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Sacraments for a Lifetime
by Jo Rotunno

Recently I rediscovered a video about the Eucharist that I used many times in teaching over the years. It had three vignettes, each showing a modern-day situation in which an individual was called upon to witness his or her Christian faith in either ordinary or extraordinary ways. One example occurred on a battlefield; another, in a neighborhood as a family member struggled to overcome feelings of prejudice. In each case the person involved came to a deeper awareness of what it meant to make authentic choices “to love and serve the Lord.”

Over the past weeks of natural disasters here in our own country, we have seen countless examples both of extraordinary courage and of simple human caring. All of us have been called upon to search our hearts and decide what personal response to make to so much human need. We’ve had an opportunity to reflect on what it means to live the Eucharist for one another day by day.

This is the time of year when we often begin preparing people for their first celebration of a sacrament of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, or Eucharist—or even full initiation. Let’s remember for a moment what happens in the first celebration of a sacrament. The initial celebration is simply a beginning that is meant to continue again and again over a lifetime—a reality to be lived every day. The Sacraments of Initiation do not signal graduation or completion in any way. They signal the beginning of a lifetime of response to the generosity of a gracious God.

At this time of year we often begin preparing young people and their families for first sacraments. As you choose programmatic materials to assist the process, make sure that these materials reflect strong elements of ritual, prayer, Scripture, doctrine, and reflection. These elements will help your candidates to hear the Lord speaking to them in word and action, and to understand their need for ongoing conversion into the Body of Christ. They will begin to see that every time they come to the Eucharist they deepen their incorporation into the Christian community and its mission, and you will ensure that their first celebration of this sacrament will never be the last.