Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 6, is a long paragraph that is best understood if we break it into three parts. The first part reads:
Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This He did that, by preaching the gospel to every creature, they might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His Father. His purpose also was that they might accomplish the work of salvation which they had proclaimed, by means of sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves.
The first sentence provides the divine rationale of why Christ sent the apostles: “Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit.”
The second sentence tells us Christ’s goal in sending the apostles: “This He did that, by preaching the gospel to every creature, they might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His Father.”
The third sentence tells us the means Christ’s gave his apostles in order to accomplish this goal: “His purpose also was that they might accomplish the work of salvation which they had proclaimed, by means of sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves.”
Briefly put, Christ sent the apostles into the world to preach the Good News so that everyone might enter into the mystery of salvation through the sacraments. The sacraments are the means set up by Jesus Christ himself to make the grace of salvation accessible to all people.
Now let’s look at the second part of this paragraph:
Thus by baptism men are plunged into the paschal mystery of Christ: they die with Him, are buried with Him, and rise with Him; they receive the spirit of adoption as sons “in which we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15), and thus become true adorers whom the Father seeks. In like manner, as often as they eat the supper of the Lord they proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.
The key to understanding the Church’s view of the sacraments is this: It is through the sacraments that we are united to the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. This one, complete, and total “Christ Event” is what makes salvation possible. But it is not as if the Christ Event merely opened the gates of heaven for anyone to enter. Jesus is the door, Jesus is the way — and the only way to heaven is being united to him. The means Our Lord set up so that we might be united to him are the seven sacraments.
Through Baptism, we are “plunged into the paschal mystery of Christ” by mystically participating in his death, burial, and resurrection. The biblical basis for this teaching is Romans 6.1-11.
And through the Holy Eucharist, we remember Christ’s passion and death. But for the Church, the notion of “remembrance” is more than merely recalling a past event. Rather, it is a re-presentation of the death of Christ through the sacrament of the holy sacrifice of the Mass. In Holy Mass, we are mystically present at Calvary and, if we are in a state of grace, we are united to Christ and all the graces he merited for us because of his self-offering are made available to us.
Let’s now move on to the third part of the paragraph:
For that reason, on the very day of Pentecost, when the Church appeared before the world, “those who received the word” of Peter “were baptized.” And “they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread and in prayers . . . praising God and being in favor with all the people” (Acts 2:41-47). From that time onwards the Church has never failed to come together to celebrate the paschal mystery: reading those things “which were in all the scriptures concerning him” (Luke 24:27), celebrating the Eucharist in which “the victory and triumph of his death are again made present,” and at the same time giving thanks “to God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15) in Christ Jesus, “in praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12), through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is because the apostles understood the spiritual power of baptism and the breaking of the bread (the NT terminology for the Holy Mass) that they were quick to baptize those who converted and to celebrate as often as possible the breaking of the bread. This earliest of traditions has been carried on throughout the history of the Church.
Briefly, then, this paragraph teaches us the following:
- That Christ sent the apostles to proclaim the Good News.
- That Christ gave the apostles the means of uniting people to the mystery of his death, burial, and resurrection.
- The means that Christ gave the apostles are, primarily, the sacrament of Baptism and the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
- From the beginning of the Church on Pentecost, the apostles baptized and celebrated the breaking of the bread.
- The Church has never ceased in carrying out this divine mandate to preach the gospel and make the sacraments available to all people.
