Franciscan at Home

It is Confirmation time at St. Joseph’s parish, and the catechists have been working hard, with mixed results, to prepare the young adults for this important moment in their lives. Cecilia, for example, has become much more enthusiastic about her faith and is very excited about receiving the sacrament. Jacob has been respectfully attentive in the preparation classes but hasn’t yet become fully committed. Billy, on the other hand, is much less fervent than either Cecilia or Jacob. He is predominantly motivated by the desire to keep his parents happy and has no living faith. Then there is Sandra. She isn’t antagonistic to the faith. In fact she shows signs of real interest but, unfortunately, she has become involved with Steve, a lad of twenty, and has entered into an inappropriately intimate relationship with him.

This year, the celebration will be presided over by the parish priest, Fr. Tim. Cecilia’s mother, Barbara, is a little disappointed by this development, not so much because having the bishop does add a bit of gravitas to the whole occasion, but rather because Fr. Tim seems to have lost his belief in the reality of the Sacrament of Confirmation. He intimated as much to Barbara in an unguarded moment during last year’s parish barbeque. Let’s be clear here, Barbara fully accepts that the bishop can delegate the Confirmation to Fr. Tim, since by ordination the latter has the latent power to confirm, requiring only that this power might be “unlocked” by the bishop. It is more that Barbara is worried that Fr. Tim’s lack of faith might affect the efficacy of the sacrament.

Will all the hard work of the catechists founder on the reef of Jacob’s imperfect zeal, Billy’s indifference, Sandra’s state of grave sin, and Fr. Tim’s lack of faith? Or perhaps none of this makes any difference at all since the Catechism teaches us that the sacraments have inherent power to communicate grace or, that they work ex opere operato (CCC 1128).

The Latin phrase ex opere operato means “on account of the work worked” or, more colloquially, “by the completion of the sacramental rite.” This fact is contrasted with the idea that the sacraments work ex opere operantis. This second phrase means “from the work of the worker” and would, if applied to a sacrament, imply that a sacrament has no inherent power to give grace but, rather, that grace is given because of the meritorious quality of the action of the recipient or the minister.

The Church first developed the notion of ex opere operato during a dispute with the Donatists in the fourth century. These North African heretics claimed that priests and bishops who had apostatized during the persecution of Diocletian (but who had later returned to the fold) were unable to validly administer the sacraments. This was denied by the Lateran Synod in 313 A.D. (under Pope Miltiades), which condemned the Donatist position as heretical since neither the moral state of the minister nor his lack of orthodoxy in matters of faith can block the effect of a sacrament.

Later, during the Reformation, the phrase ex opera operato was used with reference to the role of the recipient, rather than of the minister. The reformers claimed that the sacraments were merely an opportunity to profess faith in Christ, and it was on account of this faith (and not some inherent power in the sacraments) that the recipient was justified and sanctified. No, responded the Council of Trent, while faith is needed for justification (and sanctification), the sacraments themselves have the power, as tools in the hand of God, to infuse grace into the recipient.[i] This is also part of the difference between the sacraments of the New Law and those of the Old Law. In the Old Law, religious rites like circumcision did communicate grace but, being “weak and needy elements” (Gal 4:9), they only worked ex opere operantis. They did not have inherent power to give grace but, rather, they were opportunities for the Jews to manifest their faith in God (and the Messiah to come), and it was because of this faith that grace was given.

So clearly, then, we know from these two controversies that a “sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God.”[ii] If this is the case, however, what is the use of all that preparation—all that catechesis? Doesn’t our Catholic intuition (a.k.a. the gift of the Holy Spirit called knowledge) tell us that surely Cecilia benefits from the sacrament more than Jacob does, and both benefit more than either Billy or Sandra?

To put all of this another way, the question before us is this: accepting that the sacraments have inherent power to give grace, nevertheless, what kind of cooperation is needed on the part of the recipient and of the minister, and what is the role of the catechist in all this?

According to the Code of Canon Law, in order for the Sacrament of Baptism to be celebrated validly and lawfully, there must be a minister of baptism. There is no circumstance in which a person may baptise himself. There are three important canons in the code which are relevant to issues revolving around the minister of baptism:

- Canon 861 defines the ordinary and extraordinary ministers of baptism, and the circumstances in which the latter may lawfully baptise.

- Canon 862 defines the territorial restrictions on the exercise of baptism by ordinary ministers.

- Canon 863 details the circumstances in which the diocesan bishop is the proper minister of baptism.

The baptismal font is an important feature and symbol of any parish church. It is necessary for catechists to have a clear understanding of the role of the baptismal font and the place of baptism for the life of the community. The canonical norms on the baptismal font and the place of baptism are clear: candidates must be baptised in the baptismal font in the proper parish church. The following norms will outline the baptismal font and also make clear where baptism is to be administered.

The question of the baptismal font is rarely discussed in any great detail. While the faithful see baptisms carried out at the baptismal font, many of them might not know much about the font itself. As the place where parents present their child for baptism or where adults are initiated into the Christian faith, the baptismal font is a sacred place.

n this article Fr. Rosney offers the canonical teaching on the time of and place of baptism as set out in canons 856-857. The time and place of celebration are important in order to highlight the importance of the sacrament as the first step of membership into God’s family.

In the previous issue of The Sower, Fr Rosney clarified the terms ‘adult’ and ‘infant’ baptism in relation to the formation for baptism. In this article, he outlines ‘baptismal water’, ‘immersion and pouring’, and ‘baptismal name’ according the canons 853-855 in the Code of Canon Law. For example:

The water to be used for baptism should be blessed, normally during the celebration of the baptism itself. If unblessed water is used, the sacrament is still valid because canon 849, which treats the validity of baptism, doesn’t say the water should be blessed. In the rite for the celebration of baptism for adults and infants, it stresses the water should be blessed during the course of the celebration, and in the case of an adult baptism, during the Easter Vigil. If the baptism takes place during the Easter season, the Easter water should be used; and in the case of a catechist or other person designated to perform the baptism, water already blessed is to be used inside or outside the Easter season.

We continue to look at how catechists can benefit from a better understanding of the Code of Canon Law, looking at the seven sacraments.

The seven sacraments are treated in Book IV ‘The Sanctifying Function of the Church’ of the code of canon law under canons 849-1165. The sacraments as ‘the principal elements of the liturgy’ constitute three-quarters of Book IV under seven titles corresponding to the seven sacraments.

The canons give primary emphasis to the sacraments of initiation: baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist in accordance with the norm in canon 842.2 which states;

‘The sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the Most Holy Eucharist are interrelated in such a way that they are required for full Christian initiation.’

The canons in Book IV of the Code are on the whole concerned with what is minimally necessary for validity in the Latin Church. Nine preliminary canons (cc. 840-848) introduce the canonical teaching on the sacraments. For those engaged in the ministry of catechesis four canons are of particular importance and relevance in how they carry out the task of evangelization in fidelity to the teaching of the Church. They are canons 840, 841, 843.2, and 846 which treat the following: definition of the sacraments (c. 840); requisites for the validity of the sacraments (c. 841); duties of ministers and others (c. 843.2), and observance of liturgical laws (c. 846).

The awe and wonder of Emmanuel, God with us, with which we identify so well at Christmas time in Primary schools with Nativity plays, carols and lumpy throats at the sight of Reception class transformed into angels, is at times quite lost when we are in the presence of Emmanuel today. Our Lord told us ‚‘I am with you always’, and the way which he chose to be present among us is in the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament of the altar which is reserved even when the Mass is over so that he can be with us still.

The Sacrifice of the Mass and the Real Presence in the Eucharist are an extension of the Incarnation, so how is it that our receptivity for the sacred which leads us to kneel at the Christmas crib can so easily evaporate once that feast is over, hindering our passing on to our children the sense of adoration and wonder in the presence of Christ in our Churches?

How do we convey to children a sense of the Real Presence?

This liturgical meditation is taken from Romano Guardini's book, Sacred Signs.

‘And I saw …… and an angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given him much incense……. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God, from the hand of the angel.’ So says St John in the Apocalypse.

There is a grand beauty in this laying of the bright grains on the glowing coal and then the scented smoke rising from the swinging censer. It is like a melody with rhythmic movement and sweet odour. Without any purpose, as clear as a song. Beautiful squandering of costliness. A gift of un-reserving love.

So once, when the Lord sat at table in Bethany, and Mary brought the costly spikenard and poured it over His feet, and dried them with her hair, and the house was filled with odour, narrow minds murmured: ‘To what purpose is this waste?’ The Son of God replied: ‘Let her alone, she hath done it for my burial.’ A mystery of death was here, of love, of odour, of sacrifice.

This liturgical meditation is taken from Romano Guardini's book, Sacred Signs.

It is spread out on the altar; it lies, in the corporal, as a winding cloth, under chalice and Host; the priest, when he performs the sacred service, is vested in the alb, the white linen garment; linen covers the table of the Lord at which the divine bread is distributed…

True linen is a costly thing, clean and fine and strong. When it lies there so white and fresh I can only think of a forest walk in winter, when I came suddenly to an open slope which lay covered with freshly fallen snow spread out spotless between the dark pines. I did not dare to walk over it with my coarse boots – I walked round it most reverently. So lies the linen spread out for the Holy Things.

What does the Code of Canon Law teach on formation for baptism?

The celebration of the sacraments in the Catholic Church demand formation in the faith of the sacrament, and baptism as the foundation of all the sacraments is no different. The first words of canon 851 clearly state ‘…the celebration of baptism must be prepared properly.’ It adds that an adult who intends to be baptised must be admitted to the catechumenate and be led to the various stages of sacramental initiation according to the norms laid down by the conference of bishops. In addition, canon 851 exhorts parents and sponsor of an infant to be baptized to be properly instructed on the meaning of the sacrament, primarily by the pastor or through others, for example, catechists.