Wednesday, May 30, 2012
250. How are the sacraments of the Church divided?
(Comp
250) The sacraments are divided into: the sacraments of Christian initiation
(Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist); the sacraments of healing (Penance
and Anointing of the Sick);, and the sacraments at the service of communion and
mission (Holy Orders and Matrimony). The sacraments touch all the important
moments of Christian life. All of the sacraments are ordered to the Holy
Eucharist “as to their end” (Saint Thomas Aquinas).
“In brief”
(CCC 1113) The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves
around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments (Cf. SC 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.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1210) Christ instituted the
sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or
Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders,
and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important
moments of Christian life: (Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 65, 1): they give birth and increase, healing and mission
to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between
the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.
On reflection
(CCC 1211) Following this analogy,
the first chapter will expound the
three sacraments of Christian initiation; the
second, the sacraments of healing; and the
third, the sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the
faithful. This order, while not the only one possible, does allow one to see
that the sacraments form an organic whole in which each particular sacrament
has its own vital place. In this organic whole, the Eucharist occupies a unique
place as the "Sacrament of sacraments": "all the other
sacraments are ordered to it as to their end" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 65, 3).
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