The sacraments

PRESENCE OF GOD - Grant, O Lord, that the grace You give me so generously may not be given in vain.

MEDITATION

1. Just as the human body is endowed with organs capable of “ providing for the life, health, and development of each of its members, so the Savior of the human race... has provided in a marvelous way for His Mystical Body, endowing it with the Sacraments, so that by so many consecutive, graduated graces, as it were, its members should be supported from the cradle to life's last breath” (Mystici Corporis). The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is a living organism possessing elements which are capable of propagating, conserving, and nourishing life in all her members. This vital force emanates from her divine Head and is the fruit of the grace merited for Her by this most loving Redeemer when He died on the Cross, that grace which He still diffuses in all His members by means of the Sacraments. In fact, “when the Church administers the Sacraments by means of exterior rites, it is He who produces their interior effect” (ibid.). Jesus is the author of grace and has complete dominion over it; He created it as God, merited it as Man, and can dispense it as He wills and to whom He wills, even without the medium of the Sacraments. However, He ordinarily communicates grace to us through these sensible signs which He Himself has instituted, thus giving us greater assurance of having received it.

But we must not forget that, if the exterior rite is indispensable for the reception of the corresponding grace, this grace is always produced by Jesus, who, in cooperation with His ministers, intervenes with His sanctifying power each time a Sacrament is administered. ‘This shows the deep, inseparable union between Jesus and His Church. He wills to make use of her exterior acts in sanctifying souls, but He reserves for Himself the power to vivify these acts and make them effective. When we receive a Sacrament, it is not the priest alone who is attending to the good of our soul, but with him is Jesus, whose all-powerful action penetrates and vivifies the inmost fibers of our spirit. This is why the Sacraments, when administered to those who are capable of receiving them, have of themselves an infallible efficacy: in them is the action of God Himself.

2. The Sacraments act ex opere operato, that is, they always give the grace that corresponds to the outward sign, for it is Christ by His all-powerful action who is producing it in them. This is the profound motive for the great esteem and respect which we should have for the Sacraments.

The frequency and ease with which we can receive certain Sacraments often make us approach them with negligence, inattentiveness, or even with that superficiality with which we treat things of little value. This attitude is the result of a lack of right knowledge and appreciation, and a weak spirit of faith. How necessary it is to awaken and revive our faith, to place ourselves actually and sincerely in the presence of God in order to open our souls to His action! When we approach a Sacrament, we are approaching Christ; we are putting ourselves in contact with Him to receive the effusion of His grace, to welcome a renewed communication of His divine life. “It is true,” Pius XII teaches, “that the Sacraments have an intrinsic power, inasmuch as they are the acts of Christ Himself who communicates and diffuses grace from the divine Head to the members of the Mystical Body; but to have their due efficacy, they require good dispositions in our souls” (Mediator Dei).

In other words, every time we approach a Sacrament, Jesus infallibly offers us the gift of His grace, but the Sacrament will produce its sanctifying effect only in proportion to the intensity of our good dispositions. Just as the very best seed, sown in uncultivated ground, brings forth little or no fruit, so divine grace, although in itself sanctifying, fructifies in us only in the measure of our good will. Oh! how Jesus desires that His grace, so generously given by means of the Sacraments, should find our hearts well disposed, open to His coming, docile to His action!

Zach Sacrament brings us a gift of sanctifying grace, either an initial grace or an increase of grace; in addition it offers us the sacramental grace which is proper to it alone. Thus God puts at our disposal His immense riches — immeasurable possibilities of sanctity. Let us endeavor with all our strength that such great gifts may not be given in vain.

COLLOQUY

“© eternal Word made flesh, You have given us the Sacraments endowed with the virtue of Your Blood and Your Passion. Through them our souls are bathed in Your Blood, nourished by Your Blood.

“Your Sacred Side is the fount of water and of Blood, from which flow the waters of Baptism and the Blood of the Sacraments. We are bathed in the waters of this fountain when we receive holy Baptism, which enables us to glorify God and receive His gifts. We drink the Blood from this fountain when we receive the sacraments, especially Penance and the Sacrament of the Altar, by which the soul is fed and nourished, taking refuge, O Christ, in the fount of Your Sacred Side.

“Oh! how great is the dignity of priests! They are the ministers of this fount, they bathe us in the water of Baptism and then nourish us with Your Blood! Oh! how great is their dignity! They are, O Lord, Your secretaries and treasurers, for in transmitting Your word to us, they reveal Your secrets and, in administering the Sacraments, they give us Your treasures” (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).

“O good, sweet Jesus! Father of lights, from whom every perfect gift proceeds, look upon us with mercy, upon us who know You, who truly understand that we can do nothing without You. You gave Yourself as the price of our redemption. Although we are unworthy of such a precious gift, grant that we may correspond with Your grace entirely, perfectly, and in all things, so that, being conformed to the likeness of Your Passion, we may recover what we have lost by sin, the likeness of Your divinity ” (St. Bonaventure).