PART I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRAMENTS

I. THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS

The Catholic Church officially recognizes and celebrates seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, Marriage and Holy Orders, Reconciliation and Anointing of the sick.

There was a moment in Church history that the number of sacraments was not fixed. It was only in the 13th century that the number seven was ratified by the Church. Finally, the Council of Trent in the 16th century officially declared that there are seven sacraments, no more, no less.

II. DEFINITIONS OF ‘SACRAMENTS’

a. According to Code of Canon Law - Sacraments are “signs and means by which faith is expressed and strengthened, worship is rendered to God and the sanctification of humankind is effected, and they thus contribute in the highest degree to the establishment, strengthening and manifestation of ecclesial communion of God's grace.”1

b. According to St. Augustine – A sacrament is a “visible form of invisible grace”2

c. According to the Church (Post-Vatican II) – Sacraments are “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.”3

III. ACCORDING TO THE DEFINITION OF THE CHURCH AFTER VATICAN II

a. Efficacious Signs Of Grace

As signs or symbols, Sacraments are rituals or ceremonies of worship celebrated by a community of Christians gathered together. Symbols do what abstract thought cannot do. Symbols bring us into touch with realities which are at once familiar and mysterious. Symbols make the ‘invisible’ grace tangible, and when we touch them we touch a mystery.4

The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. These are composed of

1 Cf. Code of Canon Law, 840. 2 Cf. Tad Guzie, The Book of Sacramental Basics (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), 39. 3 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1131. 4 Cf. Guzie, The Book of Sacramental Basics, 47.

Part I. General Introduction to the Sacraments

realities, gestures, words or silence, which awaken an experience or living encounter. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.5

b. Instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church

It was Christ Himself who instituted the sacraments. Although we cannot find explicit Scriptural passages that Christ is said to have invented them, yet through His words and actions the sacraments came forth when He founded the Church.

c. Sacraments of Faith

The Sacraments, since it sanctifies men and women, builds up the Body of Christ, and gives worship to God, presupposes faith. They are also a school that instructs, a school that nourish, strengthen, and express faith.6

d. Divine Life Is Dispensed To Us

he Sacraments are necessary for our salvation. It is through the sacraments that we receive the necessary graces to transform our lives and be imitators of Jesus Christ and that we become partakers of the God’s divine nature.7 In the sacraments, it is Christ Himself who is at work and not merely the minister.8 When the Sacrament is celebrated properly9, the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit acts on it and bestows on those who partake of it the necessary graces.

A sacrament is celebrated ex opere operato, which means that grace is given by God through the Sacrament itself, regardless of the moral state of the minister. In other words, there is an objective validity of the Sacraments. However, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.10

IV. CLASSIFICATION OF THE SACRAMENTS11

The sacraments have an objective to sanctify men and women. They are not only for an individual person but for the entire community. In the time of St. Thomas Aquinas, the sacraments can be a means to live in a (a) personal level, and (b) in a communitarian level.12

5 Cf. CCC 1131. 6 Cf. CCC 1123. 7 Cf. CCC 1129. 8 Cf. CCC 1127. 9 i.e., in accordance with the intentions of the Church; see CCC 1128. 10 Cf. CCC 1128. 11 Cf. Handouts on Sacramental Theology by Sr. Cecilia Payawal, PDDM 12 Cf. Handouts

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Part I. General Introduction to the Sacraments

(a) In a more personal level:

(1) for promoting life

- as a gift of life: baptism- as enrichment of the gift received: confirmation

- as nourishment of life: Holy Eucharist

(2) Curing sickness

- cure of sins: Reconciliation- cure of weakness: Anointing Of The Sick

(b) In a communitarian level:

- faculty of natural propagation: Marriage- faculty to direct or “shepherd” a community and exercise public

acts: Holy Orders

At present, the seven sacraments are grouped into three kinds:

(a)Sacraments of Christian Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist

(b)Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick

(c) Sacraments at the service of Communion: Marriage and Holy Orders

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Part I. General Introduction to the Sacraments

Bibliography

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Definitive ed. Manila: Word and Life Publications, 1994.

Code of Canon Law. English trans. Pasay City: Paulines Publishing

House, 2001.

Guzie, Tad. The Book of Sacramental Basics. New York: Paulist Press,

1981.

Payawal, Cecilia. Handouts on Sacramental Theology. 2009

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