Sacraments
SACRAMENTS
BASIC R.C. BELIEF Divinely appointed functions which effect an increase of supernatural life in the Roman Catholic whenever he approaches them with the proper disposition. The life is nourished by Divine Grace; normal channels are prayer and the sacraments.
Jesus Christ initiated all the Sacraments. They are Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Penance, Holy Orders, Matrimony and Extreme Unction. Several have been modernized since Vatican II.
From THE SACRAMENTS, Rev. Connell, C.SS.R., page 1, “an external sign of grace, instituted by God, for the sanctification of mankind.”
Ibid., page 5. “the seven ceremonies we have enumerated were regarded from the first days of Christianity as divinely established signs of grace.”
Ibid., page 10,11. “This means that during His life of three and thirty years on earth He designated these seven external rites as means of grace, to be used by the faithful until the end of time. . . The New Testament does not furnish convincing arguments that the other sacraments were instituted by Christ in person (except Baptism, Eucharist and Penance). However, there is no proof that He was not the author . . . Moreover, there are abundant proofs from early Tradition that Christ personally instituted all seven sacraments.”
Ibid., page 12ff. “We can say that the sacraments are the arteries of this Mystical Body, through which the life-giving Blood of the Saviour is transmitted. . . The Church seems actually to have modified matter and form of some sacraments in the course of time. For example, the imposition of hands used to be the entire matter of Confirmation; while nowadays the anointing of the brow with chrism is also essential to this sacrament.”
From CHRIST’S SEVEN SACRAMENTS, Knights of Columbus, page 3. “If our own dispositions are deficient, then we diminish the work of Christ in the sacraments. Christ desires our free and willing response; and our reception of grace is in keeping with the degree of our love.”
CHRISTIAN COMMENT There is no scriptural evidence that Jesus instituted any of the Sacraments. They all need human administration (John 1:13), and the emphasis is on the form and the matter of the sacrament, not on Jesus Christ. Holy Communion and Penance are repeated throughout life, proving that at no point is either capable of giving eternal life.