United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

Chapter 14. The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ • 169

• Sacraments at the Service of Communion: Holy Orders and Matrimony What are the Sacraments? “The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” through the work of the Holy Spirit (CCC, nos. 1131; cf. no. 774). First of all, Sacraments are efficacious signs: that is, they are effec tive. In human life, signs and symbols are found everywhere. Because we are both body and spirit, we express our inner selves through visible signs and symbols. We use them to communicate with each other in speech, gestures, and deeds. Sacramental signs are different in the sense that Christ uses them to confer his life and grace. When these sacramen tal signs are celebrated, they reveal and make present the reality they signify. They are efficacious, that is, effective, because Jesus Christ is at work in them. “It is he who baptizes, he who acts in the sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies” (CCC, no. 1127). As we reflect on the individual Sacraments in later chapters of this Catechism , we will see that each Sacrament brings with it some particular grace. Second, Christ instituted the Sacraments. “Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the consensus . . . of the Fathers,” we profess that “the sacraments of the new law were . . . all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord” (CCC, no. 1114, citing the Council of Trent: DS 1600-1601). Third, Jesus entrusted the Sacraments to the Church. By Christ’s will, the Church oversees and celebrates the Sacraments. Throughout his earthly life, Christ’s words and deeds anticipated the power of his Paschal Mystery. Sacraments confer the grace that comes forth from Jesus Christ and that appears in the life of the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Fourth, the Sacraments transmit divine life. Our share in this life is God’s grace, his gift to us. In the Sacraments, we encounter Jesus Christ. The Spirit heals us and draws us closer to Christ and makes us partak ers in the life of the Holy Trinity. Depending on our responsiveness to the grace of each Sacrament, our loving union with Jesus can increase