The sacraments : magic or mystery?


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THE SACRAMENTS
magic or mystery?

by Rev. Louis J. Putz, C.S.C.

AVE MARIA PRESS

Notre Dame, Indiana



NIHIL OBSTAT—John L. Reedy, G.S.C.
Censor Deputatus

IMPRIMATUR—^ Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D.
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

May, 1961

All rights reserved. This pamphlet may not he

reproduced by any means in whole or in part

without prior permission.

Second Printing, December, 1961

© 1961, Ave Maria Press



For most Protestants, the Catholic

attitude toward the seven sacraments

seems to be quite superstitious. We
baptize infants while they are still too

young to know what is going on; we

commit sin and run to the confessional

to get a quick absolution; we store up

grace by frequenting the Communion

table. All this strikes the non-Cath-

olic as service-station salvation.

It all seems pretty much like an

automatic lunch counter operation: so

much grace from each slot, a specific

grace at each reception of the sacra-

ments.

A recent book written by Dr. Jaro-
slav Pelikan, a Lutheran theologian, pre-

sented — in a friendly way— a Prot-
estant criticism of the Catholic Church.

The book included a chapter on the

sacraments with the title “Mystery

and Magic.” Dr. Pelikan’s argument

went something like this: The Catholic

Church has certainly retained some

truly admirable elements of Christian

worship in its fidelity to the sacra-

mental system. But Catholics are too

mechanical, too automatic in their em-

phasis of them. Protestants would gain

3



by looking more deeply into the real

meaning of the sacramental system and

Catholics would gain by giving more

thought to the worthiness and disposi-

tions of the one receiving the sacrament.

Personal Aspects of the Sacraments

And maybe Dr. Pelikan has some-
thing there. The Protestants at the

time of the Reformation thought to

emphasize inner religion, the more

spiritual reality of the kingdom of God

as against the external, visible and in-

stitutional aspects of the Church. To

achieve this emphasis, they did away

with most of the external elements of

the Church’s organization and prayer

life. They were impatient like all revo-
lutionaries and, instead of purifying,

they overthrew in order to get their way
more quickly. The Council of Trent,

reacting to Protestant excesses, em-

phasized the external, institutional

aspects of the Church to the point of

slighting and subordinating the personal

aspects of the doctrine of the sacra-

ments as we find them in earlier Cath-
olic traditions.

The Catechism of the Council of

4



Trent was content to present Catholic

teaching on the sacraments in dry ab-

stract formulas appealing only to a

theologically trained mind. The early

Church never taught the faithful in this

abstract way; it used the liturgical cele-

brations and the actual conferring of

the sacraments as means of teaching

Christians their full meaning. The

modern catechetical movement within

the Church is a return to this more

living and vivid explanation of the sac-

ramental life.

Acts of Christ

The sacraments are, first of all, acts

of Christ. Christ instituted the
sacra-

ments and they receive from Him their
divine power. But He did more than

just set up a system of external rites and

ceremonies. He continues His influence
on our souls and His presence among us

through the sacraments. They are His

way of continuing His work of salvation

in space and time through His Church

and through His members. It is

through the sacraments that we become
members of Christ’s Mystical Body and

increase His life within us. It is this

5



aspect which has been little empha-

sized in the recent past.

The Primary Hole of the Sacraments

We learned from our penny catech-
ism that the sacraments are channels of

grace; they dispense Christ’s graces and

Christ Himself in the Eucharist. But

the primary role of the sacraments is to

unite a person ever more closely to

Christ so that he shares more intimately

the life of Christ, His grace.

Thus in the sacrament of Baptism, it

is not so much the washing away of sin

that needs to be emphasized. Rather,

it is the fact that Baptism associates us

with Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

We die with Christ to a life of sin and
spiritual disorder in order to rise with

Christ to a life of faith and hope and

love. From now on, Christ Himself is
being renewed in this person and He
lives in this new member of the Church.

And as a child of God acting under the
sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit,

the new Christian’s whole life is ori-

ented to lead the life of Christ. This

participation in the Easter Mystery, the

mystery of Christ’s Death and Resur-

6



rection, is the important aspect of Bap-

tism and, indeed, of all the sacraments.

Prayers of Preparation

The prayers that precede the essen-

tial part of each sacrament are meant to

prepare us for the action of Christ in the

sacrament. In Baptism, for example,

the candidate is called by name; he is

signed by the sign of the cross on the

forehead and on the breast as a symbol

of his union with Christ through the

Cross and the invocation of the Holy

Trinity. He is given the blessed salt,

the symbol of Christian wisdom, as the

prelude to the instructions he will re-

ceive. The exorcism and testing that he

undergoes is meant to purify the candi-

date; his senses, his ears and lips are

opened just as Christ opened the ears of

the deaf and the lips of the dumb in the
miracles we read about in the Gospel.

The solemn anointing with the oil of

catechumens symbolizes the strength

the Christian needs to endure the com-

bat against the world, the flesh and the

devil. After a final profession of faith,

the sacrament is conferred.

And after Baptism there is another

7



anointing with chrism, the same oil that

is used to anoint kings, to consecrate

and ordain Bishops and to consecrate

altars and chalices. This anointing sym-

bolizes the candidate’s participation in

the priesthood of Christ and in His

kingship. The white garment and the

candle are reminders of the purity of the

newly baptized and the light of faith

that will enlighten him.

All these ceremonies surround the

sacrament in order to explain the action

of Christ in the sacrament of Baptism,

in order to prepare the candidate (and

it must be remembered that these cere-

monies extended over the whole period

of Lent in the old days of the Church)

.

Sacraments in the Bible

If Christ is the Author of the sacra-

ments, should we not be able to find in

the Gospels the account of just how and
when He instituted them? The Protest-
ants ask us, and with a certain amount

of self-righteous justification: When did
Christ institute the sacrament of Matri-

mony? When did He institute the sacra-
ment of Confirmation? When did He
practice Extreme Unction?

8



Except for the Eucharist, we find
ourselves in an embarrassing position

in trying to find the exact historical

moment of the institution of the various
sacraments. Even for Baptism, which

we know Christ and His disciples used in
imitation of John the Baptist, we can
wonder when and at what moment the
rite of purification became a Christian

sacrament, the initiation into the com-

pany of the faithful.

The Role of the Church

And yet it is a dogma of the Church
that Christ instituted the seven sacra-

ments and is Author of them. To grasp
this, we need an understanding of the
role God gave His Church in continuing
the work of Christ after His Death and
Resurrection. And we can find this
understanding in Scripture and tradi-

tion, which tell us the practices of the

early Church. Already in the time of

St. Paul the external ceremonies of the

Eucharist were undergoing a transfor-
mation because of the large increase in

the number of the faithful. They could
no longer be practiced in the framework
of the Last Supper, a family gathering,

9



but took on more the appearances of a

“potluck” supper, with everyone bring-

ing his own food. We find St. Paul
encountering certain difficulties because

some came with a good deal of food and

drink, while others had to remain

hungry. So it is not so much the precise

historical moment when Christ insti-

tuted the sacraments that we point to

in the New Testament, but rather the
general direction that the whole of

Christ’s life and action took in order to

continue His mission through the Apos-

tles and His Church.

Frequently in the New Testament—
especially in the Gospel and Apocalypse

of St. John —we find Christ pointing to
persons, events and things of the Old

Testament to explain the reality of the

New. For instance, when He made His
promise of the Eucharistic food which

He would leave His followers (John
6:51-61), He first recalled to them the
manna with which God had fed the
Israelites during their 40-year wander-

ings in the desert.

And in foretelling His own Cruci-
fixion, Christ did so with a reference to

the bronze serpent with which Moses

10



had healed those who had been bitten

by the fiery serpents for their sins

(Num. 21:5-6). “And as Moses lifted

up the serpent in the desert, even

so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that those who believe in Him may not
perish, but have life everlasting” (John

3:14-15).

To understand the significance of

Christ instituting the sacraments and

being their sole and unique Author, we

must look at the whole mystery of

Christ and see it as does the liturgy of

the Church, foreshadowed and typified

in the Old Testament, lived and enriched

by Christ through His career, and faith-

fully transmitted and constantly re-

enacted by the Church. Christ was

forever appealing to the faith of His

hearers: He cured people and ordered
His disciples to anoint the sick; He for-
gave sins and commissioned the twelve

to forgive in His name; He multiplied
bread and promised that this would be

done more marvelously with Bread that

would sustain the believer for life ever-

lasting, not as the manna which did not
prevent people from being destroyed

and from perishing. We know that He

11



spoke of His Baptism as being a rebirth

in water and the Holy Spirit.

Encounters With God

There is much foundation in the

Scriptures for the divine authorship of

the sacraments. It is not a question of

determining the exact moment when

Christ instituted this or that sacrament;

it is not a question of the precise rite

that Christ may have established. The
important reality is that He continues
His presence and His action through the

Church in this sacramental way. And

for this reason they must also bear His

seal. Christ is God-Man, perfect God

and perfect man; He is both Mystery
and external Sign. So, too, the sacra-

ments must have both characters — a
sensible sign and a divine power.

Since Christ saved us by His life and

Passion, all the sacraments must be re-

enactments of His Passion. They must

make His members associates in this

Passion. Therefore, the sacraments are

means of individual salvation only in

the measure that they associate us with

the Body of Christ, His Church. Since

Christ rose again from the dead, the

12



sacraments pledge that we shall rise

with Him in the final glorious resurrec-

tion.

And, of course, the Church estab-

lishes this connection between the life

and Passion of Christ and the gradual

incorporation of its membership in

Christ through the liturgical cycle of

the Church year. The liturgy of the

Mass becomes a school of indoctrination

as well as a tool of incorporation into

the Body of Christ. This is the whole

function and purpose of the sacramental

system. The sacraments are the point

of encounter between God and man in

the God-Man, Christ. To understand

this ever more fully, a study of Holy

Scripture is most important and in-

dispensable. Rather than dispensing us

from the Bible, the sacraments should

lead us into the study and perusal of the

word of God. The liturgical revival is

serving a great purpose in a renewal of

biblical study and interest.

Acts of the Church

The sacraments are, then, the

actions of Christ. He is the Author and
the principal Actor in the sacraments.

13



As St. Augustine so strikingly says,
when Peter baptizes, it is Christ Who
baptizes; when John baptizes, it is
Christ Who baptizes; when Judas bap-
tizes, it is Christ Who baptizes. But the
sacraments are also an action of the

Church. The action is carried out by

the Church on behalf of Christ’s mem-
bers in His stead. Christ is no longer

visible, and man needs other men —
other Christs — and external signs in
order to be conscious of the super-

natural happenings that are taking

place.

The Mystery of the Church

The Church is Christ incarnate
throughout the ages, the Church is the

extension of Christ, the Church is

Christ. In a sense, the Church is the

supreme sacrament — the external,
mysterious sign which contains all the

others. It is through her minister's that

the sacraments are effectively and

authoritatively administered and safe-

guarded. It is through the Church and

her authorized worship that the sacra-

ments are preserved from falling into

disuse or mere external symbolism. The

14



history of the Protestant infidelity to

the sacraments is a good case in point.

Freedom with the sacred signs soon

left them meaningless and reduced them

to pure formalism even though the

original intent of the Protestant reform

was a return to the purity of the Gospels

and the early Church practice. In our

day many Protestants are realizing that
they have lost the sense of the sacra-

ments and are reinstating Catholic prac-

tices once thrown out by their fore-

fathers.

But above all, the sacraments are

actions of the Church because they aim

to bring the members ever more closely

into the life of the Church. It is not

merely with the Head of the Mystical

Body that the sacraments unite the

faithful but also with each of the other

members. As St. Paul so energetically

brings out in his first letter to the Cor-

inthians, “A man’s body is all one,
though it has a number of different

organs; and this multitude of organs

goes to make up one body; so it is with

Christ. . . . And you are Christ’s Body,
organs of it, depending upon each other”

(I Cor. 12:12, 27).

15



The Social Aspect of the Sacraments

This social aspect of the sacraments

needs to be stressed again and again if

they are to accomplish the purpose for

which Christ instituted them. This is

to build the Body of Christ both in-

dividually for the perfection of each

member and collectively for the har-

monious achievement of the entire

redeemed mankind in view of the final

resurrection. The sacraments signify

and hasten the return of Christ because

they build up the Body of Christ, bring-

ing it to its full count in preparation

for the day when the whole Christ will

be glorified.

The sacraments of Matrimony and

Holy Orders are obviously social sacra-

ments. Each is meant in its own way

to build up the Church. Holy Orders

provides the Church with ministers;

Matrimony with new members. But the

Eucharist, too, is principally a social

sacrament. It is in the Sacrifice of the

Mass that the unity of the Mystical

Body is best achieved. Together the

members offer themselves with Christ

as their High Priest and Victim to God

the Father, so that they can be truly one

16



body and one community united in the

breaking of bread. Communion is more

than a union with the Head; for this is

already achieved in Baptism and at the

Consecration of the Mass. In Com-

munion, Christ is the bond of love which

serves to unite the members of His

Mystical Body with one another.

Signs of Faith

The sacraments are signs of faith.
They are mysteries of faith. They are

divine actions because they are Christ’s

actions and, therefore, their meaning is

never fully understood or fully ex-

hausted by the human mind. We take
them on Christ’s word and authority.

Yet He did select the signs, these partic-
ular signs, in order to communicate to

us something of their meaning in our

supernatural lives. Because we are hu-
man and immersed in material creation
we need signs to communicate knowl-
edge. Christ understood this need and,

in order to communicate His infinite

riches to us, He made use of signs.
Even the simple material things

used, such as water for Baptism and

bread and wine for the Eucharist and

17



the laying on of hands for Holy Orders,

tell a story, but the full richness of
the

symbolism is brought out only by the

whole sacramental action. Thus Bap-

tism is not merely a washing, it is
a

burial with Christ and a resurrection

with Him from the death of sin. To

convey this meaning, the sacrament of

Baptism has to be thought of in the

light of the Easter Vigil ceremony.

Baptism and the Eucharist are a mys-

terious association with Christ s Pas-

sion, Death and Resurrection. Just as

Christ died to sin as our representative

and guarantor, so we must die to sin

with Him and be renewed with Him on

Easter Sunday.

The Importance of Faith

Christ demanded faith of those for

whom He worked miracles. He did not

and could not work miracles for those

who did not believe. The Pharisees

were always asking for signs in heaven.

These impertinent demands Christ re-

fused to heed. On the other hand He

came to the rescue of the Phoenician

woman even outside of the confines of

Israel, although in His own words, He

18



was “sent only to the lost sheep of

Israel.” Faith is the act by which the

believer enters into the plans of God and

takes His word on face value. “Unless

a man be bom anew in water and the
Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the

kingdom of heaven” (John 3:5).

Although the sacraments do not de-

pend on the worthiness of the minister

but on the word of Christ for their

power to instill divine life, nevertheless,

our dispositions and particularly our

faith is of the greatest importance if the

sacraments are to help us as Christ

willed them to. It is this aspect which

has not been stressed enough in recent

decades.

Because the Protestants stressed this

aspect and wanted to eliminate the role

of the priest, the Church put its em-

phasis on the “ex opere operato

”

aspect

of the sacrament. That is, while the

recipient’s dispositions sometimes pre-

vent him from receiving the grace of
the sacrament, the actual conferring of

the sacrament does not depend on the

recipient but on the power and intention

of the one performing the sacramental

sign — in most sacraments, the priest.
19



Acts of Worship

The sacraments are acts of worship.

While it is true that the sacraments

were instituted for our sake, they are

also intended as a sacrifice of praise, a

movement of man toward God. While

Christ is the principal Author of the

sacraments and their effectiveness, we

must nevertheless be properly disposed

and prepared when we receive them.

Hence every sacrament is surrounded

by acts of adoration, acts of abasement

or contrition, acts of self-offering and

acts of gratitude.

These are to dispose our souls to re-

ceive the mystery of God’s intervention

and to dispose us toward fuller incor-

poration into the Body of Christ. The

whole first part of the Mass, what we

call the Mass of the Catechumens, is

precisely man’s opportunity to praise,

thank, and petition God that the miracle

of Christ’s re-enactment of His Passion

may be fruitful in our lives.
The sacrament of Penance, we know,

is preceded by an act of contrition, of

self-accusation, and a promise of amend-

ment. In the early days of the Church

the amendment had to be demonstrated

20



before absolution was given, hence the

40 days of penance during Lent. In the

sacrament of Extreme Unction, the

prayers leading up to the sacramental

anointing not only explain the signifi-

cance of the sacrament, but try to elicit

great confidence in Christ’s curative

power.

The Church’s Sacramentals

As a matter of fact, the Church’s

sacramentals are a preparation and a

flowering of the sacraments. We recite
the blessing before meals as a reminder

of the Eucharistic table. We ask the
priest to bless our home as a forceful

reminder of God’s protective presence

through the sacrament of Matrimony.

The blessing of children in time of

health or sickness, the use of holy water,

blessed candles and palms — all these
gestures are related to the sacraments.

They prepare us for the fruitful recep-

tion of the sacraments, or for renewing

the fruit of the sacrament through the

celebration of the anniversaries of our

Baptism, our Confirmation, wedding or

ordination.

The life of the Christian is indeed a

21



life of mystery, a life of constant divine

intervention. This is the great differ-

ence between the Christian and the

pagan religion. It is not so much a
difference of dogma, or worship, or even

of morals. The great difference is that

in the religion of the Christian people,

God Himself has intervened; He has
spoken. He has spoken not merely
through the Bible, not merely in the

person of the Incarnate Word of God,
but also through the Church in the great

acts of the sacraments. God speaks
through actions more than through

words. If we conceive of the sacra-
ments as God’s acting in our lives and

our responding to that action, then we
have the correct notion of the role of

the sacramental life in the Church.

Undoubtedly, the fact that these

very rich prayers are recited in a

foreign tongue adds to the difficulty of

understanding the sacraments and

makes them appear more like mum-
blings or magic than like the mysteries

of life that they are. A mystery is a deep
truth that transcends the natural order;

nevertheless it helps when we learn to
appreciate and understand more and

22



more each single mystery. The mystery

is a truth that touches us very deeply.

Our understanding must enter into the

act for maximum effectiveness.

It was a great help, therefore, when

the Holy See gave us permission to re-

cite many of these preparatory prayers
in the English language a few years ago.

For instance, the meaning of Baptism

can now be understood much more
easily since almost all the ceremony can

be followed in English. The same

awareness will take place when the
prayers of the Mass, at least up to the

Offertory, are permitted in the mother

tongue of the faithful.

Signs of the Passion

Finally, St. Thomas Aquinas (and he
is the doctor of sacramental theology)

teaches that the sacraments are signs

of grace. They confer divine life in a
threefold way: First, they signify the

source of grace, which is the Passion of

of Christ. Every sacrament applies the

merits and the power of the Cross of

Christ to the faithful. It is the principal

purpose of the sacramental system; it

23



is Christ’s way of uniting Himself to His

members or, better still, of uniting His

members to Himself. It is the reason

for which He instituted the Church and

set her up to be the temple of God, of

which we are the stones, as St. Paul

describes it in his Epistle to the Ephe-

sians. “You are no longer exiles, then,

or aliens; the saints are your fellow

citizens, you belong to God’s household.

Apostles and prophets are the founda-

tion on which you were built, and the

chief cornerstone of it is Jesus Christ

Himself. In Him the whole fabric is

bound together, as it grows into a

temple dedicated to the Lord; in Him

you too are being built in with the rest,

so that God may find in you a dwelling
place for His Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

The Church and the sacramental

system is the principal means of in-

corporation into Christ, of having access

to Christ’s Passion and Resurrection.

Unless the Church is understood, the

sacramental system will also remain in-

comprehensible.

Because the Mass is the renewal of

Christ’s Passion, the Eucharist is the

pinnacle of the sacramental system. It

24



is the high point of the sacraments not

merely because Christ is present there

in a more permanent and personal

fashion, but because through the Mass

the faithful are most intimately asso-

ciated with the Passion, Death and

Resurrection of Christ. All the other

sacraments are preparatory to the union

achieved in the Eucharist between

Christ and the faithful.

Signs of Particular Graces

Each sacrament does not merely en-

rich the person with additional sanctify-

ing grace but gives a specific grace,

proper to this particular sacrament and

needed to carry out a specific respon-

sibility. And this is the second way in
which the sacraments are signs of grace.

Each signifies the particular grace

which it brings in answer to a specific

need of the supernatural life.

The grace of marriage, for example,

is there for the full flowering of the

committed status of the married part-

ners. Their love needs to be purified

and the grace of marriage corresponds

to this need. Their love needs to be

transfigured to a new level of union

25



usually achieved through crisis and suf-

fering; there is a grace for this greater

love. And their love needs to be fruitful,

and there is grace available not merely

for the task of bringing children into

the world, but for the arduous task of

raising them to be temples of God.

Signs of the Final Coming

Thirdly, the sacraments signify their

ultimate purpose, which is to prepare us

for the final return of Christ. The

sacraments bring the Body of Christ to

its final maturity and completion. The

sacraments are for our present exist-

ence, they are part of the temporal

phase of the Church, they are part of

the scaffolding that is needed to build

the temple of God. This designation is

not intended to take away from the

dignity that they possess, but to em-

phasize their principal function, namely

to perfect the Body of Christ.

The sacraments are like Jacob’s

ladder of the Old Testament. They are

a two-way street bringing the gifts of

God to man and carrying man’s offer-
ings to the throne of God. This spiritual

26



ladder is operative until that blessed

day of the final espousals between the

Lamb and the people of God as de-
scribed in the book of Apocalypse: “The

time has come for the wedding feast of

the lamb. His bride has clothed herself

in readiness for it; hers it is to wear

linen shining white, the merits of the

saints are her linen” (Apoc. 19:8).

Indelible Character

A pamphlet on the sacraments in
general cannot be complete without a

word about the indelible character

which some of them imprint on the

soul. We know that there are three
sacraments which cannot be repeated

because of this indelible character. We
must ask ourselves the specific function

of the character. How does it mark the
person? What does it confer on the
soul?

Basically, character means seal; it is

the seal of Christ on the person who
receives the sacraments of Baptism,

Confirmation and Holy Orders. It con-

stitutes the one who receives the sacra-
ment in a special relation to Christ and

27



specifically to His priestly role. Christ

as the God-Man, as the Mediator be-

tween God and man, as the “Pontifex,”

the Bridge-builder, exercises by virtue

of His Incarnation the high priestly

role. He is the great High Priest, the

new Head of the human race.

You need only read the Epistle to

the Hebrews to catch the meaningful-

ness of the priestly character of Christ

and of His sacrifice. The Apostles

wanted to wean away the Jewish Chris-

tians from the magnificent spectacle of

the temple service and of the Jewish

worship. The early Christian prayer

meetings, even accompanied by the

“breaking of bread” must have ap-

peared rather unimpressive in those

days as against the elaborate service of

the Jewish temple.

The character of the three sacra-

ments, Baptism, Confirmation and Holy

Orders, progressively incorporates the

bearer into the priestly function of

Christ. In all three sacraments an

anointing takes place to symbolize this

function. The baptized person immedi-

ately after receiving the sacrament is

anointed on the head with chrism, the

28



same oil used to consecrate Bishops and

the sacred vessels and the church. A
similar anointing is performed in Con-

firmation on the forehead and in Holy

Orders on the hands. In both of these

latter sacraments the essence of the

sacrament consists in the laying on of

hands, the conferring of power, and in

both the normal minister is the Bishop

who has the fullness of the priestly

power.

The Priesthood of the Laity

The Church has been emphasizing

of late the theme of the priesthood of

the laity. It should be understood right

away that the laity is not participating

in the priestly function of the priest,

but both layman and priest participate

in the priestly function of Christ, the

universal High Priest. If the Christian

is incorporated into the body of Christ

through Baptism, it is obvious that he

participates at the same time in some

way in the functions and prerogatives
of Christ. The priest participates in

Christ’s priestly function by represent-

ing Him, by performing the actions of

29



Christ: “I absolve thee,” “This is My
Body.” Obviously it is Christ Who
absolves, it is Christ Who changes the
elements of the offertory. But it is the

people who offer themselves with

Christ, it is the people who, according

to St. Peter, are “a royal priesthood,

a priestly nation.”

At Mass the threefold participations

in the priesthood of Christ are most

effectively carried out. It is the Chris-

tian people who offer themselves with

Christ at the Offertory. To participate

in the Holy Sacrifice one has to be

baptized. So this offering is already a

priestly function. Through the char-

acter of Confirmation, which is the

sacrament of Christian adulthood, the

Christian is responsible for others. He

must be a witness (in Latin, a martyr)

to the Christian way of life and his wit-

nessing is part of the offering he brings

to the altar. But it is the priest — iden-
tified with Christ through the char-

acter of Holy Orders —who represents
Christ at the moment of Consecration

when he changes the offering of the

Christian community into the Body and

Blood of Christ Himself.

30



God’s Chosen People

This teaching concerning the char-

acter conferred by the sacraments em-

phasizes again the basic role of the

sacramental system which is to incor-

porate us into the Body of Christ, to

make us more fully other Christs, sons

of God, heirs and co-heirs of heaven.

The vocation of the Christian in posses-

sion of the divine life is, indeed, an

enviable condition.

The grace received in the sacraments

is quite different from the state that

Adam possessed in the prime of his
innocence when he walked in the friend-

ship of God. Adam was a child of God,
true, but never in the intimate and

divine relationship that links the mem-

ber of Christ to God the Father. That

is why immediately after the Consecra-
tion at Mass we can say with utmost

confidence and reassurance “Our Fa-

ther.” We are together with Christ,
His unique and acceptable children, His

Chosen People. All this is effected

through the sacraments.

31



There are eight pamphlets in this

series on the sacraments. Each

pamphlet has 32 pages plus a two-

color cover. Priced at 15 cents each.

THE SACRAMENTS
by Rev. Louis J. Putz, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

BAPTISM
by Rev. Bernard I. Mullahy, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

HOLY EUCHARIST
os a sacrament by Rev. Thomas Barrosse, C.S.C.

as a sacrifice by Rev. John Maguire, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

PENANCE
by Rev. John L. Reedy, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

CONFIRMATION
by Rev. Ralph Fisher, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

MATRIMONY
by Rev. Charles W. Harris, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

HOLY ORDERS
by Rev. Joseph Hoffman, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

EXTREME UNCTION
by Rev. John Maguire. C.S.C.

These eight pamphlets are valued at

$1.20 if purchased individually.

Place your order now for the complete

set, attractively packaged, for only $ 1 .

AVE MARIA PRESS Please send
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