XVIII PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENTS SACRAMENT is a supernatural act Я wherein God and man are brought into relation through the incarnate nature of the Godman. The impact of God on the spiritual nature of man is what is ordinarily described as grace. Grace is God acting on man. It is evident that when man draws near to God, inviting the fulfilment of the divine promises attached to the sacraments, it is essential that man should approach this act in such a spiritual state as to profit by it. For the sacramental action is reciprocal, the readiness of God to impart himself requires for its completion the readiness of man to receive and assimilate the divine gift. What the Church thinks of this presence of God in the sacraments and of the need of preparation in our approach to Him is sufficiently plain from the care it takes to guard such approach. If the Church did not believe in a real action of God in the sacrament of baptism, or if it did not believe in a real Presence of our Lord in the sac rament of the Holy Communion, it is inconceivable that it should guard the approach to them with such care. If they are simply symbolic rites there can be no need of such detailed preparation in the approach to them. And, in fact, those who think of the Holy Communion as but bread and wine eaten as a memorial of our Lord's death do not feel the need of a preparation involving self-examination, confession and fasting. Let us see what is the attitude of the Prayer Book in this matter of self-examination. The Shorter Exhortation begins: "Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; draw near with faith," etc. The first of the longer exhortations goes more into detail in the matter of preparation, directing, "First, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God's commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourself to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life. And if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbors; then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them; being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other; and being likewise ready to forgive others who have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God's hands; for otherwise the receiving of the holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your condemnation." Turning now to the Catechism, we find these questions and answers: Question. What is required of persons to be baptized? Answer. Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacra ment. Question. What is required of those who come to the Lord's Supper? Answer. To examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life; and have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, and a thankful remembrance of His death; and be in charity with all men. From these data we gather that the adequate preparation for the sacraments involves the following: Faith, self-examination, repentance, confession (sacramental confession if needed in case one cannot quiet one's own conscience that is, is in mortal sin), a firm purpose of obedience, charity with all, including intention of restitution, if necessary. This is surely a sufficiently definite programme and implies the highest sort of sacramental belief. The fundamental requisite of our approach is faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Without faith we should not be moved to act at all. But the faith that is required in our approach to God is not an intellectual assent to certain propositions; it is not even, as it is often expressed, faith in the promises of God; but it is faith in God Himself, that is, complete surrender of ourselves to God. We believe in God; and belief in any one implies readiness of self-committal to them. Therefore faith is the first step because we can take no other step until we have abandoned ourselves to God. When we think of faith as the first step in our approach to the sacraments, we see that it means a submission to God as acting in a certain way, through certain means. We approach whatever sacrament we are about to receive in confidence and expectancy that God will give Himself to us in that sacrament as He has promised. Faith means that we trust ourselves to our Lord and His promised action without expecting or indeed wishing to understand how the promise can be fulfilled. Faith has no difficulty about regeneration in baptism or the Real Presence in the Holy Communion or about a priest being the instrument of the divine forgiveness in confession. It has no difficulty because of the completeness of its self-surrender. It reserves nothing in the obedience and it reserves nothing in the way of intellectual surrender. He who has surrendered himself wholeheartedly to God in the act of faith cannot but feel pain when he realises that by sin he has violated the love of God. For that is the best account of sin, that it is a violation of the divine love, a wound willingly inflicted on Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. As we think of our approach to God in the way He has appointed we are confronted with the thought that we have blocked the way of approach by our own sins. Hence sorrow for sin, or repentance. That must be the root, the starting place of repentance, the sense that we would have wounded Love. Nothing else is adequate as the basis of repentance - not fear of the consequences of sin, not the pain of wounded pride which we call remorse; but just the feeling that we have, of our |