-> SACRAMENTS are not magic. A Sacrament is effective of itself, however, to be fruitful it must be accepted in faith. Sacraments not only presuppose faith, they also strengthen it and give expression to it. [1122-1126]
Jesus commissioned the -> APOSTLES first to make people disciples through their preaching, in other words, to awaken their faith and only then to baptize them. There are two things, therefore, that we receive from the -> CHURCH: faith and the sacraments. Even today someone becomes a Christian, not through a mere ritual or by being listed in a register, but rather through acceptance of the true faith. We receive the true faith from the Church. She vouches for it. Because the Church’s faith is expressed in the -> LITURGY, no sacramental ritual can be changed or manipulated at the discretion of an individual minister or a congregation.
