-> 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, inContinue Reading
Baptism, -> CONFIRMATION, and Holy Orders. These -> SACRAMENTS imprint an indelible mark on the soul of the Christian. Baptism and Confirmation make him once and for all a child of God and Christlike. Holy Orders similarly leaves an imprint on a Christian man. [1121] Just as someone always isContinue Reading
-> SACRAMENTS are Christ’s gift to his Church. It is her duty to administer them and to protect them from misuse. [1117-1119, 1131] 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 anonymousContinue Reading
We can and should come to God with all our senses, not just with the intellect. That is why God gives himself to us in earthly signs – especially in bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Christ. [1084, 1146-1152] People saw Jesus, heard him, could touch him andContinue Reading
We need -> SACRAMENTS in order to outgrow our pretty human life and to become like Jesus through Jesus: children of God in freedom and glory. [1129] In Baptism the fallen children of men become cherished children of God; through -> CONFIRMATION the weak become strong, committed Christians; through PenanceContinue Reading
The -> CHURCH has seven -> SACRAMENTS: Baptism, -> CONFIRMATION, -> EUCHARIST, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. [1210]Continue Reading
LITURGY is always in the first place communion of fellowship with Jesus Christ. Every liturgy, not just the celebration of the Eucharist, is an Easter in miniature. Jesus reveals his passage from death to life and celebrates it with us. [1085] The most important -> LITURGY in the worldContinue Reading
The most profound origin of the -> LITURGY is God, in whom there is an eternal, heavenly banquet of love – the joy of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because God is love, he would like to let us particate in the feast of his joy andContinue Reading
When we celebrate the liturgy, we are drawn into the love of God, healed, and transformed. [1076] The sole purpose of all liturgies of the -> CHURCH and all her -> SACRAMENTS is that we might have life and have it abundantly. When we celebrate the liturge, we encounter theContinue Reading
“The -> LITURGY is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows” (Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum concilium 10). [1074] During Jesus’ lifetime, multitudes of people flocked to him, because they were seeking his healing presence. EvenContinue Reading
