Fede e sacramenti. L’insegnamento della tradizione
Faith and Sacraments. The Teaching of Tradition

Summary/Abstract: There are many negative phenomena in the sacramental life which point out to a disturbed relationship between lived faith and the sacraments. On one hand, we see a growing decrease of attendance to the sacraments in the western world. On the other hand, the sacramental practice in the western world is often not a conscious expression of faith. We see many flaws from the point of view of the fides qua and from that of the fides quae as well. The explanation of the faith-sacraments relationship has become an urgent question. We should deal with the topic in the actual context of the Church, but in the light of the Church’s tradition. First of all it is very useful to analyze the works of the Fathers (cfr. chapters I, II, III). The Fathers are witnesses of the faith of the first centuries vitally in¬serted in the tradition which derives from the Apostles. In fact they have joined together sacred scripture, theology, liturgy, spiritual and pastoral life in a vital unity through which their works can help us and also the Church of the third millenium. The pristina Sancto¬rum Patrum norma (cfr. SC 50) is to be considered the norm and the inspiring rule for the Church of today as well. Also the scholastic synthesis (Thomas Aquinas) helps us to give an answer to our main question. In the explanation of St. Thomas we find a clear thesis as a point of departure: “The Church is founded upon faith and its sacraments”, and expressly qualifies the sacraments as sacramenta fidei. We should also know the Reformation and the teaching of the Council of Trent. We will see that the historic analysis of the relation-ship between faith and the sacraments helps us to find the answer to the subject of the Church’s problem in our days. As a final conclusion it is worth analyzing the Sacrosanctum concilium n. 59.

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