My Baltimore Catechism definition which I have by memory and the (CCC) Catechism of the Catholic Church [confirms|states] that:
Instead of taking a small portion of the Catechism, I've taken a larger
portion from which you can take what you want.
The CCC states:
The Paschal Mystery In The Church's Sacraments
1113 The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic
sacrifice and the sacraments. (cf. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium 6) There are seven sacraments in the Church:
- Baptism
- Confirmation or Chrismation
- Eucharist
- Penance
- Anointing of
the Sick
- Holy Orders, and
- Matrimony. (cf. Council of Lyons II (1274) DS 860; Council of Florence (1439): DS 1310; Council of Trent (1547): DS 1601)
This article will discuss what
is common to the Church's seven sacraments from a doctrinal point of
view. What is common to them in terms of their celebration will be presented
in the second chapter, and what is distinctive about each will be the
topic of the Section Two.
I. The Sacraments Of Christ
1114 "Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic
traditions, and to the consensus . . . of the Fathers," we profess
that "the sacraments of the new law were . . . all instituted by
Jesus Christ our Lord." (Council of Trent (1547): DS 1600-1601)
1115 Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry
were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal
mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church
when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations
of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers
of his Church, for "what was visible in our Savior has passed over
into his mysteries." (St. Leo the Great, Sermo. 74,2:PL 54,398)
1116 Sacraments are powers that comes forth from the Body
of Christ, (cf. Luke 5:17; 6:19; 8:46) which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of
the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are the masterworks
of God in the new and everlasting covenant.
II. 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; cf. Matthew 13:52; 1 Corinthians 4:1) 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.
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:PL 41,779; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,64,2 ad 3) 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.
1119 Forming as it were, one mystical person with Christ
the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as an organically structured
priestly community.(Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 11; cf. Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (1943)) 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. (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 11 § 2)
1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service
of the baptismal priesthood. (cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 10 § 2) The ordained priesthood guarantees that
it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit
for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate
Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors:
they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. (cf. John 20:21-23; Luke 24:47; Matthew 28:18-20) The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical
action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words
and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.
1121 The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders
confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or seal by
which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member
of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration
to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible, (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609) it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace,
a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine
worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments
can never be repeated.
III. The Sacraments Of Faith
1122 Christ sent his apostles so that repentance and forgiveness
of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.(Luke 24:47) "Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) The mission
to baptize, and so the sacramental mission, is implied in the mission
to evangelize, because the sacrament is prepared for by the word of God
and by the faith which is assent to this word:
The People of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word
of the living God. . . . The preaching of the Word is required for the
sacramental ministry itself, since the sacraments are sacraments of faith,
drawing their origin and nourishment from the Word. (Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis 4 § 1,2)
1123 "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build
up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they
are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by
words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That
is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'" (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium 59)
1124 The Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited
to adhere to it. When the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses
the faith received from the apostles - whence the ancient saying: lex
orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi, according
to Prosper of Aquitaine. [5th century]).The law of prayer is the law
of faith: the Church believes as she prays. Liturgy is a constitutive
element of the holy and living Tradition. (cf. Vatican II, Dei Verbum 8)
1125 For this reason no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated
at the will of the minister or the community. Even the supreme authority
in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the
obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the
liturgy.
1126 Likewise, since the sacraments express and develop the communion
of faith in the Church, the lex orandi is one of the essential criteria
of the dialogue that seeks to restore the unity of Christians. (cf. Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio 2; 15)
IV. The Sacraments Of Salvation
1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that
they signify. (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1605; DS 1606) They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is
at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order
to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always
hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each
sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms
into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into
the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.
1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1608) that the sacraments
act ex opere operato (literally: by the very fact of the action's
being performed), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ,
accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not
wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient,
but by the power of God." (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 68,8) From the moment that a sacrament is
celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power
of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the
personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments
also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New
Covenant are necessary for salvation. (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1604) "Sacramental grace" is
the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.
The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them
to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit
of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature (cf. 2 Peter 1:4) by uniting
them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
V. The Sacraments Of Eternal Life
1130 The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord "until he comes," when
God will be "everything to everyone." (1 Corinthians 11:26; 15:28) Since the apostolic
age the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning
in the Church: Marana tha! (1 Corinthians 16:22) The liturgy thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I
have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you . . . until it is
fulfilled in the kingdom of God." (Luke 22:15) In the sacraments of Christ
the Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even
now shares in everlasting life, while "awaiting our blessed hope,
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus." (Titus 2:13) The "Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come . . . Come, Lord Jesus!'" (Revelation 22:17, 20)
St. Thomas sums up the various aspects of sacramental signs: "Therefore
a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it - Christ's Passion;
demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ's Passion - grace;
and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us - future glory." (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,60,3)
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.
1132 The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured
by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers.
1133 The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the
Word of God and the faith which welcomes that word in well-disposed hearts.
Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.
1134 The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For
every one of the faithful on the one hand, this fruit is life for God
in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity
and in her mission of witness.
Because Our Lord, through His Priesthood, wished to institute a sacrament through which after we would sin against Him, we would be able to be reconciled with Him and His Body, the Church.
The Catechism shows us that it is one of several ways of looking at the same sacrament:
Hope this answers your question. Come back when ever you are unsure of
anything.
Mike
