Lesson 19 - What is a Sacrament

(Lesson 19)

What is a Sacrament?

”If I only touch his garment, I shall be made well” Matthew 9:21

Discussion Guide:

A sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Jesus Christ to give us grace. There are seven sacraments. They are Baptism, Reconciliation (Confession), Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, and Holy Orders. Each of the sacraments involves a physical and tangible symbol such as oil, bread, or water. These elements along with the verbal formulas that go along with them are known as form and matter. These physical realities are outward signs of invisible and spiritual realities. In the case of Holy Eucharist the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Supernatural grace is given to the receiver of the sacrament.

Throughout the time of his public ministry, Jesus often used tangible signs and words to give grace and to give healing. Being God, he is aware of the need for human beings to apply their physical senses in spiritual matters. Rather than just “think the words”, Jesus chose to say the words. In addition to saying the words, he often used bodily gestures such as laying his hands on people and looking up to heaven. He used physical matter and taught his apostles to do the same. He taught them to baptize with water, anoint with oil, and lay hands on people. God chose to work through the use of the physical world as well as the spiritual world. Even in the Old Testament, we see God using physical matter to demonstrate his power and to bestow graces upon his people. For example, God made Adam out of the dust of the earth and he commanded the Israelites to offer animal sacrifices for the atonement of sins.

Many people have the impression that if a priest is in sin, the sacraments he administers are not valid. This is not true. The sacraments work because of the power of Jesus Christ working through the priest. They work by the very fact of the action being performed (ex opere operato, CCC 1128) Five of the seven sacraments require a validly ordained priest. A layperson may perform baptism in an emergency and the sacrament of marriage is conferred by the couple themselves upon each other (CCC 1623).

Discussion Points:

· The sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ to give us grace

· The way of administering the sacraments has developed over the centuries

· There always were, and always will be seven sacraments

· The sacraments are not just symbolic

· The sacraments actually do what they symbolize

· Even if the priest is in mortal sin, the sacraments still give grace

· The right dispositions are needed for the grace of the sacraments to be effective

· The sacraments of the Church are necessary for salvation (CCC 1129)

Sacrosanctum Concilium

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Second Vatican Council

6. Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This He did that, by preaching the gospel to every creature, they might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His Father. His purpose also was that they might accomplish the work of salvation which they had proclaimed, by means of sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves. Thus by baptism men are plunged into the paschal mystery of Christ: they die with Him, are buried with Him, and rise with Him; they receive the spirit of adoption as sons "in which we cry: Abba, Father" (Rom. 8 :15), and thus become true adorers whom the Father seeks. In like manner, as often as they eat the supper of the Lord they proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. For that reason, on the very day of Pentecost, when the Church appeared before the world, "those who received the word" of Peter "were baptized." And "they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread and in prayers . . . praising God and being in favor with all the people" (Acts 2:41-47). From that time onwards the Church has never failed to come together to celebrate the paschal mystery: reading those things "which were in all the scriptures concerning him" (Luke 24:27), celebrating the eucharist in which "the victory and triumph of his death are again made present", and at the same time giving thanks "to God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15) in Christ Jesus, "in praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:12), through the power of the Holy Spirit.

7. To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, "the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross", but especially under the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).

Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord, and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father.
Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members.

From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which .s the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.

What is a Sacrament?

”If I only touch his garment, I shall be made well” Matthew 9:21

Opening Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we praise You, worship You, and give You all honor and glory. Thank You for giving us the sacraments as a visible sign of Your love for us. Thank You for giving us these vessels of grace and forgiveness to help us on our way to heaven. Amen

Theme:

Jesus Christ instituted the seven sacraments as a means of giving us grace. Form and matter are what make up the physical reality which is an outward sign of a true spiritual reality. The sacraments work “by the very fact of the action's being performed”.

Bible Readings:

John 9:5-7 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

John 11:41-42 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me."

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

1 Timothy 5:21-22 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without favor, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor participate in another man's sins; keep yourself pure.

Explanation of the Bible Readings: Jesus does not have to use outward signs to perform miracles. He does it for our benefit. Christ instituted the sacraments for our benefit also. In John 9:5, Jesus anoints the eyes of a blind man and then tells him to perform a specific action to be healed. He makes use of physical matter and requires the participation of the man being cured. When he raises Lazerus, Jesus makes it clear that the reason he audibly speaks the prayer is to benefit the faith of those around him. God knows that we are made up of both body and soul because he is the one who made us! Our physical senses are useful to our spiritual lives. The sacraments of the Church make use of both physical matter and a formulation of words. The grace that they confer is real. The sacraments really do what they symbolize. They also require the participation of the faithful. St. Paul tells us where the sacraments come from. They all come from Jesus Christ! He tells his disciple Timothy not to be hasty when administering the laying on of hands (Holy Orders). The sacraments are channels of grace that were taken very seriously since apostolic times.

Exodus 4:1 God uses the staff of Moses for an outward sign
Mark 1:9-11 Jesus is baptized in water
Mark 1:41 Jesus touches and speaks to heal a leper
Luke 8:43-44 A woman touches the hem of Christ’s garment and is healed

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1113 The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony…

1114 "Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the consensus . . . of the Fathers," we profess that "the sacraments of the new law were all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord”.

1116 Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are "the masterworks of God" in the new and everlasting covenant.

1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God." From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.

1119 Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community.” Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ."

1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.

1121 The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or "seal" by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible, it 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. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated.

1146 Signs of the human world. In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God.

1147 God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator. Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and earth, the tree and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his nearness.

1148 Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. The same is true of signs and symbols taken from the social life of man: washing and anointing, breaking bread and sharing the cup can express the sanctifying presence of God and man's gratitude toward his Creator.

Faith words:

Efficacious: Marked by qualities giving the power to produce an intended effect

Ex opere operato: The sacraments work by the very fact of the action being performed

Indelible: Impossible to remove, erase, or wash away; permanent


Reflection Questions:

What is the difference between a superstitious act and a sacrament?










Why do you believe that God chose to use visible signs to confer grace?










How can you better prepare yourself to make the sacraments more effective in your life?