Replies

Colossians 3:12-13

As noted above, this refers to contrition - acknowledging repentance for injuring others. It is liberating but it does not eradicate the mark of sin on the soul. Our Lord was clear and direct in how this was to be accomplished.

There is no "sacrament" of forgiveness.

Of course there is; in fact, there are 7 Sacraments. The sacraments are Christ's own gift that provide us with his grace.

They are the divine helps which God gives us to enable us to:

Believe the truths of his faith
Live according to his moral code
Grow in his gift of divine life

When God made us, he gave us free will.

He continues to respect our free will to the end. When Jesus died upon the Cross to redeem us from our sins, it did not mean that from then on everyone would have to go to Heaven whether they wanted to or not.

When Jesus died upon the Cross, he paid an infinite price for an inexhaustible flow of grace. That grace would enable each person to turn back to God and to remain united with God through this life and through eternity.

That brings us to a question: How would Jesus provide for this flow of grace to individual souls?

Would the whole thing be invisible?
Would God simply give to each person of good will a silent inner conviction of being saved?
Each time that we felt the need of divine help, would we simply ask for it and immediately feel welling up within us a great surge of spiritual strength?

God could have done it that way, of course. But God chose to be consistent. He chose to deal with man, in this matter of grace, in the same manner in which He had made man—through a union of the material and the spiritual, of body and of soul.

The grace itself would be invisible, as by its nature it must be. But the grace would come to us through the visible things that we deal with daily.

And so God took the common things from the world about us—objects which we could taste and touch and feel, words that we could hear and gestures that we could understand—and made these the carriers of His grace.

He even matched the sign to the purpose for which the grace was given:

Water for the grace which cleanses
The appearances of bread and wine for the grace which nourishes and gives growth
Oil for the grace which strengthens

To this combination of outward sign and inner grace, welded together by Christ, the Church gives the Latin name of sacramentum—a holy thing.

The sacraments are chosen instruments of divine power.

The exact definition of a sacrament is that it is "an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace." We readily can see that there are three distinct ideas contained in that short definition:

Outward sign
Instituted by Christ
To give grace

The outward signs are God's way of treating us like the human beings we are. He conveys His unseen grace into our spiritual souls through material symbols which our physical bodies can perceive—things and words and gestures.

The outward signs of the sacraments have two parts: the "thing" itself which is used (water, oil, etc.), and the words or gestures which give significance to what is being done.

We know that no human power could attach an inward grace to an outward sign—not even the divinely guided but humanly applied power of the Church.

Only God can do that.

Which brings us to the second element in the definition of a sacrament: "instituted by Christ."

Between the time He began His public life and the time He ascended into heaven, Jesus fashioned the seven sacraments. When He ascended into heaven, that put an end to the making of sacraments.

The Church cannot institute new sacraments. There never can be more or less than seven, the seven Jesus has given us: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation (Confession or Penance), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

Jesus did completely specify the matter and form of some of the sacraments—notably Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. But this does not mean that He necessarily fixed the matter and form of all the sacraments down to the last detail.

Coming now to the third element in the definition of a sacrament, we have its essential purpose: "to give grace."

What kind of grace do the sacraments give?

First and most important of all, they give sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace is that marvelous supernatural life, that sharing-in-God's-own-life that is the result of God's Love, the Holy Spirit, indwelling in the soul.

To the soul cut off from God by original sin, Baptism brings sanctifying grace for the first time. Baptism opens the soul to the flow of God's love, and establishes union between the soul and God.
To the soul cut off from God by its own sin, by mortal sin, the sacrament of Reconciliation restores the sanctifying grace that has been lost. Reconciliation removes the barrier that has kept the Holy Spirit outside and once again gives entrance to God's life-giving love.

The other five sacraments—Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony—give an increase in sanctifying grace.

They deepen and intensify the spiritual life of sanctifying grace which already pulsates through the soul. As each additional sacrament is received (and repeated, when it can be) the level of spiritual vitality rises in the soul—somewhat as the brightness of a fire increases as you add more fuel.

(God's love does not increase—it is infinite to begin with. But the soul's capacity to absorb His love increases as a child's capacity for life increases with each meal that he eats.)

If each sacrament gives (or increases) sanctifying grace in the soul, then why did Jesus institute seven sacraments? Wouldn't just one sacrament have been enough, to be received as needed?

Yes, one sacrament would have been enough, if sanctifying grace were the only kind of grace God wanted to give us. But God did not choose simply to give us spiritual life and then let us fend for ourselves.

God gives us the spiritual life which is sanctifying grace, and then does all that He can (short of taking away our free will)...

To make that life operative within us
To expand that life and intensify it
To preserve and protect it

So in addition to the sanctifying grace which is common to all the sacraments, each sacrament also gives the sacramental grace of that particular sacrament. These are other special helps which God wills to give us, helps keyed to our particular spiritual needs and our particular state in life.

2Corinthians 5:21

You need to step back two lines. In 2 Cor. 5:18, the ministry of reconciliation was given to the ambassadors of the Church. This ministry of reconciliation refers to the sacrament of reconciliation, also called the sacrament of confession or penance.

That brings us to a question: How would Jesus provide for this flow of grace to individual souls?

Three words -- The Holy Spirit.

But the grace would come to us through the visible things that we deal with daily.

Objects do not transport grace. That is idol-worship and nothing more.

The Holy Spirit confers grace by supernaturally regenerating the hearts and renewing the minds of God's children so that they are able to understand spiritual things, the things of God. And the Holy Spirit does this in the exact measure God ordains.

"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." -- 1 Corinthians 2:10-14

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" -- Titus 3:5

Men vainly worship Him with silver and gold and empty rituals and idols of their own making, all to their detriment.

"But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." -- Psalm 115:3-8

Put your trust in Jesus Christ alone, the only mediator between God and men. He has already accomplished what you struggle for.