Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 27th Sunday of Ordinary time.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The sacraments in general are treated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church in at least seven (7) passages. The following is a reflection on article 1131.
Catholics who learned the faith with the help of the Baltimore Catechism No. 3 may well recall question 574: What is a Sacrament? A Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. The Baltimore Catechism is an example of the literary genre called a “minor catechism” insofar as it asks and answers questions little by little as distinct from the literary genre of the “major catechism” such as the Catechism of the Council of Trent and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Baltimore Catechism was the fruit of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, Maryland, USA (1884) and was a domestic attempt at implementing the Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545–1563). The Catechism of the Catholic Church for its part is an attempt to implement the Second Ecumenical Council at the Vatican (1962–1965), specifically the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, Christus Dominus, 13 (28 October, 1965), which directs the bishops to ensure that the faithful are guarded in and taught to both defend and propagate Christian doctrine. The seven sacraments are a major part of Christian doctrine.
The threefold definition of what a sacrament is found in the Baltimore Catechism has a sevenfold complement in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which we consider here.
Identifying the sacraments as efficacious signs of grace highlights the fact that the sacraments give the graces they are intended to give and do what they say they do. Upon reception of Baptism, one is baptized. Upon exchanging the vows of Holy Marriage, the husband and wife are married. Upon the pronunciation of the words of consecration in the Mass the bread and wine are changed into Christ’s body, blood, soul and divinity.
We believe that the sacraments were instituted by Christ. The seven sacraments are not mere human inventions. We believe that the sacraments were confided to the Church by Christ as guardian, to both safeguard and dispense. We believe that the sacraments give us a share in divine life, primarily by God’s grace given to us.
The sacraments are celebrated with visible rites such as the pouring of water, the making of the sign of the Cross, the elevation of the consecrated bread and wine. This is because we are not just spiritual creatures, but body/soul composites.
The proper graces of each sacrament are both signified and realized in the visible rite. The husband and the wife, the bread and the wine, the water and the oil, these are all visible aspects of the particular sacramental rites and manifest the graces proper to the various sacraments.
Sacraments received by those who are properly disposed bear fruit. If we are not well disposed to receive the sacraments yet approach anyway, they are received sacrilegiously and unto condemnation (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:27–29).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr