Contemporary Catholic Theology Exam 2

where is Christ present in the liturgy? 

According to Sacrosanctum Concilium §7, Christ is always present in the Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present:

• In the sacrifice of the Mass (both in the person of the priest and in the Eucharistic species).

• In the sacraments (so that when anyone baptizes, it is Christ himself who baptizes).

• In the Word (since it is Christ who speaks when the Scriptures are read in church).

• In the assembly gathered in prayer and song (because he promised, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” – Mt 18:20).

Vatican II

• Aggiornamento and Ressourcement

• the Catholic Church was able to engage the modern world in a positive way by reclaiming the riches of its own tradition

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 

• Debate begins Oct. 22, 1962

• Lasts 15 days (half the session)

• 328 speeches (+297 written)

• Most Contentious Issues:

  • Vernacular

  • Local Authority

  • Sharing Cup

  • Concelebration

• Oct. 30: Ottaviani’s speech

Vatican II’s Principles of Liturgical Reform 

• Christ at the Center

• Full, Conscious and Active Participation 

• Intelligibility of the Rites 

• Pluralism and Local Adaptation 

Human nature and divine nature are not two species of one genus

Johnson emphasizes that when Chalcedon spoke of Christ as having a human nature and a divine nature, it didn’t mean these were two examples within the same broader category (“being” or “nature”). If they were two species of one genus, God would simply be one kind of being alongside other beings. Instead, divine nature is utterly transcendent, existing on an entirely different plane of reality than created, finite human nature. Jesus unites these two radically different modes of existence in his one person.

The meaning of “person”

In Trinitarian theology (early Church): The word person (persona in Latin, hypostasis in Greek) did not mean what we think of today—an individual center of self-consciousness. Instead, it meant a distinct relation within the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Spirit were “persons” in the sense of relational identities, not separate “selves.”

In the post-Freudian era (modern sense): Today, influenced by psychology and individualism, “person” means an autonomous subject with inner thoughts, emotions, and individuality. If we project this meaning back onto Trinitarian theology, it makes the Trinity look like three separate individuals rather than one God. Johnson warns against this confusion.

Kenosis

The term kenosis comes from the Greek word for “emptying,” drawn from Philippians 2:7 (“he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant…”). In theology, kenosis refers to:

The self-emptying of Christ, who did not cling to divine privilege but embraced human limitation, suffering, and death.

More broadly, it highlights God’s radical humility and self-giving love, expressed in the incarnation and the cross.

How is Jesus like God?

Emphasis on Jesus’ Divinity

How is Jesus like us? 

Emphasis on Jesus’ Humanity 

Arius

• To be God is to be unbegotten

• The Son is begotten

• Therefore, the Son is not God

Council of Nicaea (325)

• Son and Father of the “same essence” (homoousia)

• Differ at level of person (hypostasis)

• Fully affirmed the divinity of the Son 

• Father and Son are “homoousia”

Nature (ousia) 

• What something is

• Essence

• “table-ness”

• - Person (hypostasis)“human-ness” (human nature)

Person (hypostasis)

• That something is

• Instance of an Essence

• Aunt Millie’s kitchen table

• Marcello Hernandez

The Triune God

• Dynamism of Love

  • May be the least wrong way to talk about God

Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)

• fully affirmed Jesus’ humanity 

• Jesus is 100% human and 100% divine 

How does Dubus define “sacrament”?

Dubus defines a sacrament as a physical, outward sign of God’s love. For him, it is not limited to the seven sacraments of the Church but can be present in ordinary, everyday acts — even a sandwich, if it is made and given with love, becomes a bearer of God’s presence.

If a sandwich can be a sacrament, why do we need church sacraments?

While everyday actions can reveal God’s love, the Church’s sacraments are intentional, communal rituals instituted by Christ. They anchor us in the tradition of the faith, guarantee the presence of grace, and bind believers together in a shared practice. In other words, a sandwich may show God’s love, but the Eucharist sacramentally assures us of Christ’s presence and salvation.

What is McDermott’s story about?

McDermott’s “I Am Awake” is about the grief of a community after the death of Jake Barry, a young man remembered through small details, fragments of memory, and the rituals surrounding his funeral. The story highlights how people hold onto meaning through ordinary gestures — a teacher’s remark, an uncle’s story, a photograph — as they try to make sense of his absence.

What does McDermott’s story have to do with sacraments and ritual?

McDermott’s story shows how ordinary details of grief and remembrance become ritualized and almost sacramental. Just as Dubus finds God’s love in something as simple as a sandwich, McDermott suggests that love and presence are revealed in everyday words, gestures, and memories. The funeral and eulogies are formal rituals, but even beyond them, the community finds grace in the ordinary ways they remember Jake.

O’Connor, “The River” is about a baptism. What do you think O’Connor is trying to say about baptism?

Flannery O’Connor’s story The River is indeed centered around baptism, but like much of her work, it presents the ritual in an unsettling, ambiguous way.

In Christian tradition, baptism is a sacrament of cleansing and rebirth. But in O’Connor’s story, baptism is not a neat, safe act—it is something dangerous, even violent. The river itself is a symbol of both grace and death. The child is drawn to it as a place of transformation, but it is also the place where he risks (or actually meets) physical death.

I think O’Connor is showing that baptism isn’t merely a symbolic washing—it is a radical, life-altering encounter with mystery and grace. To be baptized is to die to one life and be reborn into another. That reality, she suggests, is not comfortable or tame; it can be as overwhelming as a flood.

So, O’Connor seems to be saying:

• Baptism is not just a ritual but a true confrontation with God.

• It involves both death and new life—one must lose something in order to be reborn.

• The power of baptism is both terrifying and transformative, not something sentimental.

sacrament 

“a visible sign of an invisible grace” -St. Augustine

sacramentality

any created reality is potentially a mediator of the divine

The Seven “Official” Sacraments

• “The Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.” (CCC 1131)

  • Baptism

  • Confirmation

  • Eucharist

  • Reconciliation

  • Marriage

  • Holy Orders

  • Anointing of The Sick

“a visible sign of an invisible reality”

• Church is sacrament (visible) of Jesus (invisible)

• Jesus is sacrament (visible) of God (invisible)

The seven Sacraments are __________ of the Church’s sacramental nature at important moments in an individual’s life

actualizations

conformation for Catholics usually happens in…

pre-teen (or early teen) ages

Council of Trent (mis 16th century)

it was thought that confirmation and Communion were more appropriate for people who have grown capable of the “use of reason”, understood to be 7 years old or older

The three sacraments of initiation

• Baptism

• Confirmation

• Eucharist

Sacraments as efficacious signs

• Sacraments as valid and fruitful

• Valid = objective element

• Fruitful = subjective element

Ex opera operato

“from the work done”

• A sacrament is valid if it uses the proper matter and form and if the proper minister intends to do what the church intends

Ex opera operantis

“from the work of the doer”

• A valid sacrament is fruitful in the life of a believer only if the recipient is properly disposed to receive God’s grace

Why the distinction between valid and fruitful?

Practical reasons and theological reasons

Baptism symbolism

• Simple signs

  • One-to-one correspondence between sign and meaning

• Symbolic signs

  • Sign opens out to multiple meanings

Water is a symbolic sign

• “Have had yourselves washed”

• “Baptized into his death?”

• “Baptized into one body”