The Sacraments in general: fifteen questions

A sacrament is an effective sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is given to us. The visible rite shows the grace of that sacrament and makes it present. It bears fruit in those who receive it with the right dispositions.

Seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. They touch all the stages and great moments of Christian life. They give birth and growth, healing and mission to the life of faith, much as natural life is born, grows, is healed and serves others.

Jesus Christ instituted all seven. This is the faith of Scripture, the apostolic Tradition and the Fathers, solemnly taught by the Council of Trent. What Jesus did and said in his life on earth was already saving; now, through the ministers of his Church, he gives that same power in the sacraments. They are, in the Catechism's words, the "masterworks of God" in the new covenant.

Three are sacraments of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist lay the foundation of every Christian life. Two are sacraments of healing: Penance and the Anointing of the Sick continue the work of Jesus, the physician of souls and bodies. Two are at the service of communion and mission: Holy Orders and Matrimony build up the People of God through service to others.

Christ himself. When a sacrament is celebrated worthily in faith, it gives the grace it signifies, because Christ is at work in it: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in each sacrament to give the grace it signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church, and the Holy Spirit, like fire, transforms what he touches.

No. The Church teaches that sacraments act ex opere operato, "by the very fact of the action's being performed", by the power of Christ's saving work and not by the goodness of the minister or the recipient. When a sacrament is celebrated as the Church intends, Christ and his Spirit act in it. The fruit in each person, however, also depends on that person's dispositions.

They presuppose faith, and by words and signs they also nourish, strengthen and express it. The faith of the Church comes before the faith of each believer, who is invited to make it his own. That is why the old saying holds: the law of prayer is the law of belief.

For believers, yes: the Church affirms that the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. Through them the Holy Spirit makes us sharers in the divine nature. God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, yet the Catechism adds that he himself is not bound by his sacraments, so the Church never limits his mercy.

Baptism, Confirmation (Chrismation) and Holy Orders. Besides grace, they give a sacramental character, a spiritual "seal" by which a Christian shares in Christ's priesthood in a lasting way. This seal can never be erased, so these three are never repeated. The Eastern Code teaches the same, and orders a conditional celebration only where a serious doubt remains after careful inquiry.

A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. Their meaning is rooted in creation and in human life, shaped by the history of Israel, and fully revealed in Christ. The action is always joined to the word of God and the response of faith, so the celebration is a meeting, a dialogue of God's children with their Father.

The whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head. All the baptized share in the common priesthood and take an active part. Some are called by God and consecrated through Holy Orders to serve the community and act in the person of Christ the Head; this is a service, not a privilege.

The mystery celebrated is one, but the forms of its celebration are many. Churches of different lands came to celebrate Christ's mystery in the language and culture of their peoples, in fidelity to the apostolic faith. The Church holds all lawfully recognised rites to be of equal right and dignity. In Kerala, for example, the Syro-Malankara, Latin and Syro-Malabar Churches celebrate the same seven sacraments, each in its own rite.

Yes, in discipline, never in the faith. The Eastern Code asks all the faithful, above all sacred ministers, to observe the Church's prescriptions carefully in celebrating and receiving the sacraments. One example: in the Eastern Churches the priest gives Chrismation together with Baptism, even to infants, and the Eucharist is to follow as soon as possible, in the manner of each Church.

Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church, such as blessings, holy water, blessed objects and certain prayers. They do not give grace in the way the sacraments do. Through the Church's prayer they prepare us to receive grace and to cooperate with it, so that almost every event of life can be made holy.

To eternal life. The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord "until he comes", when God will be all in all. Already now the sacraments give a foretaste of that life, as the Spirit in the Church cries Marana tha, "Come, Lord".