The sacraments belong to the present time of the pilgrim Church, but they also possess an

Eschatological tension. As stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: they " prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven" (CCC 1152).

Announcing the final glory, prefiguring it; and the sacraments prefigure the glory because they anticipate it, albeit partly as a firstling (see Romans 8, 23).

Therefore one should not understand the Eschatological value of the sacraments almost as if they were a pedagogical artifice for bringing back to the minds of the faithful the glory of the heavens, making use of the evocative strength of the intensely symbolic language of the sacraments. There is a great deal more involved. Through the sacraments there is a great deal, but not everything: not yet a fullness, albeit already a real firstling.

This eschatological valence of the sacraments is determined by the introduction of the faithful, through the sacraments, to the Paschal mystery of Christ, who has died, risen and ascended to heaven. Christ has now entered the divine glory with all His humanity and it is in Him that the final state already exists, and it is the very participation in this that constitutes our redemption.

The introduction of the faithful to the Paschal mystery first of all takes place through Baptism

(see Col 2, 12; 3, 1-4); it then achieves growing perfection through the other Sacraments, especially through the Eucharist. Hence we enter communion with the Risen Christ, because the Father bestows upon us the gift of His Son. And Jesus Christ, bestowed to us, in turn bestows upon us from the Father also the Holy Spirit. According to the Scriptures, the gift of the Spirit is a pledge of the eternal heritage (see. Eph 1, 13-14), it allows the new life to exist in the Spirit; and is a definite promise of the final resurrection of our bodies (see. Romans 8, 11).

The Eschatological valence of the Sacraments becomes manifest also because in some sacraments the material elements are, through their benediction, transformed in sacramental matter, through which the Holy Spirit performs the sanctification of mankind.

In a certain sense there is the firstling of the Eschatological renewal of material creation, which Saint Paul refers to in his Letter to the Romans (see Rom 8, 19-23). In the case of the

Eucharist this deliverance of the material creation takes place at a deeper level, because the bread and the wine are effectively transformed into the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ who has resurrected in glory. It is in fact His Risen Body that we receive in Holy Communion, although covertly, externally represented by the bread and the wine; then the kingdom of the Sacramental signs will be substituted by a face to face vision.