Verbum Domini §53

Sacred Scripture and the sacraments

53. In discussing the importance of the liturgy for understanding the word of God, the Synod of Bishops highlighted the relationship between sacred Scripture and the working of the sacraments. There is great need for a deeper investigation of the relationship between word and sacrament in the Church’s pastoral activity and in theological reflection.[188] Certainly “the liturgy of the word is a decisive element in the celebration of each one of the sacraments of the Church”;[189] in pastoral practice, however, the faithful are not always conscious of this connection, nor do they appreciate the unity between gesture and word. It is “the task of priests and deacons, above all when they administer the sacraments, to explain the unity between word and sacrament in the ministry of the Church”.[190] The relationship between word and sacramental gesture is the liturgical expression of God’s activity in the history of salvation through the performative character of the word itself. In salvation history there is no separation between what God says and what he does. His word appears as alive and active (cf. Heb 4:12), as the Hebrew term dabar itself makes clear. In the liturgical action too, we encounter his word which accomplishes what it says. By educating the People of God to discover the performative character of God’s word in the liturgy, we will help them to recognize his activity in salvation history and in their individual lives.

[188] Cf. Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (22 February 2007), 44-45: AAS 99 (2007) 139-141.

[189] Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church (15 April 1993) IV, C, 1: Enchiridion Vaticanum 13, No. 3123.

[190] Ibid., III, B, 3: Enchiridion Vaticanum 13, No. 3056.