The Second Vatican Council dealt with the Subject of the Sacraments in various documents.

The SACROSANTUM CONCILIUM Constitution, for example, even though it does not set out explicitly a doctrine concerning the Sacraments, did however influence considerably the later development of theological thought regarding the Sacramentarian subject.

More than anything else the definition of the Church-Sacrament, provided by the LUMEN GENTIUM, in the first chapter,-"The Church is the Sacrament in Christ"-, contributed to an ulterior and broader understanding of the concept of the Church-Mystery-Sacrament, and of their intimate relationship.

In September 1965, Pope Paul VI, issued the Encyclical Letter MISTERIUM FIDEI, concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

This document, although on one hand placing the accent on Christ, a real and active presence in the Sacraments, on the other hand pointed out the change in the paradigm of reference in the theological thought related to the Sacramentarian subject: in fact one may notice a change from the traditional Thomistic paradigm, revolving around the concept of substance and matter, to today’s more personalized one of trans-orientation and trans-significance.

If we wish to confront the "errors in Sacramentarian Theology from the Second Vatican Council up to today", we must first of all declare that we do not in effect intend to speak of errors in the contents or the doctrinal-dogmatic formulation, errors that I personally believe to be inexistent, but rather, to discuss those errors or distortions that influence a complete understanding of the more profound and real sense of the sacraments and consequently their full acceptance and effect in the life of Christians.

I will develop the subject examining four points:

abstractionism, concentration, disintegration, secularization

The Spirit of God, Jesus Christ resurrected, who died on the Cross for the salvation of mankind. He lives in God, and in a different manner, is present in all things, and regenerates and unites everything under His authority. Because this is the plan of the Father:

all that is in heaven and all that is on earth" (Eph. 1,10)

The Sacramentarian Liturgy of the Church, in all the Sacraments, without distinction,

distributes the fruits of the Only Mystery: the Paschal Mystery of Christ.

In fact, in each sacrament, the Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, in different forms, becomes present and acts in the life of the individual faithful and in that of the Church, fulfilling the graces that each Sacrament signifies.

The Sacrament of the Eucharist, therefore, is not the only one that celebrates the Paschal Mystery of Christ, because, this mystery constitutes the essence of each Sacrament.

Let us examine for example the Sacrament of Reconciliation and that of Matrimony.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation it is thanks to the death and resurrection of Christ that our sins are annulled; in the Sacrament of Matrimony, the bride and the groom’s reciprocal offering is united and sealed by the Christ’s offering for His Church.

And this can be proven for all the other Sacraments.

As we were saying:

This error originates in the traditional Theological language that has now used for accentuating the Sacramentarian truth without all the fitting connections with the fundamental Event.

For example the Eucharistic Cult, and the Holy Hour (the Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament) are simply the extension of the Eucharistic mystery. The fact remains however that often one runs the risk of placing the accent only on the Presence of Christ, removed from the context of the key-mystery that made it possible.

If it appears easy to fall into abstractionism as far as the Eucharist is concerned, the memorial par excellence of the Paschal Mystery, this becomes even easier with the other Sacraments.

The consequence of the error of abstraction is that Sacramentarian Life often becomes a banality’ and also fragmented, placing the accent on secondary or abstract truths, uprooted from the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The result is that the Sacramentarian Life does not provide a fullness of the fruits that the Sacrament contains and intends to communicate.

In each Sacrament, the Liturgical Act as a whole, manifests, makes present, and communicates the Paschal Mystery of Christ.

Sacramentarian Theology, yesterday as much as today, has taken into consideration and studied the Sacraments using the Thomistic categories of matter and form. These categories, even though useful for understanding , clarifying and expressing a number of concepts, do also present their limitations. In fact this paradigm has resulted in considering vital, almost magical, a number of the special moments of the ritual with its attached formulae. For example: the moment and the words of the Consecration for the Eucharistic Sacrifice; the moment of the Absolution for the Sacrament of Penance; the imposing of the hands for the Sacrament of Holy Orders , and so on.

Forgetting that the Sacrament and the Liturgy are two inseparable aspects of the ‘one and same reality’.

Sacramentarian Theology based on the categories of "matter and form", has unintentionally been the origin of the error of concentration, meaning that this has induced the Sacraments to be considered more as "Sacrament-cause", cause-effect, attributing great importance to the "effects", and to the "why’", rather than to the "meaning", or the overall vision of the Sacrament, with a consequent limited vision of the sacramental symbolism and of its influence on the life of Christians.

Starting with this paradigm, concentration was based on the, "unique – fundamental constituent" act of the Sacrament, inherent to "matter and form", which was also carried to extremes, leaving aside all others.

Consequently, this weakened the complete and total experience of the Sacrament, it diminished its fruitfulness in the real life of Christians, restricting the sacramental symbolism, and impoverished the liturgical symbolism, that has often become unnatural and trivial, uprooted from the Paschal Mystery.

The duty of Sacramentarian Theology today, is to once again provide importance and unity to all the Sacramentarian Liturgical Act, because although the Liturgy has high moments, and other so called introductive, preparatory or conclusive ones …one must consider that ALL the Liturgical Act in its wholeness is a Sacrament.

In fact the Sacramentarian Liturgy is the union or the totality of the various acts of a celebration that is taking place , and all the liturgical act in its entirety, (and not only a single part, or one more than another), is the fulfillment of the Sacrament.

Disintegration deals with the problem and the danger of undermining the indissoluble unity of the values at the basis of each sacrament: Grace-Nature-Church

The reasoning used for the subject of concentration, is also valid for disintegration, understood as the scission of the unitary values that compose the same Sacramentarian truth.

Only the paradigm of reference changes.

In this case the paradigm for reference is supplied by the "opus operatum", and the "opus operantis" categories: two indissoluble moments of the redeeming event.

As provided by the principle opus operatum, the Sacraments act in virtue of the Redeeming Work of Jesus Christ, for the very fact that the act is completed, therefore only as provided by the power of God; while in the "opus operantis" the accent is placed on mankind who welcomes the acts of God in his life, and on the need for faith, hope and charity, for the completeness of the Sacrament.

The Sacrament, in fact, is a opus operantum, because it works per se, as the unique and effective word of God in Christ. This opus operantum moves towards the opus operantis of mankind who may reply in a positive or in a negative manner.

The Sacraments are not " therefore magic", mechanically worked, but the encounter of the acts undertaken by a Free-God and the answer supplied by a Free-Man. The Sacraments are effective only when they meet human freedom. But this freely given answer from mankind is also a gift of Grace.

Sacramentarian Theology based on the categories opus operatum /opus operantis has brought about a fracture-disintegration between these two dimensions, favoring first one and then the other dimension, while in fact they both belong to the unique Event and allow it to be possible.

Jesus expresses Himself through the symbol. In fact, He assumes the sign created by mankind, (for example eating the bread and drinking the wine), and makes this a Sacramental Sign.

The opus operatum allows "the bread and the wine" to become the Flesh and the Blood of Christ, an act of salvation, but without the opus operantis of the Church, this event does not take place, it is not manifest.

The acts of God and those of the Church are inseparable and both indispensable so that the Sacramentory Event can occur.

If there is no human sign there is no symbol.

If there is not Christ who bestows on the symbol a mark and a special power which makes it a "sacrament", there is no Sacramentarian Symbolism.

And without the Church this symbol does not take shape, making manifest and communicating the Mystery of Christ.

As we have said, the error of disintegration lies in the division of the elements that constitute the Sacramentarian reality: Sign – Symbol – Christ –– Grace and freedom –

-Church-Sacrament-Mankind

This is the point Karl Rhaner intends to reach with his Theology of the Symbol: to saturate this disintegration through the theology of Sacramentarian Symbolism, that implies the overcoming of traditional categories and modern individualism.

Today’s culture in fact definitely places mankind at the center of everything.

Today’s man looks with sympathy at all that implies "human contribution" , "self-realization", " self-affirmation".

If this attitude can be considered positive because it promotes the development of man, in the field of Sacramentarian thoughts, it may lead to "subjectivism" .

The forma mentis of contemporary man is the opposite of the traditional point of view of a effectiveness of the sacraments "ex opere operato". Today’s man is spontaneously drawn to consider the Sacraments from an individualistic and subjective point of view.

Modern subjectivism places the accent almost exclusively on the person, as if the Sacrament were a "private" matter, and its fruit was the result of a personal effort, linked more closely to the experience of the person, to his active participation and the emotional implication linked to the kind of atmosphere one has managed to create, allowing the dimension of the "gratuitousness of Grace" and the ecclesial component to be forgotten.

This kind of individualism , referred to the Sacramentarian Matter, must also be included among the "errors of desegregation".

It is necessary to admit that both today’s Sacramentarian conception, and also the concept of the past, are both lacking either in excess or by default, creating a situation of conceptual and effective ‘disintegration".

It is necessary to educate oneself to a broad theological vision, uniting the "opus operantum" with the "opus operantis", as it is also necessary to unite and integrate harmoniously "Grace" and " freedom’ ","the individual and the Church".

It is to this that the "SACROSANTUM CONCILUM" Constitution intends to recall us, inviting us to study in depth the Sacramentarian theology and its implications in Christian life:

"It is the most ardent desire of the mother Church that all the faithful be formed in a complete, aware and active participation in the liturgical celebrations that the nature itself of the liturgies requires and to which the Christian people, "chosen race, regal ministry, holy nation, acquired people’ (1Pt 2,9; cfr.2,4-5), has this right and this duty because of baptism".

This statement is an invitation to overcome the distinction between "Sacramentarian effectiveness per se’"(opus operatum) and the "human answer" (opus operantis), because the sacrament is the real sign of the grace it contains and it communicates: it is the paschal act of Christ, and it is a pure act of the Church. It is the opus operantum of Christ, and the opus operantis of the Church of Grace which precedes, and of the free human response, which must be complete, aware and active.

But it is also an invitation to overcome individualism, subjectivism, because the Sacramentarian Act is a " ecclesial fact", the right and the duty of the People of God.

When one discusses the Sacraments, from the world of Grace, the need to clarify the sense and the sphere of all that is "secular" also becomes necessary.

Both these spheres demand clarity and the respect of borders and prerogatives.

The sphere of all that is "sacred" is the specific sphere of the Sacraments. They are the signs of the Redemption given by God, the Saint of Saints. And communicate to us this sacredness.

Christ, Sacrament of the Father, has entrusted to the Church ( Sacrament of Christ) the Seven Sacraments , which are" Sacramentory Acts " of the church, Effective signss of Redemption, which allow man to enter the sphere of holiness, of Grace, of communion with the Absolute.

Only the Sacramentarian Sphere, established by Christ Himself, has the infallible and certain prerogative of "sacredness’ ".

Today there is a trend to equalize this –Sacramentarian-sacredness to the presence of God in history and in the creation.

Saint Paul states that:

"He is the true likeness of the God we cannot see,

Here Paul speaks of the ‘two kinds of sacredness’: that of Christ, Sacrament of the Father, and that of the creation, the work of God.

But this kind of secular-sacredness, also a manifestation of God, is different from the sacramental one: the only to which one may and one must attribute the prerogative of "sacred".

The presence of Christ in the Sacraments, and the Presence of Christ in the creation and in history, are two spheres with an intimate relationship but they are not on the same level, because the Church and the Sacraments are the infallible Signs of Grace, while the creation and mankind, always, have awaited and are the receivers of Redemption through the Announcement of the Gospels and the Sacraments.

Based on this distinction, we look to the Church as the "Sacrament of all that is Holy", and to Mankind and the Universe as the "secular" place of the presence of God.

Because the Church is the Sacrament of Holiness’, it uses a language and a liturgical act. The kind of atmosphere required in this celebration is dictated by the nature itself of the Church and the rite. The participants must therefore assume a liturgical attitude and behavior. A Sacred one.

This does not rule out the fact that in practice the Liturgy is in need of contextualization, animation, and updating. All this must however take place with profound respect for the liturgical act. It must not be ‘secularized’, because it belongs to the Sacramentarian level, different to the secular one, even though the universe exists for Christ and in Christ.

From the Second Vatican Council until today, there has been a commitment for the contextualization and the updating of the Liturgy, but, due to the lack of clarity concerning the distinction between the sphere of the "sacred" and the "secular", secularization, has not only entered Sacramentarian Life, but has also influenced the entire liturgical environment and atmosphere, with the result that the Sacraments have lost in Sacredness, and have in a certain sense become secularized.

As far as today’s subject is concerned :"The Errors in Sacramentarian Theology from the Second Vatican Council until today", we have on this occasion examined four elements which in my opinion mainly influence the full sense of Sacramentarian Life.

All of these four elements are strictly, directly and negatively related to Sacramentarian Theology, but it is difficult, almost impossible, to classify them among real mistakes of content or doctrinal formulation. We must however admit that they have influenced and still have a negative influence on the full acceptance of sacraments in life and with a totally Christian vision.

The contribution that our century, the century of globalization and at the same time of fragmentation, is called on to provide on the subject of the Sacramentarian matter, is a new synthesis of theological thought about the Sacraments.

A valid contribution can be found in oriental theological considerations, perhaps still young and not very established, but that in a natural manner are drawn to consider things as a "whole".

This global vision belongs to the pedagogy and the logic of Incarnation: Jesus’, real God and real Man. The Unity of Nature and of Grace.

If the Sacraments on one hand are a means for sanctification in which the redeeming act of Christ reaches the totality of mankind , on the other hand they are the moment during which the Community of believers answers God, in Christ, and glorifies Him.

The Sacraments overcome the one-way dualism, both descending (gratuitousness of Grace), and ascending (human answer/subjective sanctification), because they create the moment of meeting between the two contingents: the divine and the human.

It is only in this encounter that the redeeming act of Christ really takes place.

In addition to avoiding and overcoming every kind of dualism: both abstractionist and of concentration, disintegration or individualist; modern Sacramentarian theology is called upon to safeguard the ritual in its overall dimension ,in the sacredness of its nature, in the richness of its mystery, and in its ecclesial dimension.

The Paschal Event of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, is the Event par excellance, that is communicated to us through the Sacraments.

Each event has its stages . Moments. All important and with a specific function.

It is necessary not to mutilate the rite, selecting and mystifying only certain parts of it.

Everything is a sacrament.

As a Liturgical Event, the Sacrament needs to preserve its sacred characteristic, so as not to forgo its ‘Sacramentarian identity" and simply be reduced to a secular act .

The preservation of this sacredness requires clarity and respect of the nature and the environment of the sacred ,in contrast but not in opposition, with the sphere of the secular, so as to empty it of all that is sacred – the object of Sacramentarian Theology –of its real nature and reason to exist: to reveal and communicate to mankind the sacredness of God.