), “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” Drawing inspiration from how both the Apostles and Christ himself read the Old Covenant as referring to the New (cf. Luke 24:27, 1 Peter 3:20–21, 1 Corinthians 10:1–5), the Church found the Old Testament to be rich with figures, or “types,” that foreshadowed both the mysteries of the life of Christ and the mysteries, or sacraments, of the New Covenant. And yet, in modern times the study of types (or “typology”) has been largely abandoned by scholars due to the dangers of subjectivity and exaggeration. How can typology be studied in a way that is objective and that avoids the excesses present in the past? Fr. Devin Roza seeks to offer a solution to these difficulties by asking the question, “According to the Scriptures and the living Tradition of the Church, what are the types and symbols of the sacraments and what do they mean?” As authorized representatives of the living Tradition, the Liturgy (including the readings from the Church Fathers) and the Catechism, together with the Scriptures, offer both the scholar and pastor the opportunity to study typology as the Catholic Church herself understands and prays it today, in those texts the Church considers her own. Fulfilled in Christ thus offers a comprehensive and readable summary of references to types and symbols of the sacraments in the Scriptures and the living Tradition of the Church, as represented by the Liturgy and the Catechism. The result is a highly objective, scholarly, and at the same time pastoral study of how the Church understands and lives the types and symbols of the sacraments today.

In the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council, the movement of nouvelle théologie caused great controversy in the Catholic Church and remains a subject of vigorous scholarly debate today. In Nouvelle théologie and Sacramental Ontology Hans Boersma argues that a return to mystery was the movement's deepest motivation. Countering the modern intellectualism of the neo-Thomist establishment, the nouvelle theologians were convinced that a ressourcement of the Church Fathers and of medieval theology would point the way to a sacramental reintegration of nature and the supernatural. In the context of the loss suffered by both Catholics and Protestants in the de-sacramentalizing of modernity, Boersma shows how the sacramental ontology of nouvelle théologie offers a solid entry-point into ecumenical dialogue. The volume begins by setting the historical context for nouvelle théologie with discussions of the influence of significant theologians and philosophers like Möhler, Blondel, Maréchal, and Rousselot. The exposition then moves to the writings of key thinkers of the ressourcement movement including de Lubac, Bouillard, Balthasar, Chenu, Daniélou, Charlier, and Congar. Boersma analyses the most characteristic elements of the movement: its reintegration of nature and the supernatural, its reintroduction of the spiritual interpretation of Scripture, its approach to Tradition as organically developing in history, and its communion ecclesiology that regarded the Church as sacrament of Christ. In each of these areas, Boersma demonstrates how the nouvelle theologians advocated a return to mystery by means of a sacramental ontology.

This colorful book looks both beyond the church building and deep within it to find symbols relevant to Judeo-Christianity.