71. doc. Chr. 3.9.13; CCL 32.85. 72. s. 272; PL 38.1247.
216 Ecclesial Reception of the Divine Life body torn asunder by heresy and schism.69 Augustine's love of the truth and his love of Christ's mystical body on earth cannot be separated: for both reflect the unity of the triune life and both attest to the single person Christ wishes to form in his own.
Christ's Sacramental Economy:
Baptism and Eucharist
The sacraments for Augustine are the created media through which God imparts his grace, being the primary means of humanity's incorporation into the mystical body of Christ. A sacrament must be a similitudo of the divine reality which it signifies and therefore the liturgical rite often receives the name of the reality itself: the Eucharistic liturgy is rightly called the sacrifice and the waters of baptism are referred to as the gift of faith.70 Similar to his notion of the church, Augustine's understanding of what constitutes a sacrament begins quite broadly. With its etymological character consistently retained, a sacrament is something sacred (sacer) which has been made perceptibly manifest and divinely instituted (signum diuinitus institutum).71 A sacrament does not simply point us to a deeper, spiritual reality but rather is something corporeally present effecting spiritual fruit (speciem habet corporalem, quod intelligetur, fructum habet spiritalem).72 A sacrament for Augustine hence contains two inseparable elements: the created visible reality which is encountered bodily and the invisible divine grace which is received spiritually. If the church existed before the incarnate Christ, should it surprise us that his sacraments also somehow existed?
Throughout the history of salvation, God has used many visible signs to elevate the soul. Augustine can therefore eas-
69. Cf. s. 250.3. 70. Cf. ep. 98.9. 71. doc. Chr. 3.9.13; CCL 32.85. 72. s. 272; PL 38.1247.