Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Theological Tuesday

~Is God humble?
~Is Bible reading a sacrament?
~Is it good for Ted Haggard to have a church?
~What is the purpose of evangelism?
~How much time a day is right to pray and read the Bible?
Posted by at

2 comments:

glynnis weston said...

I only heard parts of the show tonight but I thought I heard you say that Catholics do not consider Studying Holy Scripture a sacrament since sacraments require a priest.
Surprisingly however, not all sacraments actually require a priest.

Baptism can be done in a pinch by anybody (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 903)

In Marriage, the ministers of the sacrament are the bride and groom. The priest observes but is not strictly necessary. (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1621)

Sacraments impart grace from the Holy Spirit by their very nature (so a baby receives grace in baptism even though the child is unaware).

Bible study is considered a sacramental. That is something that imparts grace if and only if the person doing it is open to that grace. (e.g. an atheist can study the bible without receiving any grace). Prayer services, holy water, rosaries, etc. These are sacramentals.

Thank you for your evident love for your separated brothers.

In His Mercy,

Matthew

June 8, 2010 at 8:59 PM
Andrew Tallman said...

I didn't realize the participants in marriage were considered the ministers of the sacrament. Fascinating!

I was also unaware of a separate category of activities called "sacramentals" rather than "sacraments." I do find it humorous that the goal of making a clear distinction between the two categories is what led to the use of two separate terms. The humor is that the terms are so nearly identical. =)

I read the page on Sacramentals at Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13292d.htm), but it does not include "Bible Study" or anything like it among its list of activities that are sometimes or partially sacramental. In fact, the omission of this from the list given seems rather glaring since it otherwise seems to fit the pattern so well.

Thanks so much for the clarification.

June 9, 2010 at 3:23 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)