Heaven Opens: The Trinitarian Mysticism of Adrienne von Speyr

9. The Trinitarian Origin of the Sacraments

9 The Trinitarian Origin of the Sacraments According to von Speyr’s Trinitarian mysticism, the sacraments and prayer have their origin (Ursprung) in the triune relations. For her, everything ecclesial and Christian has it origin in the Father’s and Son’s relation of love in the Holy Spirit. Von Speyr displays how thoroughly Trinitarian her mysticism is in many ecclesial and Christian topics. The two Christian topics that seem most profound and unique to von Speyr are the Trinitarian origins of the sacraments and prayer. A full presentation of her extensive understanding of the sacraments and prayer are beyond the scope of this investigation. Instead, I will synthesize these topics as they have Trinitarian import and content. For von Speyr, the sacraments and prayer are precisely where the Christian encounters the Trinity. This chapter will focus on the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church as an extension of the Holy Spirit’s mission of obedience, as described in the previous chapter. I will examine each sacrament, but confession and Eucharist will receive the most extensive treatment. The next chapter will focus on prayer—specifically, contemplative prayer. For von Speyr, the Son, in the Holy Spirit, stands before the Father in the attitude of prayer. Human entrance into the Trinity is indeed through the church, but more precisely, it is through the sacraments and prayer that one enters into the Trinity, because these mysteries have their complete origin in the Trinity. Heaven remains open after the ascension. The Holy Spirit guarantees the open heaven because there is much more to be done on earth. This occurs particularly in the sacraments. The sacraments elevate the people to heaven because they come from heaven.1 The Trinity “has not just brought snippets of heavenly existence to earth in the sacraments.”2 They are not just hints, or 1. Von Speyr, Pf, 92–93. 209 even a sense of the existence of the heavenly world. Rather, the Trinity in the sacraments “has actually elevated the faithful right into eternity.”3 They are the quiet marching entrance of the faithful into heaven. Being instituted by the Son, the sacraments present him and his Father in the Holy Spirit to the world. Each in its own way, the seven sacraments bring earth to heaven because they have, in the missions of the Son and Holy Spirit, first come from heaven to earth. The sacraments manifest a twofold reciprocal flow. There is the species from earth, but there is also the substance of heaven.4 There is the descent of God from heaven and the heaven present in the sacraments taking the world back to heaven. The sacraments are the outward gift of heaven to humanity and the inward return of humans to heaven.5 They admit the faithful into the Trinity because they have come from the Trinity. The seven sacraments are of a piece with the Son’s words of the cross. In ultimate obedience to the Father, the Son on the cross gives the love he has with the Father to the world in his seven words that overflow into the church as the seven sacraments.6 The words and sacraments spring from the Son’s intimacy with the Father in the Holy Spirit, and they lead to this triune relation of love.7 The sacraments come from the Son and contain the Son. The words come from the Word and express the Word. Born from the Trinity, the sacraments bring the world back into the triune relations of love. I. Confession There is much to be said regarding von Speyr’s mysticism on confession.8 After some introductory comments on her mysticism of confession, this section examines the sacrament of confession as having its origin in the triune relations. The importance of her thoughts on this sacrament for her Trinitarian mysticism cannot be overstated. For von Speyr, people search for confession of necessity.9 If a person comprehends, in however primitive a fashion, that he or she stands before 2. Von Speyr, GG, 29. 3. Ibid. 4. Von Speyr, K, 34. 5. Ibid. 6. Von Speyr, Kw, 11. 7. Ibid., 12. 8. Schmidt’s dissertation examines this significant topic and its christological foundation. William Schmidt, The Sacrament of Confession as Sequela Christi in the Writings of Adrienne von Speyr, STD diss., Lateran Pontifical University, John Paul II Institute of Studies on Marriage and Family (Rome, 1999). 210 | Heaven Opens God...