Why was it fitting for Christ to Institute the 7 Sacraments He Instituted?

      There are three main explanations given for the fittingness of the seven sacraments. One explanation draws an analogy between what is needed for natural life and supernatural life. Another explanation ties the seven sacraments to the seven virtues. A third explanation views the fittingness of the seven sacraments as a remedy for different aspects of sin.
      In the natural life there are certain things required for man to survive. Analogously it follows that there are certain things required for supernatural life. In the natural world there is a necessity of birth, nourishment, growth, healing when one gets sick, a preparation for death, and a need in the human world for marriage and government. Analogously there is a necessity in the spiritual life for spiritual rebirth in baptism, spiritual nourishment in the Eucharist, spiritual growth through the sacrament of Confirmation, spiritual healing through the sacrament of Reconciliation, a spiritual preparation for death through the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, the raising up of marriage through the sacrament of matrimony and a spiritual governance through the sacrament of Holy Orders.  
      A different view on the fittingness of the seven sacraments highlights the relationship between the seven sacraments and the seven virtues of faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. Baptism corresponds to faith, Anointing of the Sick to hope, the Eucharist to charity. Further Prudence is ordered Holy Orders, justice to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Marriage to temperance and fortitude to Confirmation.
      A third view sees fittingness for seven sacraments by understanding them as healing for different sin of man. Baptism is understood as a cure for the lack of a spiritual life, Confirmation for the weaknesses that still exist in the soul after Baptism, the Eucharist against a tendency to sin, Confession against sins committed, Anointing of the Sick to the effects of sins already forgiven in Confession, Marriage as a cure for concupiscence and Holy Orders against divisions in the community.

The Sacrament as an "Instrument" of Christ

            Christ has ascended to the right hand of the Father yet he still imparts grace through the sacraments.This sacramental reality is most perfectly understood through the philosophical principle of instrumental causality. Instrumental causation occurs when an instrument is used to produce a cause that is higher than itself through the direction of a superior cause. Take for example the work of a sculpture. To sculpt a statue the artists must make use of a chisel to carve the marble. The chisel by itself is unable to sculpt a statue; rather the chisel carves the statue under the direction of the principle cause, the artists, resulting in something greater than the chisel could ever produce by itself. Likewise it is only God who imparts grace through the sacraments. It can thus be said that the sacraments are like the chisel in the artist’s hands. The sacraments are the instrumental cause of God’s imparting of grace.
            Understanding the sacraments as instruments used by God makes it clear that the sacraments are efficacious not by the worthiness of the minister but by the desire of God. The efficacy of the sacraments comes in virtue of the fact that Christ is the principle minister who uses the sacramental sign as an instrumental cause to impart grace.
           The sacraments are said to work ex opera operato or by the work signified. The minister works as an instrumental cause used by God, the principle cause, to impart grace in a similar manner to the sculptor who uses the chisel to create a statue. Similarly a sculpture using a chisel, no matter how sharpness of the chisel, is able to sculpt through the work of the chisel likewise as long as the minister does what the Church and thus Christ intends Christ, is able to impart grace through the instrumental cause, the minister, no matter his worthiness. 

Baptism like all 7 Sacraments is Rich in Symbolism but Why?

           A sacrament is an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ which infuses grace. Sacraments are conferred through the use of signs that are perceptible to the senses. All sacraments have a catabatic and anabatic component, they express man’s worship of God and they impart grace. While it is true that the grace imparted through the reception of the sacraments is spiritual and invisible it is fitting that Christ instituted a sacramental economy that uses sensible signs. Using sensible signs, the sacraments, reflect man’s nature,the two natures of Christ Incarnate, the Church, and a remedy for the fall of man.

           Man is a unique creature; he is a rational animal who possesses a spiritual soul, placing him within both the spiritual and material realms. As a rational animal it is proper that man should worship God and receive His grace in a physical way which involves his senses through the use of signs.As a rational creature man comes to know things through abstraction from the senses following the manner of Aristotle who said “There is nothing in the mind that is not first in the senses.”He is unable to grasp spiritual realities in a purely spiritual way. Thus the use of sensible signs respects man for who he is and is necessary for man to have some understanding the spiritual reality of the sacrament.

           The sacraments, using sensible signs, further reflects the two natures of the Incarnate Christ. Christ, in virtue of His incarnation, is visible to humanity, yet at the same time His divine power remains invisible. In the same manner insofar as the sacraments are signs they are visible to humanity yet the sanctifying power of the sacrament remains invisible.

           Sacraments, possessing both visible and invisible dimensions further reflects the Church. As visible signs the sacraments reflect the visibility of the Church. As with any group there must be identifying signs which identify the members of that organization. The reception of a visible sacrament thus outwardly marks members of the Church for who they are. They signify to the world an invisible reality that occurs while marking the person receiving the sacrament as a member of the Church.

           The sacraments as visible signs also reflect the medicinal purpose of the sacraments. Fallen man frequently finds himself tempted to act against his reason by his sensible appetites. In other words for fallen man the cause of his sins are frequently his senses. It is thus fitting that God cures man from his disorders through something tangible and visible.

           Christ ordained that the sacraments should make use of sensible signs. A true understanding of sacramental theology and human anthropology makes the fittingness of the sacraments use of sensible signs clear. As sensible signs, the sacraments help to shed light on man’s nature, the two natures of Christ Incarnate, the Church, and the remedy for the fall of man.

Proclaim the Great Things of the Lord

What wondrous things God has done for us… what wondrous things! Before we were formed in the womb our Lord knew us. Not only are we known, willed and loved by God who created us but at our baptism we were claimed for Him. You and I are claimed for Christ, the Redeemer of the world. No matter what this world throws at us we have the confidence of knowing that we belong to Christ. How Blessed we are. What wondrous things God has done for us.

Do we proclaim the great things of the Lord? Do we stand up and boldly proclaim our faith? I think it is easy for us to take the great gift of faith we have received for granted. Sure we are good about going to Mass on Sundays and pray everyday. While going to Mass and praying are very good and essential this is just the foundation. Viewing our faith in terms of only our spiritual life is dangerous. It boxes our faith into the four walls of this church. Yet we are called to be Catholic not just in church but at our very core radiating our faith to the whole world.

We as Catholics are called to bring our faith beyond these four walls to the public sector. Will we be persecuted for this? Sure. Even our Lord warns us in the Gospel that no prophet is accepted in his own native place. (Lk 4:24) Our Lord himself was put to death by his own people. Some people will love us for the message we preach and others will persecute us. In the end what difference does it make? Our hope is placed in Christ and not the world. While worldly friends are good and necessary our ultimate fulfillment comes from Christ and not from what others think or say about us.

Bringing our beliefs to the public sector is not really that foreign to us as Americans. Today many in our country will gather to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday. How many people from across the country are wearing either San Francisco 49’s jerseys or Baltimore Ravens jerseys? … We have no problem pledging allegiance to our favorite sports team by wearing their gear and cheering them on in public yet we have a fear of proclaiming our faith in public. If I had to guess I would guess that more people in our country are supporting their favorite team today than are speaking about their faith.

Now I’m not saying we need to flash our faith to the world in an arrogant way as we sometimes do with our favorite sports teams. In fact this approach to sharing our faith can be dangerous. How many fights break out across the world over people’s favorite teams. All we have to do is look at international soccer to see the danger of this type of evangelization.

As Christians I believe we often have a desire to go to the mountain top to proclaim the truth and the beauty of our faith. While our world is greatly in need of catechesis our world is often not disposed to hear the truth. Our World needs witness of the truth not necessarily orators of the truth. Jesus Christ needs us to be living catechists, living models of our faith. Christ needs you and I to witness to our faith in an authentic way at all times. Yet before we can become authentic witness, our faith needs to so penetrate our lives so that as the psalmist says “our lives sing of the salvation of the Lord.” (Psalm 71) When our faith becomes completely ingrained in us we will naturally proclaim the greatness of the Lord and as our Collect for fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time says we will honor God with all our mind and love everyone in truth of heart. Allowing our faith to seep into us so that it becomes a part of who we are is not easy … yet nothing in life worth pursuing comes easy.

If you have ever watched a professional football team up close this becomes clear. Watching these teams up close one cannot help but be amazed at the sheer size, speed and athleticism of the players. Yet more remarkable is watching how quick they react. In only a matter of a split second they read a play to see what is unfolding in front of them, realize what their responsibility to the team is on that play and react. Seeing all of this unfold in a matter of seconds during a game I often ask myself how can they do this? Anyone who has ever played any sport knows the answer to this question lies in practice.

Practice can at times be very boring because they seem to do the same thing over and over again. To an untrained eye it is easy to ask why are they wasting all this time doing the same thing over and over again. The players clearly understand what is expected of them why do they have to waste time going over it so many times? Yet when you see these athletes make plays during the game you realize not only do they have to know what to do and have the ability to do it, their bodies must be so used to doing it that it becomes second nature. These football instincts must become a part of who the athlete is.

In many ways living our faith out in public requires not only the grace of God but also work on our part. We come to the liturgy to be nourished and strengthened to go out into the world and as the deacon says at the end of Mass to announce the Gospel of the Lord. It can at times be tempting to ask ourselves why do we continue to come to Mass and say the same prayers over and over again? It is exactly in this repetition that these prayers are seeped into our DNA. It is exactly in coming to the regularity of the Mass that the Mass becomes a part of our life and in becoming a part of our life we can carry it out to others.

We to Mass to nourish ourselves through the reception of Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Eucharist and through the prayers of the Mass so we can leave the four walls of this Church and boldly proclaim Christ to the world in an authentic way by the way we live our lives. We come to the liturgy to allow it to permeate our entire lives, to become a part of our DNA so that it can shine forth from us in all that we say and do.