The Holy Sacraments
IN the words of
Catechism, "A sacrament is an outward sign of inward grace, ordained by
Jesus Christ, by which grace is given to our souls."
More fully, a sacrament many be defined as an outward sign of
a corresponding invisible grace, ordained by Jesus Christ as a permanent
means in the Church, and which by virtue of Christ's infinite merits, has
power to convey to the worthy receiver the grace which it signifies.
The object of the sacraments is to apply the fruit of Our
Savior's Redemption to men, by conveying, through their means, to our
souls either the "habitual grace" of justification, or an increase of the
same and a pouring in of other graces, or the recovery of justification
when lost.
The Catholic Church teaches that there are truly and properly
seven, and only seven sacraments of the New Law, instituted by Jesus
Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not
all of them necessary for every person, as, for instance, Holy Orders and
Matrimony.
The seven sacraments are:
Baptism, by which we are made Christians, children of God, and
members of His holy Church.
Confirmation, by which we receive the Holy Ghost, to make us
strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Holy Eucharist, which is the true body and blood, with the
soul and the divinity, of Jesus Christ, under the appearances of bread and
wine.
Penance, by which the sins that we commit after Baptism are
forgiven.
Extreme Unction, which in serious or
dangerous illness comforts the soul, remits sin, and restores health of
body, if God sees it to be expedient.
Holy Orders, by which the Priests of the Church are ordained.
Matrimony, the sacrament which signifies the union by marriage
of man and woman.
Each of these has the three conditions necessary for a
sacrament understood in the strict sense of the word, namely, the outward
sign, the inward grace, and the institution by Jesus Christ, who alone has
the power to institute sacraments, that is, outward signs as means of
grace.
The bishops and priests are the ministers of the sacraments.
"The holy sacraments derive their effectiveness not from the ministers,
but from Christ; hence, no account is to be taken of the worthiness or
sinfulness of the minister. The sacraments are not any more true and holy
because they are dispensed by a pious minister, for of themselves they are
true and holy on account of the true and holy God whose property they are"
(St. Augustine).
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism
WE have seen, in
speaking of original sin, how the loss of original justice or grace
produces on the soul of man a stain which we call original sin, and which
forms the misery of man's fallen state.
It was therefore the part of Our Savior not only to purchase
our Redemption by His death on Calvary, but to apply to each man the
saving fruit of His Redemption by bestowing upon him a gift that would
make up for this dire calamity.
Jesus Christ applies His most precious blood freely, and not
for any merit or work in the receiver, by bestowing upon him in Baptism
justifying grace, pardon of original sin, and in the case of a grown-up
person, of actual sins, if he be guilty of any, and be sorry for them.
The stains of these sins are washed away in holy Baptism, and he becomes a
friend and child of God and heir to the kingdom of heaven. Hence Baptism
is defined a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Jesus Christ for the
spiritual regeneration of man.
Baptism is a sacrament absolutely necessary for all, without
which no one can enter into the kingdom of God, for Jesus Christ has
said: "Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and
the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John iii. 5).
Hence it was not enough for Saul of Tarsus, converted on the
road to Damascus (Acts ix. 18), and for the chamberlain of Queen Candace,
met on the road by Philip the deacon (Acts viii, 38), to believe; they had
to be baptized in order to obtain remission of their sins, and thus be in
the way of salvation; therefore in the Nicene Creed we say: "I acknowledge
one Baptism for the remission of sins."
So all-important is the sanctifying grace given in holy
Baptism that God affords to man everywhere the utmost facility in
obtaining it. Water is at hand almost always: and in case of necessity, a
layman, a woman, or even a child having the intention to baptize, can
administer Baptism, by pouring common water on the head of the child or
grown-up person, and saying at the same time in any language: "I baptize
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Martyrdom supplies the place of ordinary Baptism by water, and
is called Baptism of blood. God indeed grants this justifying grace to
every one who, believing the necessary Christian truths, sincerely desires
Baptism, and does his best to procure it, but who dies before he can
receive it. This is called Baptism of desire.
Baptism, like Confirmation and Holy Orders, can be received
only once, because each of these sacraments impresses a character or mark
on the soul, which will remain forever.
In order that grown-up persons having the use of reason may
receive this sacrament worthily and profitably, they must believe and
profess their belief in the necessary articles of the Christian faith—they
must have trust in the mercy and merits of Christ, and be sorry for their
sins; being assisted in so doing by actual grace, which God grants to
every one, and without which no one can move a single step toward heaven.
In Baptism all infants, without any disposition on their part
being required, are cleansed from the stain of original sin, taken into
God's favor, made members of the Christ's mystical body, and heirs of the
kingdom of heaven. They are thus regenerated, that is, in Our Savior's
own words, "born again of water and the Holy Ghost" (John iii. 5). They
have contracted the stain of original sin without their knowledge and
personal cooperation, and they are freed from sin without their knowledge;
and the dispositions necessary for grown-up persons art not required from
them; for infants are incapable of any reasoning act. As infants are made
heirs to earthly property before they are capable of consenting to receive
it, so also in holy Baptism infants are made heirs of heaven before they
are capable of consenting to be baptized: their consent in both cases is
justly presumed.
But, though Baptism suffices to have a child in the state of
infancy, yet as soon as it comes to the use of reason the Baptism which it
receives will not by itself suffice for its salvation; when grown, he or
she must, besides, believe and profess to believe the principal articles
of faith, must hope in God, and must love Him with the whole heart, that
is to say, he or she must make acts of faith, of hope, and of charity; and
for any sins committed before Baptism, an act of contrition is also
required. Without all this, Baptism will not suffice.
The Sacrament of Confirmation
CONFIRMATION is a
sacrament in which, by the laying on of the bishop's hands, jointed with
anointing and prayer, the baptized Christian is strengthened by the Holy
Ghost, in order that he may profess his faith bravely, and live in
accordance with its maxims.
The outward signs of the Sacrament of Confirmation are to be
found in the layin gon of hands, in the anointing with chrism by the
bishop, together with his words, "I sign thee with the sign of the cross,
and strengthen thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
The invisible graces bestowed by Confirmation are : 1. An
increase of sanctifying grace; for through it we receive the Holy Ghost
and with Him the fullness of grace; 2. It imparts to us a special power
and strength for our struggle against vice, and for the bold profession of
our faith; 3. It impresses upon us an indelible character as soldiers of
Jesus Christ. By Baptism we became Christians and children of Christ, but
by Confirmation we become soldiers of Christ and defender of God's truth.
Thus Confirmation is, in a certain sense, a perfection or complement of
Baptism.
The effects of Confirmation are expressed by St. Paul in these
words: "He that confirmeth us with you in Christ, and that hath anointed
us, in God: who also hath sealed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in
our hearts" (2 Cor. i. 21, 22).
Lastly, Confirmation was instituted by Jesus Christ. This we
know from Holy Scripture, and from the constant teaching of the Church.
According to Scripture, the apostles administered Confirmation (Acts
viii).
The Sacrament of the Altar
THE Blessed Eucharist,
or Sacrament of the Altar, is the true body and true blood of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, which, under the appearances of bread and wine, are really
and truly present for the nourishment of our souls.
This sacrament is known by several names. It is called the
Sacrament of the Altar, because it is accomplished and preserved on the
altar. It is named Eucharist—a word meaning excellent gift—because it is
the most precious gift of God. It is called the Blessed Sacrament,
because it contains Jesus Christ, the most Blessed and All-holy One. It
is called the Body of Christ, because it contains the holy body of Our
Redeemer. It is also called the Bread of life, the Bread of angels, the
heavenly bread, because it nourishes the life of the soul, and contributes
to everlasting life, and because it comes from heaven and leads to
heaven. It is also termed the Lord's Supper, because it was instituted by
Our Lord at His last supper. It is also called the Table of the Lord,
because the Lord invites us all to the banquet and draws us to His feast.
Communion, also, because in receiving it as a sacrament we are united to
and commune with Christ. It is called the Viaticum, because it is a
spiritual food, that strengthens as on our passage from earth to the other
world. It is called the Precious Good, because there is on earth no other
good so deserving of our love and devotion. Again, we call it the
Sacrament of Love, for in it our divine Savior gives Himself to us, and
indeed in a most wonderful manner, to nourish our souls, while in all the
other sacraments He gives us only special graces.
In the Blessed Eucharist are to be found all the elements
necessary to constitute a sacrament.
In it are present:
1. The
visible sign, namely, the unleavened bread, the wine from the grape, and
the words, "This is My body, this is My blood."
2.
Invisible grace, Jesus Christ Himself, who is the author and dispenser of
all grace.
3.
Institution by Jesus Christ. For our blessed Lord ordained this sacrament
at His Last Supper, on the eve of His Passion and death. St. Paul's
account is: "The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed,
took bread, and giving thanks, broke and said: Take ye and eat: this is
My body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration
of Me. In like manner also the chalice after He had supped, saying: This
chalice is the new testament in My blood: this do ye as often as you shall
drink, for the commemoration of Me. For as often as you shall eat this
bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until He
come."
That the apostles believed and taught that in the Blessed
Eucharist the true body and true blood of Christ were present under the
forms and appearances of bread and wine, appears plainly from the words of
St. Paul: "The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not
the partaking of the body of the Lord?" (1 Cor. x. 16).
Such, too, was the belief and doctrine of the Catholic Church
at all times. This we learn from the ancient ritualistic prayers and
Church ceremonies, from all ecclesiastical history, from the decrees of
the councils, as well as from the endless testimony of the Fathers and
other Church writers. Thus writers, for example, away back in the
primitive ages of the Church, the holy bishop and martyr St. Ignatius to
the congregation of Smyrna about the heretics: "They withdraw themselves
from the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, because they do not
admit that it is the flesh of Our Redeemer Jesus Christ, the same which
suffered for our sins, and which the Father in His goodness raised up
again. Those who deny this gift die in their opposition and descend
without hope to perdition."
Finally, reason itself in its bearing on this doctrine shows
that the words of Christ, "This is My body, this is My blood," must
necessarily be understood in a literal sense, and that therefore the true
body and the true blood of Jesus Christ are present in the Blessed
Sacrament of the Altar under the forms and appearances of bread and wine.
Our divine Savior wished to leave us in this sacrament a special proof of
His divine love. What kind of a proof would it be if we had in that
sacrament nothing more than bread and wine? How would the partaking of
mere bread be profitable to the soul if it is not the flesh and blood of
Christ for the nourishment of that soul? Mere bread would be to the soul
what sawdust would be to the body.
In the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist Christ is present:
1. Truly
and really, and not figuratively, as Zwinglius pretended.
2.
Actually, and not by the belief, as Luther would have it.
3.
Essentially and substantially, with His divinity, humanity, flesh and
blood, body and soul, and not by simple grace, as Calvin taught.
Furthermore, Christ is present, not in, nor
with, nor under, the bread and wine, but under the forms and appearances
of bread and wine. In the Holy Eucharist, that which before the
consecration was bread and wine, after the consecration is truly and
essentially the body and blood of the Lord. For Jesus Christ did not
say: "This bread, or in this, or by this, or under this, is My body;" but
He said, "This is My body." That is, He declared that that which He held
in His hands was no longer bread, but His body.
Lastly, Christ is present in the Blessed
Eucharist permanently. For He also gave to His apostles the power to
change bread and wine into His sacred body and blood. This He did
likewise at the Last Supper, when He said to them, "This do ye in memory
of Me."
From the apostles this power was transmitted to the bishops
and priests, who exercise it during Mass, when they pronounce over the
bread and wine the words of Christ, "This is My body, this is My blood."
Hence, after these words of consecration there are no longer bread or wine
on the altar, but the true body and the true blood of Jesus Christ under
the forms of bread and wine. Christ is present not merely by and in the
partaking, as Luther held, but also as long after the consecration as the
species of the bread and the wine are present. As soon as Christ the Lord
had uttered the words, "This is My body, this is My blood," the body and
blood of Christ were present at once, and before the apostles received
it. For the verb is designates the present and not the past or
future tense. Christ did not say, "This will be My body, this will be My
blood," but "This is My body." Hence, it is so now and actually; and it
remains present as long as the species remain unchanged.
Christ is also present, wholly and undivided, under each form
or species, as well of the bread as of the wine, as He is wholly and
undivided in heaven. So that when the priest breaks the consecrated Host
and divides it, he breaks and divides the species only. In each part the
body of Christ is whole and living. This is clear from Sacred Scripture;
for Christ blessed, not each separate particle that He gave to the
apostle, but He blessed the whole of the bread at once, and then
distributed it among them. This is more clearly expressed when speaking
of the chalice, when Christ, in reaching it to His apostles, said: "Take
and divide it among you" (Luke xxii. 17). When the disciples doubted the
possibility of this thing, Jesus asked them: "Do you not yet understand,
neither do you remember the five loaves among five thousand men?" (Matt.
xvi. 9).
There is, indeed, no article of the Catholic faith which rests
on stronger Bible evidence than the doctrine of the real presence of
Christ in the Eucharist. The Old Testament is full of its promises and
intimations, but the New Testament is sufficient to banish every doubt
concerning it. The four Evangelists speak of the Eucharist explicitly,
and St. Paul bears witness to the strong belief of the early Christians in
this great dogma. St. John (vi. 28-70) records the loving promise of
Christ, made a year before His death, that He would give to all who
believe in Him His own body as a heavenly food, a life-giving bread. The
other three Evangelists, St. Matthew (xxvi), St. Mark (xiv), and St. Luke
(xxii), give us the fulfillment of that august promise. The words of
institution are simple and transparent. The solemnity of the hour allows
no figure of speech.
If ever Our Lord had to be plain in His words, it was on this
momentous occasion when He gave the greatest gift to mankind. We have no
right to correct His words; we must accept them in their plain, literal
sense; for they are used with a pointed reference; they are applied to the
object visibly present. Our Lord made use of His sovereign power as God
and changed bread and wine into His flesh and blood.
The tabernacle on our altar is the dwelling-place of God among
men, as described in Revelation: "He will dwell with them, and they shall
be His people: and God Himself with them shall be their God" (Apoc. xxi.
3). Now, as Jesus Christ is truly and essentially present in the Blessed
Sacrament, we are bound to adore Him in that sacred mystery. For Christ
is God, and to God belongs worship. It stands written: "The Lord thy God
shalt thou adore" (Matt. iv. 10).
The Church not only keeps the Blessed Sacrament constantly in
the tabernacle but permits it to be exposed for our adoration. This is
done in many churches principally on Thursdays, to commemorate the day on
which the Blessed Sacrament was instituted. It is also done at the
devotion of the Forty Hours. This last mode of honoring the Blessed
Sacrament was introduced at first without the exposition, by a Milanese
Capuchin friar named St. Joseph, in the year 1556, in commemoration of the
forty hours during which the body of the Savior rested in the sepulcher.
In the year 1560 Pope Pius IV approved a proposition of a confraternity in
Rome to hold a devotion of forty hours in remembrance of the forty days
spent by Christ in the desert. Even here there was not a word about
exposition. It was not till near the close of the sixteenth century that
the Forty Hours' devotion with solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
came into practice.
The Church endeavors also to keep alive our devotion to the
Blessed Sacrament by allowing it to be, from time to time, carried in
solemn procession. More especially is this the case in the grand and
solemn procession of Corpus Christi day.
In order to afford people an opportunity of manifesting their
love for and belief in this sacrament, it is sometimes carried to the sick
with much ceremony and solemnity. (See the Mass, Lent, Corpus Christi,
and Indulgences.)
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