From Passion to Paschal Mystery: A Recent Magisterial Development Concerning the Christological Foundation of the Sacraments by Dominic M. Langevin, O.P. (review)

In a blatant attempt to grab the reader’s attention I will start my review by saying that one would not think the approach in this book could be interesting. I would have liked to have seen the faces of the dissertation committee when they received Langevin’s proposal, which I imagine something like: “I will make a careful textual analysis of select portions of three magisterial documents—Mediator Dei, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church—looking for evidence of a new attitude towards a place for the Resurrection in the sacraments.” But my opening remark is not meant as a left-handed compliment (in which a seemingly approving statement actually contains a negative judgment), it is meant to be just the opposite: a seemingly suspicious remark that actually contains a positive judgment, and is intended to tempt the reader to pick up this valuable and engaging book.

Langevin does just what I described, but not exactly as I describe it. His close examination of those three documents is for the purpose of raising theological questions with which the magisterium has been grappling, but in many ways unconsciously. Questions like, “Which acts of Christ save us? How do Christ’s previous acts come in contact with each one of us personally? How are we saved sacramentally?” (2). What his study demonstrates is that “In some ways new and in some ways quite old, the magisterium over the last fifty years has emphasized that the sacraments are founded upon and communicate the entire Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. This contrasts with an earlier focus upon the Passion of Christ as the proper locus of sacramental attention” (1).

The idea of the Paschal Mystery has crept so easily into our modern theological mind that we did not notice its arrival in sacramentology. Of course the whole Christ, the whole life of Christ, the whole set of Christ’s actions effect our salvation, but Langevin wants to know how, and how that has been expressed in official teachings. Beginning with Mediator Dei he demonstrates that “for Pius XII, the Passion is more important and active than the Resurrection in the sacramental economy” (49). It was the death of Christ on the Cross that redeems us, and is meritoriously applied to us in the sacraments. So Langevin makes careful analysis of various paragraphs in Mediator Dei, organizing them around certain questions (sin and the virtue of religion, Christ’s priesthood, the sacraments in general, the Eucharist as sacrificial, the centrality of the Eucharist, Holy Communion, Christ’s current sacramental role, and liturgical representation of Christ’s mysteries). This organization by topical question allows the reader to juxtapose paragraphs for their greater clarity. At the time of this document’s writing sacramentology was not focused upon the Paschal Mystery, instead only on the Passion.

If the Paschal Mystery receives more attention, what exactly does it involve? Langevin reminds us that we need to ask that very question. At maximum, it has been defined as including the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost, but this broadest application is rarely applied. At minimum, though, the idea of “Paschal sacraments” (... quos sacramentis paschalibus satiasti) has included both the Passion and Resurrection, and the second in this binary pairing is brought to conscious application by Sacrosanctum Concilium. Langevin helpfully researches the background notes of the conciliar drafting commission so he can guide us through this document, maintaining a chronological ordering of citations. For example, an objection was lodged by three Council fathers at the mention of the Resurrection in a reference to the Paschal Mystery because, they said, “the Sacraments do not derive their power from the Resurrection, but from the Passion and Death of Christ.” The conciliar drafting commission had to respond. “It is true that the Passion and Death of Christ alone...