September 6, 2026 - Pastor Message
September 5, 2026THE ORDER(S) OF THE CHURCH (cont.)
THE ORDER(S) OF THE CHURCH
(cont.)
“”For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
Last week we began a reflection on the change in the way we celebrate the sacraments, particularly the translation from the official Latin text into English in the new ritual books. We looked at this in the context of the change from the “Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults” to the “Order of Christian Initiation of Adults.” For a review of that material, please see last week’s column. This week, we will reflect on the meaning of the word, “Order”, especially as it applies to the celebration of the sacraments.
Order refers to two things, both of which apply to the sacraments: the order, or organization, of the process for celebrating the sacraments; and the orders, or groups of people with their own unique identity, rights, and responsibilities, within the larger organization of the Church. So, for example,the Order of the Christian Initiation of Adults lays out the organized steps by which an adult is initiated into the Church, including: the initial inquiry; the ritual acceptance into the first step, the instructional phase of the catechumenate; the ritual acceptance into the second step, the period of conversion and enlightenment that immediately precedes the sacraments of initiation during Lent; the celebration of the sacraments themselves at the Easter Vigil; and the period of instruction after Easter leading the newly baptized into the full life of the Church. Each sacrament has an organized process for its celebration similar to this to ensure that anywhere and everywhere the sacraments are celebrated, they are the same, drawing people deeper into relationship with our one Lord, Jesus Christ, through his Church.
The other meaning of the word, “Order”, relevant to the sacraments is the different groups of Christian faithful who make up the Church, all in an organized, or ordered, structure that, in many cases, is marked by sacraments and other associated rituals. This concept of the Church as an ordered body of many different but united groups, each with its own gifts and responsibilities, has largely faded in our more individualistic age, but it remains in some ways. We still speak, for example, of the sacrament of Holy Orders, consisting of the three distinct groups of ordained ministers who, each in their own way, serve to lead, teach, and sanctify the Church - deacons, priests, and bishops. We still speak of religious orders, men and women in the Church who consecrate themselves to Christ in a special way in witness to the kingdom that is to come through the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. In earlier times, we had many other orders in the Church, such as the order of virgins, who consecrated themselves to God without ever marrying, and the order of widows, who consecrated themselves to God after their husbands died; the order of penitents, who publicly witnessed to the need for all Christians to confess their sins and turn again to Christ; and the order of catechumens, those adults who sought to enter full communion with Christ and his Church through the sacraments of initiation.
These orders weren’t just steps in a process; they were vital ways that different people entered into and contributed to the Body of Christ, the Church. Like cells in the human body, they came together in a wonderfully diverse and organized way to build up the whole organism, and still do today. We may use different terms, but the idea is the same, just as it was for St. Paul so many years ago: “As the body is one, though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12-13). The glue that binds all the orders of the Church together as one and flows through us like life-giving blood is the grace of Christ through his sacraments, especially the sacrament of Holy Communion in the Eucharist, which itself is organized for all in the Order of the Mass. No matter what language is used, no matter where it is celebrated in the world, we all celebrate the one and same Christ in the one and same Mass. May that unity grow through all the orders of the Church, today and always, including here at St. Boniface.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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