Holy Sacrament

“ This sacrament is the gift of gifts and the grace of graces. When the almighty and eternal God comes to us, with all the perfections of His thrice-holy humanity and His divinity, He surely does not come empty-handed. ”

“ A sacrament is an holy ordinance, instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit, unto those that are within the covenant of grace, the benefits of his mediation; to strengthen and increase their faith, and all other graces; to oblige them to obedience; to testify and cherish their love and communion one with another, and to distinguish them from those that are without. ”

“ The Most Holy Eucharist is indeed the Sacrament of Love; it is in truth a miracle of love. Simply for love of us poor human beings is Jesus Christ really and truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. ”

“ In the essay, How I Once More Became a Lutheran, he writes: "The Holy Sacrament is the chief individualising process in Christianity; by its means the whole mystery of the redemption enters in all its fulness into the receptive personality. The fertilising stream of grace, which, since the day of the great regeneration, has flowed through all nature and all history, and which matures us for a blessed future, here takes the form of the Saviour, in order that that which is all in all may be completely present.... ”

“ It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that, during the time of the administration of it, with all holy reverence and attention they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord's body, and affectionately meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces ”

“ The Sacrament.—In the course of our study of the principles and ordinances of the Gospel, as specified in the fourth of the Articles of Faith, the subject of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper [510] very properly claims attention, the observance of this ordinance being required of all who have become members of the Church of Christ through compliance with the requirements of faith, repentance, and baptism by water and by the Holy Ghost. ”

“ A. Sacramental grace is that particular actual grace which is peculiar to each sacrament, and which strengthens the worthy receiver and enables him to perform the duties and accomplish the ends for which each particular sacrament was intended. Thus in baptism we receive strengthening grace to enable us to lead a Christian life; in confirmation, to profess our faith in the midst of all dangers, and resist all the enemies of our souls in the holy communion, to preserve and augment the life of the soul, and the love of God; in penance, to preserve us from falling back into sin ”

“ Paul to “stand fast, and hold the traditions which we have been taught, whether by word or by epistle,” 2 Thess. ii, 15. 4. That seven sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ, namely, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony; and that they confer grace. To prove that confirmation, or imposition of hands, is a sacrament, they quote Acts viii, 17: “They,” the Apostles, “laid their hands on them,” believers, “and they received the Holy Ghost.” ”

“ Is there any likeness between the thing used in the outward sign and the grace given in each Sacrament? A. There is a great likeness between the thing used in the outward sign and the grace given in each Sacrament; thus water is used for cleansing; Baptism cleanses the soul; Oil gives strength and light; Confirmation strengthens and enlightens the soul; Bread and wine nourish; the Holy Eucharist nourishes the soul. ”

“ I answer that, Signs are given to men, to whom it is proper to discover the unknown by means of the known. Consequently a sacrament properly so called is that which is the sign of some sacred thing pertaining to man; so that properly speaking a sacrament, as considered by us now, is defined as being the "sign of a holy thing so far as it makes men holy." ”

“ This sacrament aids the sick to bear their sufferings with patience. It wipes away sin, even mortal sin if the person is unable to confess; and it purifies the soul for its entrance into heaven. The other sacraments assist us in making our lives holy like the life of our divine Model. This sacrament assists in making our death holy, like the death of Jesus. ”

“ This day must be sanctified and consecrated to the love of our blessed Saviour by prayer, pious reading, visits to the blessed sacrament, and every good work; and therefore on the eve of this solemn day, prepare your heart by some act of penance or charity, for the reception of divine grace. On the festival itself, repair to the sacraments of penance and holy communion. At confession accuse yourself, and detest in a special manner your many ingratitudes and acts of disrespect towards the blessed sacrament. ”

“ For, although the body and blood of our Divine Saviour ceases to be really present in our heart after the Sacramental species are consumed, he, however, still re-main8 there in a special manner by his grace; and tho virtue of this sacrament — the most powerful and the most efficacious of all the sacraments — produces wonderful effects, particularly in temptations against angelical purity: frequent communion being, as says a holy Doctor, the best support and guardian of this heavenly virtue. ”

“ The direct means instituted by Christ himself for applying his infinite merits to the souls of men are the holy sacraments, which are so many channels instituted by Jesus Christ to convey to men his grace purchased for us at the price of his most precious blood. ”

“ Q. Whence have the Sacraments the power of giving grace? A. The Sacraments have the power of giving grace from the merits of Jesus Christ.
147. Q. Do the Sacraments always give grace? A. The Sacraments always give grace, if we receive them with the right dispositions.
148. Q. Can we receive the Sacraments more than once? A. We can receive the Sacraments more than once, except Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders.
LESSON TWELFTH ON BAPTISM 152. Q. What is Baptism? A. Baptism is a Sacrament which cleanses us from original sin, makes us Christians, children of God, and heirs of heaven. ”

“ O SACRED Heart of Jesus, filled with infinite love, broken by my ingratitude, pierced by my sins, yet loving me still, accept the consecration that I make to Thee, of all that I am and all that I have. Take every faculty of my soul and body, and draw me, day by day, nearer and nearer to Thy sacred side, and there as I can bear the lesson teach me Thy blessed ways! Amen.
Indulgenced Prayer to the Eucharistic Jesus
Dear Jesus, in the Sacrament of the Altar, be forever thanked and praised. Love, worthy of all celestial and terrestrial love! ”

“ The sacraments are tremendous realities to me, just because they are a living protest against all Popish, High Church, Low Church schemes of thought—because they are a protest that man does nothing, God does all—that everything is a sacrament of the grace of God. ”

“ Wherever the gospel is promulgated the only mode through which we can obtain a title to those blessings and privileges which Christ has purchased for his mystical body, the church, is the sacrament of baptism. ”

“ Men who felt the reality of a mystic communion with Christ, of which the Supper of the Lord was the symbol,—who felt the strengthening of their characters as their thoughts fed upon the words and life of Jesus,—naturally came to speak of the sacrament in terms of awe, which magnified the mystery, until at last they bowed down before the veritable body and blood of Christ, and trembled with fear as the tinkling of the silver bell announced that the priest was bringing God down into a wafer! ”

“ It appears on the present occasion that we enjoy the privilege of partaking of the sacrament in commemoration of the death and suffering of our Lord and Saviour, to witness to each other that we are willing to keep his commandments, and to observe the requirements of the fulness of the Gospel until he shall come. ”

“ But indeed a Sacrament so great and so rich in all manner of blessings can never be extolled as it deserves by human eloquence, nor adequately venerated by the worship of man. This Sacrament, whether as the theme of devout meditation, or as the object of public adoration, or best of all as a food to be received in the utmost purity of conscience, is to be regarded as the centre towards which the spiritual life of a Christian in all its ambit gravitates; for all other forms of devotion, whatsoever they may be, lead up to it, and in it find their point of rest. ”

“ Sacrament, a ceremonial observance in the Christian Church divinely instituted as either really or symbolically a means, and in any case a pledge, of grace.
Sacramentarian, a High Churchman who attaches a special sacred virtue to the sacraments of the Church. ”

“ For this most high and precious sacrament is the health both of soul and body, the medicine for all spiritual languor; hereby my vices are cured, my passions bridled, my temptations overcome or at least weakened; greater grace is infused, virtue begun is increased, faith is confirmed, hope strengthened, and love inflamed and enlarged.
3. For Thou hast bestowed, and still oftentimes dost bestow many benefits in this sacrament upon Thy beloved ones that communicate devoutly, O my God, the protector of my soul, the strengthener of human frailty, and the giver of all inward comfort. ”

“ Hence you see that, besides the great sacrifice which makes it an act worthy of God, the Mass consists of the best of all prayers.
From what has been said it is evident that ceremonies in the worship of God are reasonable, being sanctioned by God in the Old and New Testaments; that the holy sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest of all acts of worship; and that the Catholic Church in using ceremonies is but following the example of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His apostles. ”

“ The sacraments are the highest part of religion, the symbols to our senses of an extraordinary divine favour and grace. In the Lord's Supper earthly lips are to receive a divine Being embodied, and partake of an heavenly under the form of an earthly nourishment. This sense is just the same in all Christian churches; whether the Sacrament is taken with more or less submission to the mystery, with more or less accommodation as to that which is intelligible ”

“ In all such places particular forms of prayer have been adopted, in agreement with the ideas of the worshippers, as grounded in the religious sentiments above stated, especially respecting the supreme object of adoration, who is acknowledged to be the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in his divine humanity. But in no place have any peculiar rites and ceremonies been introduced, the worshippers being content with retaining the celebration of the two sacraments of baptism and the holy supper, since no other rites are insisted on by the author whose testimony they receive. ”

“ The occasion of administering the Sacrament, the emblems of the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is a suitable time for every Latter-day Saint to make the inquiry, why are we Latter-day Saints ”

“ See to it that you exercise and strengthen your faith, so that when you are sorrowful or your sins afflict you and you go to the sacrament or hear mass, you do so with a hearty desire for this sacrament and for what it means, and doubt not that you have what the sacrament signifies, that is, that you are certain Christ and all His saints come to you bringing all their virtues, sufferings and mercies, to live, work, suffer and die with you, and be wholly yours, to have all things in common with you. ”

“ A sacrament, in which the assumed humanity in Christ, hypostatically united with the divinity, is made to blend with our humanity in a union so close as to render us, in turn, "partakers of the divine nature." ”

“ On the other hand, if the person be already in the state of grace, and receive any of the other sacraments, he receives by them an increase of justifying grace, by which his soul is rendered more pure and holy, and more beautiful in the sight of God; and therefore these other sacraments are called the sacraments of the living, because they cannot be received worthily unless the soul of the receiver be alive to God by being in the state of grace. ”

“ When choir and congregation assembled after communion in the college quadrangle, there to form themselves into a procession, one of the clergy repeated the prayer, Deus, qui nobis sub sacramento mirabili, which is always chanted in the Catholic church at the benediction of the blessed Sacrament. ”

“ Still less will any one assert that such promises are vain; and if not so, then let us look forward, and ever more and more forward, to the progression of our dear Lord’s kingdom upon earth; himself present amongst us in the Blessed Sacrament, coming in that meek guise to take possession of his territories, and all but silently planting his standard first here, then there, as new altars are raised to him, and as other souls are brought beneath the sacraments—the oaths of allegiance to their new Master. ”