The Sacraments

The sacraments are the seven signs instituted by Christ, by which he communicates his grace to those who receive them. Each one employs elements that can be seen, touched or heard: water, oil, bread, the imposition of hands, the words pronounced. Through them, Christ touches man’s life at its decisive moments, from birth to death. The Church has discerned seven of them, all received from the Lord.

What a sacrament is

A sacrament is an efficacious sign of grace: a visible gesture that invisibly produces what it represents. The water of baptism washes the soul of sin; the bread of the Eucharist becomes the body of Christ. All draw their power from the Passion: the grace they communicate was won at Calvary. The rites of the Old Covenant announced this grace and disposed to it; the sacraments of Christ contain it and give it, for they draw it from the Passion already accomplished. The Church has always read in it the figure of the sacraments, in the open side of the Crucified. “But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side: and immediately there came out blood and water.” John 19:34

Instituted by Christ

Christ alone could attach grace to a sign, for it comes from him: the Church does not create the sacraments, she administers what she has received. Each of the seven goes back to a word or a gesture of the Lord. He baptized through his disciples and sent them to baptize all nations; he promised the Holy Spirit and poured him out on his own, the gift the Church communicates through confirmation; he changed the bread into his body at the Supper and commanded it to be repeated; at that same Supper he made the Apostles the priests of the new covenant, charged with renewing this gesture; he gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins; he sent his own to anoint the sick with oil to raise them up; he raised the union of man and woman to the rank of a sign of his covenant. The command of baptism gives the model. “Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:19 And in each sacrament, it is still he who acts: it is Christ who baptizes, who forgives, who nourishes, by the hand of his ministers. These seven the Church has held from him since the beginning; she has kept their number and defined their list against those who reduced them, professing that there are seven sacraments, neither more nor fewer, all instituted by Christ.

Matter, form and minister

Every sacrament unites three elements. The matter is the sensible thing employed: the water of baptism, the oil of confirmation and of anointing, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the imposition of hands of Holy Orders. The form is made of the words that fix the meaning of the gesture and say what it accomplishes; the word is joined to the element, and the sacrament is there. The minister, finally, performs the sign in the name of Christ, lending his voice and his hands to the one who truly acts. Together, these three make the sacrament.

Signs that act by the power of Christ

The sacrament gives grace by the very fact that it is performed, what tradition calls acting ex opere operato, “by the very fact of the act performed,” because it is Christ who acts in it. It is his power that makes it fruitful: an unworthy minister baptizes as validly as a saint, for the gift comes from Christ, by the hand of the man. “neither he that planteth is any thing, nor he that watereth: but God that giveth the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:7

The disposition of the one who receives

The gift is offered by the act itself, and it meets a freedom. On the side of the one who receives it, the fruit of the sacrament calls for an open heart, ready to welcome it: faith, repentance, the desire for grace dispose one to receive it fully. An obstacle can hold it back: whoever approaches without faith, or attached to grave sin, receives the sacrament validly, without gathering its fruit, and may even turn it against himself. “he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 11:29 Grace waits for man to make room for it.

Grace and character

Every sacrament gives grace, in different ways. Each first confers sanctifying grace, that participation in the life of God which makes the soul live, and with it a proper grace, fitted to what it accomplishes: to be born, to be nourished, to be forgiven, to be sent. Three sacraments imprint besides on the soul a character, a spiritual seal that configures one to Christ for ever: baptism, confirmation and Holy Orders. “Who also hath sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Corinthians 1:22 This seal is never effaced; that is why these three sacraments are received only once.

The sacraments of Christian initiation

Three sacraments give birth and growth to the Christian life. Baptism gives rebirth as a child of God and erases sin. Confirmation gives the Holy Spirit in fullness, to strengthen and send to bear witness. The Eucharist nourishes with the flesh and blood of Christ and completes the initiation. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, no one can enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5

The sacraments of healing

Two sacraments raise up the Christian wounded by sin or illness. Confession remits the sins committed after baptism and reconciles with God. The anointing of the sick sustains the one whom grave illness afflicts, remits his sins and unites his suffering to that of Christ. “that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins… Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.” Matthew 9:6

The sacraments at the service of communion

Two sacraments order one to the service of others and to the mission. Holy Orders establishes bishops, priests and deacons to lead and sanctify the people of God. Marriage unites a man and a woman for life, and makes their love the living sign of the union of Christ and the Church. “This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the church.” Ephesians 5:32 Received for the good of all, they build the community of believers.

The sacramentals

Beside the seven, the Church has instituted other sacred signs, the sacramentals: the blessings of persons, places and objects, the consecrations, holy water, the exorcisms. They do not confer grace by themselves, as the sacraments do, but dispose one to receive it and sanctify the circumstances of life by the prayer of the Church. “For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” 1 Timothy 4:5