Sacraments

The sacraments are at the same time the work of Christ who is their author and who gives them life, and the work of the Church, their depository and administrator. They have two causes: one, invisible, is the action of Christ who is “present (by his power) in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ himself who baptizes” (SC 7); the other is visible, the external action, with which the Church, through the priest administers the sacrament, fulfilling the rite. Christ’s action is the essential element; without it the sacraments could neither produce nor communicate grace. When we approach them, we should be fully aware of the invisible reality of which they are efficacious signs. By means of the sacraments Jesus works within us, infusing his life in us and increasing it in us.