Spiritual vision is the perception of the heavenly realities concerning God. The church has a great significance in the promotion of the spiritual vision of a Christian; it helps Christians to advance daily in their vision towards God (Kaya, 2015). This paper seeks to expound on the significance the church has towards the spiritual vision of a Christian; the paper will also look at the sacrament as both a sign and symbol and lastly explain how the natural law works to inform a Christian’s conscience.
First, the church being obedient to Christ’s commission is continually going on with the work of spiritual and social development of Christians, therefore, enhancing their spiritual vision. In the church today, we have different spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophesy and the gift of healing (Doyle, 2015). When the Holy Spirit illuminates these gifts, it causes the body of Christ to grow and develop and therefore church members individually and collectively grow in their spiritual vision.
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Among the Catholic Church, the sacrament is a symbol that enhances the spiritual vision of Christians. The sacrament is viewed to be both a symbol and a sign which according to the theology of the Catholic Church, the sacrament is seen to have been instituted Jesus and therefore entrusted to the church. As a sign, the sacrament is viewed as an outward which was instituted by Christ for the main purpose of giving grace. More deeply sacrament as a sign is seen using four dimensions; a demonstrative sign, a sign commemorative, a moral sign of obligating and lastly prophetic sign.
Fist, the sacrament as a demonstrative sign highlights the present realities which are sacred whereby the visible signs effects in Christians the invisible realities that the sign signifies. Water is an example of an invisible sign which signifies baptism, but as an invisible sign, baptism indicates the cleansing of a person’s sin by the invisible reality of Christ.
A sacrament as a moral sign obligating indicates the future life of a Christian whereby after receiving the sacrament, Christian are obliged to live a life of imitation to Christ, living in a manner which is worth the call one has received. Sacrament as a sign of commemorative, the sacrament is seen as a commemorating the saving action of Christ. The sacrament as a sign of prophetic indicates the heavenly glory and also the worship which is to come in the future.
The sacrament is viewed as a symbol whereby, the most common symbol of the sacrament is the dove, another one being the flame which significantly represents the Pentecost. Other symbols of the sacrament according to the Catholic Church include the Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Marriage and Holy orders (Hanrock, 2014). As a symbol of reconciliation, the sacrament signifies the sins which were forgiven. As a confirmation, the sacrament is understood by the Catholics as a practice of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which gives them the ability to practice their Catholic faith in all aspects of life (Krajnc, 2014).
The sacrament is seen as a means of grace according to Catholic theology. As a catechist in the Catholic Church, the purpose of the sacramental grace is in helping them gain particular spiritual benefits. The sacrament is seen as a seal of the covenant of grace. On the other hand, conscience is a moral sense of a person concerning right and wrong (Lee, 2014). Natural law works in different ways to inform our conscience, one of the ways being in schools where students are taught how to think and how it is passed to man through divine presence.
In conclusion, the sacrament is both a sign and a symbol. As a sign, the sacrament is seen using four dimensions that is sacrament as a reconciliation, sacrament as a sign of prophetic, sacrament as an obligation and lastly sacrament as a demonstrative sign. The sacrament also has different symbols according to the Catholic Church that is Marriage, reconciliation and also as a Eucharist.
References
Doyle, D. M. (2015). Otto Semmelroth and the Advance of the Church as Sacrament at the Vatican ll. Theological Studies, 76 (1),65-85.
Hanrock, B. (2014). The scandal of Sacramentality: the Eucharist in Literary and Theological Perspectives. Wipf and Stock publishers.
Kaya, A. (2015). The Relationship between Spiritual Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behaviours. A Research on School Principals Behaviours. Educational sciences: Theory and Practices, 15 (3) 597-606.
Krajnc, S. (2014). Liturgy and Tillich’s Theory of Symbols. Theological Quaterly Ephemerides Theologicae, 74 (2),311-325.
Lee, C. Y. (2014). Calvinist Natural Law and Ultimate Good. The Western Australian Jurist, 5, 153-175.
