175 Why Do The Sacraments Belong To The Church?

YOUCAT Lesson 175

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

175  Why do the sacraments belong to the Church?  Why cannot anyone use them however he wants?

Sacraments are Christ’s gift to his Church.  It is her duty to administer them and to protect them from misuse.  [1117-1119, 1131]

Photo: …..At left, unseen by the priest, a penitent knees behind a screen making her confession.  The purple scarf (stole) worn by the priest is the sign of this particular priestly function.

For me, the Sacrament of Reconciliation has been a source of peace.   As long as I caFor me, throughout life the Sacrament of Pn remember, every time I have availed myself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation it has bestowed a peace that I could feel .  It may be presumptuous for me to say this, but might there be less mental illness if we admitted personal sin and then embraced the confessional unconditionally?--  Don L. Bragg, catechist

Jesus entrusted his words and signs to specific men, namely, the apostles, who were to hand them on; he did not hand them over to an anonymous crowd.  Today we would say: He did not post his inheritance on the Internet for free access but rather registered it under a domain name.  Sacraments exist for the Church and through the Church.  They are for (the Church), because the Body of Christ, which is the Church, is established, nourished, and perfected through the sacraments.  They exist through her, because the sacraments are the power of Christ’s Body, for example in confession, where Christ forgives our sins through the priest.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body (of Christ) eats and drinks judgment upon himself.  1 Corinthians 11:29

THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

…….1117 As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its "dispensation." (John 16:13; compare Matthew 13:52; 1 Corinthians 4:11)³⁴ Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….1118 The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her." They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the Church,"( St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 22,17:Patrologia Latina 41,779; compare St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III,64,2 ad 3)³⁵  since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons. --CCC

…….1119 Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community."( Lumen gentium 11; compare Pius XII, Mystici Corporis  (1943))³⁶    Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ."( Lumen gentium 11 § 2)³⁷  --CCC

IN BRIEF

1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. --CCC