By DON FIER
Each of the seven sacraments, according to the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, was personally instituted by Christ during His visible stay on Earth. As we saw last week, the details of institution for some — even the precise words for administration — are taken directly from Scripture. However, as Christoph Cardinal Schönborn states in Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Sacraments, “We cannot for each and every sacrament locate an exact point in time when our Lord instituted it” (p. 21).
Nonetheless, for each of the seven sacraments “we possess at least a clear apostolic tradition, and such a tradition must be traced back to Christ himself” (Johann Auer and Joseph Ratzinger, Dogmatic Theology, p. 85).
We also saw last week that the Church teaches that the sacraments are efficacious ex opere operato, “by the very fact of the action’s being performed” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], n. 1128). In other words, if validly administered and no impediment exists on the part of the recipient, “the sacraments confer the grace that they signify . . . because in them Christ himself is at work” (CCC, n. 1127).
The personal holiness of the minister does not stand in the way of the efficacy of the sacrament: “Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting” (CCC, n. 1584). It is also important to understand, however, that “the fruits of the sacraments depend on the disposition of the one who receives them” (CCC, n. 1128).
In closing last week, it was mentioned that it is possible to divide the seven sacraments into different categories. One such classification is the sacraments of the living and the sacraments of the dead.
Sacraments of the living are designated as such because one must possess spiritual life (i.e., be in the state of sanctifying grace) to receive them worthily and fruitfully. They include: Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
On the other hand, sacraments of the dead include Baptism and Penance, both of which are received when one is spiritually dead. Baptism is necessary for the remittance of original sin and Penance for the forgiveness of mortal sins committed subsequent to Baptism. The soul of the recipient, in the case of Baptism, receives sanctifying grace for the first time; the Sacrament of Penance restores sanctifying grace to a baptized person who has forfeited it by committing mortal sin. Reception of the Sacrament of Penance, of course, is encouraged when one is not in the state of mortal sin, in which case sanctifying grace already present in one’s soul is increased.
A second classification consists of the sacraments of initiation, healing, and vocation or service.
Sacraments of initiation include Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist and are so named because they “lay the foundations of every Christian life” (CCC, n. 1212). In his 1971 apostolic constitution entitled Divinae consortium naturae, Blessed Pope Paul VI expanded on the importance of these three sacraments:
“The sharing in the divine nature which is granted to men through the grace of Christ has a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and finally are sustained by the food of eternal life in the Eucharist. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of divine life and advance towards the perfection of charity.”
The sacraments of healing — Penance and Anointing of the Sick — are so named because they restore our souls to spiritual health. Likewise, the sacraments of vocation or service — Matrimony and Holy Orders — are named as such because they equip us with the special graces necessary to fully live our vocation and to more perfectly love and serve one another. The sacraments of initiation and healing have as their primary purpose the perfection of the individual whereas Matrimony and Holy Orders are especially ordered toward the perfection of society (cf. Fr. John Laux, Mass and the Sacraments [MaS], p. 5).
Another category by which the sacraments can be classified is according to those that can be received once and only once and those that can be received more than once. The Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders imprint upon the soul an indelible mark (or character or seal). This spiritual seal, “by which the Christian shares in Christ’s priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions . . . remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church” (CCC, n. 1121).
The spiritual mark consists in a special consecration or dedication to God and is not effaced even by mortal sin. As articulated by Fr. Laux, “Baptism stamps the recipient indelibly as a citizen of the Kingdom of Christ; Confirmation, as a soldier of Christ; [and] Holy Orders, as a captain in the army of Christ. . . . [The indelible mark] will either add to our glory in Heaven, or to our misery in Hell” (MaS, p. 6).
In his general audience of March 25, 1992, Pope St. John Paul II, while citing St. Thomas Aquinas, taught that the indelible character that is impressed upon the souls of the recipients of these three sacraments “is a ‘spiritual power’ which enables the baptized to participate in the Church’s worship as her recognized and assembled members, especially in the Eucharistic sacrifice.”
The Holy Father further explained that although the sacramental sign is spiritual and invisible, its effects are visible in the words and deeds of many faithful Christians who cooperate with the manifold graces they have received.
The other four sacraments can be received multiple times. This is especially true of Penance and Holy Eucharist, which can be received frequently, even on a daily basis. How fortunate are those who are able to attend daily Mass and receive our Lord in Holy Communion each day! Also blessed are those who receive the Sacrament of Penance frequently as a means to overcome daily faults and imperfections and to grow in holiness.
In an excellent volume entitled Catholicism & Life: Commandments and Sacraments, Fr. Edward Hayes, Msgr. Paul Hayes, and James Drummey lament the regularity with which such a great opportunity is neglected in today’s world in deference to attending to one’s physical well-being:
“People today go to amazing lengths, and put themselves through agonizing regimens, to regain or preserve their physical health. But how many of these same people will not take even routine and ordinary steps to regain or preserve their spiritual health?” (p. 150).
How unfortunate this is — our time on Earth is but a fleeting moment compared to eternity.
Future Glory
Let us now look more closely at the effects of the sacraments. Two types of grace are given when a sacrament is worthily received. As we have already seen, sanctifying grace is given or increased with each fruitful reception of any of the sacraments. Moreover, a special actual grace, referred to as sacramental grace, is attached to each sacrament, “which enables the recipient to obtain the end for which the sacrament was instituted . . . [and] is given according as circumstances demand, not merely at the time of the reception of the sacrament” (MaS, p. 7). It is “the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament” (CCC, n. 1129).
As an example, let us consider the Sacrament of Matrimony. Received worthily, it provides a powerhouse of graces which gives the man and woman entering into marriage the strength to sacrificially give themselves for the good of the other, joyfully carry out their duties, generously accept children as gifts from God, and educate and form their offspring so they will build up the Kingdom of God on Earth.
The sacramental grace of Matrimony provides the divine means to truly live out their vows to be true to one another in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, and to love and honor one another until death do they part.
The Catechism closes this first section on doctrine that is common to all seven sacraments by reminding us that they are the means God has provided for the members of the Mystical Body of Christ to attain eternal salvation. It fittingly ends with a noteworthy quotation from the Angelic Doctor that sums up the various aspects of the sacramental signs: “Therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it — Christ’s Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ’s Passion — grace; and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us — future glory” (Summa Theologiae III, Q. 60, art. 3; as cited in CCC, n. 1130).
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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