The Prayer Book: XI

Stages of Life: Living & Dying among the Saints

In the Pastoral Offices of the Book of Common Prayer, we learn to live this life as a Christian life. Our life is lived in the world, but it is a life set apart from the world; a life of faith and sacraments. The stages of life are celebrated within the context of the faith. We find ourselves living and dying among the saints, experiencing the stages of life in communion with the whole people of God. From the celebration of birth to the funeral at death, we find the way in which the Church, together as one people, approaches the stages of our lives in light of Christ.
First, we are led into an affirmation of the faith and full reception into the church at our Confirmation. In confirmation, we renounce evil; we confess faith in the one true God: Father Son, and Holy Spirit; we affirm our resolve to follow the apostolic teaching and live a Christ-like life.
Secondly, in the liturgy for a marriage we enter another stage of the Christian life, where we learn the mystery of the union between a husband and a wife, its significance as a reflection of Christ and His Church, and the indissoluble nature of the consecrated covenant as set forth and sealed by God.
Thirdly, the Prayer Book offers us a recognition of the stage of life in which we thank God for the blessing of new life. This calls to mind the fact that God is the Author of Life and the God of the Living, who has revealed himself as a giver of life both in birth and in baptism. This means that the life that is lived in Christ must be "pro-life"; it must honor life as a precious gift of God, and must cherish those lives with which God has entrusted us.
The fourth stage of life for which the Prayer Book provides direction is actually a continual stage throughout our lives, in which we need forgiveness and reconciliation to God. As sinners, the Prayer Book offers a liturgy for us to experience the grace of God through confession and reconciliation. Confessing our sins to God and to the priest whom God has called into his service, we receive a physical manifestation of the grace of Christ's forgiveness in a way that we cannot attain by personal and private confession. By confessing to the priest, we receive assurance from one who represents the Church, who has been invested with the authority to bind and loose (Matt. 18:18), to forgive or retain sins (John 20:23). We receive the audible assurance of the forgiveness of our sins, and the pronounced blessing and priestly affirmation of a renewed state of grace. Through the priest, we hear the words of Christ: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50).
The Fifth stage which the Prayer Book sets apart for the Church to work among its people is the time of suffering and illness. Through this we are reminded that Christ came not only telling the Good News, but healing the sick and raising the dead; that he sent the Apostles not only to preach, but to drive out demons and heal the sick. We recognize in our time of need that we have a Lord who offers healing and peace. We are also confronted with our call as disciples to extend that healing to others through works of mercy among the sick and dying.
Finally, we learn through the Prayer Book that the Christian life remains a Christian life even in death. In the Rite of Burial, we find an affirmation of faith in the resurrection of the dead and of Christ as the Victor over death. We recall that the faithful who die, died long ago in baptism, and it was at that time that we recieved the new life in which they have now entered. We recall that our trust is in Christ, and that we belong to him, and will rise with him. So then, we do not mourn as others mourn, as those who have no hope in the resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13); rather, we know that "if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s" (Romans 14:8).
All of this teaches us that the Christian life must be lived as a Sacramental life in every stage; that in every aspect of our lives, our life has been set apart as Holy, for we are the hagios of God; that in a very real way our life is a Catholic life, connected through the work of the Church to all the people of God, saints past and present. A life that is lived among the saints, that is Sacramental, Holy, and Catholic - that is a Life lived in Christ.