The Sacraments Transform Us

Last week we finished Matthew’s “Book of Parables,” hearing that the kingdom of heaven could be compared to one who finds a pearl or treasure. In the created order, we are the pearl and treasure of God the Father’s earthly kingdom. Yet, how often do we think of ourselves in such a manner?

The Transfiguration by Lattanzio Gambara, circa 1567-1573. (The image used was licensed through Adobe Stock.)

Original Sin is wiped clear through the grace of Baptism. So, why then do we not see ourselves as created in the image and likeness of God? The answer is a lack of trust in the gifts of the Spirit, which we already possess and sin.

Original Sin is wiped clear through the grace of Baptism. So, why then do we not see ourselves as created in the image and likeness of God? The answer is a lack of trust in the gifts of the Spirit, which we already possess, and sin. The three were awestruck and perhaps confused with the foretaste of heaven they experienced. It would explain why Peter, perhaps like ourselves at times, did not simply take in the present grace offered by our Lord with his incredulous offer to build booths for future veneration. Peter should have accepted the moment as it was provided by our Lord, as a glimpse of what the treasure on earth would unite with the glory of heaven.

The Sacraments transfigure and conform us to our Lord’s divine state. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance, we shed the division between ourselves and God. Receiving our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament offered at Mass gives us the strength to trust in the gifts of the Spirit we have already received.

Michelangelo was once asked: “How did you sculpt David?” Michelangelo’s answer was simple: “I simply chipped away everything which was not David.” The grace of the Sacraments does that for us. Christ, the Divine Sculptor, chips away everything about

our nature that God the Father did not intend.

This week, as we accept our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we should remember the virtue of patience. Patience with ourselves and others as we slowly but surely transform into the true image and likes of the Son, knowing that it will only occur when we reach our heavenly reward.

In the words of Carlo Acutis: “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”