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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

the Christian Mystery...Liturgy, 7 Sacraments, Christian Passover (funerals)


PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
Why the liturgy?
1066 In the Symbol of the faith the Church confesses the mystery of the Holy Trinity and of the plan of
God's "good pleasure" for all creation: the Father accomplishes the "mystery of his will" by giving his
beloved Son and his Holy Spirit for the salvation of the world and for the glory of his name.1
Such is the mystery of Christ, revealed and fulfilled in history according to the wisely ordered plan that
St. Paul calls the "plan of the mystery"2 and the patristic tradition will call the "economy of the Word
incarnate" or the "economy of salvation."
1067 "The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the
work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He accomplished this
work principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and
glorious Ascension, whereby 'dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.' For it was from
the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous
sacrament of the whole Church."'3 For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the
Paschal mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.
1068 It is this mystery of Christ that the Church proclaims and celebrates in her liturgy so that the
faithful may live from it and bear witness to it in the world:
For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that "the work of our
redemption is accomplished," and it is through the liturgy especially that the faithful are
enabled to express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real
nature of the true Church.4

What does the word liturgy mean?
1069 The word "liturgy" originally meant a "public work" or a "service in the name of/on behalf of the
people." In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of God."5
Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in,
with, and through his Church.
1070 In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but
also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity.6 In all of these situations it is a question of
the service of God and neighbor. In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her
Lord, the one "leitourgos";7 she shares in Christ's priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic
(proclamation) and kingly (service of charity):
The liturgy then is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. It involves the
presentation of man's sanctification under the guise of signs perceptible by the senses and its
accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs. In it full public worship is
performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. From this
it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his
Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church
can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.8

Liturgy as source of life
1071 As the work of Christ liturgy is also an action of his Church. It makes the Church present and
manifests her as the visible sign of the communion in Christ between God and men. It engages the
faithful in the new life of the community and involves the "conscious, active, and fruitful participation"
of everyone.9
1072 "The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church":10 it must be preceded by
evangelization, faith, and conversion. It can then produce its fruits in the lives of the faithful: new life in
the Spirit, involvement in the mission of the Church, and service to her unity.

Prayer and liturgy
1073 The liturgy is also a participation in Christ's own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal. Through the liturgy the inner man is rooted
and grounded in "the great love with which [the Father] loved us" in his beloved Son.11 It is the same
"marvelous work of God" that is lived and internalized by all prayer, "at all times in the Spirit."12

Catechesis and liturgy
1074 "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font
from which all her power flows."13 It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God.
"Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the
sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of
men."14
1075 Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ ( It is "mystagogy." ) by
proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the "sacraments"
to the "mysteries." Such catechesis is to be presented by local and regional catechisms. This Catechism,
which aims to serve the whole Church in all the diversity of her rites and cultures,15 will present what is
fundamental and common to the whole Church in the liturgy as mystery and as celebration (Section
One), and then the seven sacraments and the sacramentals (Section Two).
1 Eph 1:9.
2 Eph 3:9; cf. 3:4.
3 SC 5 § 2; cf. St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 138,2:PL 37,1784-1785.
4 SC 2.
5 Cf. Jn 17:4.
6 Cf. Lk 1:23; Acts 13:2; Rom 15:16,27; 2 Cor 9:12; Phil 2:14-17,25,30.
7 Cf. Heb 8:2,6.
8 SC 7 § 2-3.
9 SC 11.
10 SC 9.
11 Eph 2:4; 3:16-17.
12 Eph 6:18.
13 SC 10.
14 John Paul II, CT 23.
15 Cf. SC 3-4.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
1076 The Church was made manifest to the world on the day of Pentecost by the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit.1 The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era in the "dispensation of the mystery" the age of
the Church, during which Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates his work of salvation
through the liturgy of his Church, "until he comes."2 In this age of the Church Christ now lives and acts
in and with his Church, in a new way appropriate to this new age. He acts through the sacraments in
what the common Tradition of the East and the West calls "the sacramental economy"; this is the
communication (or "dispensation") of the fruits of Christ's Paschal mystery in the celebration of the
Church's "sacramental" liturgy.
It is therefore important first to explain this "sacramental dispensation" (chapter one). The nature and
essential features of liturgical celebration will then appear more clearly (chapter two).
l Cf. SC 6; LG 2.
2 1 Cor 11:26.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER ONE
THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH

ARTICLE 1
THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY

I. THE FATHER-SOURCE AND GOAL OF THE LITURGY
1077 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us before him in love to be his sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he
freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."3
1078 Blessing is a divine and life-giving action, the source of which is the Father; his blessing is both
word and gift.4 When applied to man, the word "blessing" means adoration and surrender to his
Creator in thanksgiving.
1079 From the beginning until the end of time the whole of God's work is a blessing. From the liturgical
poem of the first creation to the canticles of the heavenly Jerusalem, the inspired authors proclaim the
plan of salvation as one vast divine blessing.
1080 From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man and woman. The covenant
with Noah and with all living things renewed this blessing of fruitfulness despite man's sin which had
brought a curse on the ground. But with Abraham, the divine blessing entered into human history
which was moving toward death, to redirect it toward life, toward its source. By the faith of "the father
of all believers," who embraced the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.
1081 The divine blessings were made manifest in astonishing and saving events: the birth of Isaac, the
escape from Egypt (Passover and Exodus), the gift of the promised land, the election of David, the
presence of God in the Temple, the purifying exile, and return of a "small remnant." The Law, the
Prophets, and the Psalms, interwoven in the liturgy of the Chosen People, recall these divine blessings
and at the same time respond to them with blessings of praise and thanksgiving.
1082 In the Church's liturgy the divine blessing is fully revealed and communicated. The Father is
acknowledged and adored as the source and the end of all the blessings of creation and salvation. In
his Word who became incarnate, died, and rose for us, he fills us with his blessings. Through his Word,
he pours into our hearts the Gift that contains all gifts, the Holy Spirit.
1083 The dual dimension of the Christian liturgy as a response of faith and love to the spiritual
blessings the Father bestows on us is thus evident. On the one hand, the Church, united with her Lord
and "in the Holy Spirit,"5 blesses the Father "for his inexpressible gift6 in her adoration, praise, and
thanksgiving. On the other hand, until the consummation of God's plan, the Church never ceases to
present to the Father the offering of his own gifts and to beg him to send the Holy Spirit upon that
offering, upon herself, upon the faithful, and upon the whole world, so that through communion in the
death and resurrection of Christ the Priest, and by the power of the Spirit, these divine blessings will
bring forth the fruits of life "to the praise of his glorious grace."7

II. CHRIST'S WORK IN THE LITURGY
Christ glorified . . .
1084 "Seated at the right hand of the Father" and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his Body which is the
Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. The
sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of
Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify.
1085 In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and
makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and
anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does
not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father
"once for all."8 His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other
historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal
mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed
death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the divine eternity,
and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and
Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.
. . . from the time of the Church of the Apostles . . .
1086 "Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father so also he sent the apostles, filled with the
Holy Spirit. This he did so that they might preach the Gospel to every creature and proclaim that the
Son of God by his death and resurrection had freed us from the power of Satan and from death and
brought us into the Kingdom of his Father. But he also willed that the work of salvation which they
preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical
life revolves."9
1087 Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of
sanctifying:10 they became sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit they
entrusted this power to their successors. This "apostolic succession" structures the whole liturgical life
of the Church and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of Holy Orders.

. . . is present in the earthly liturgy . . .
1088 "To accomplish so great a work" - the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation -
"Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the
Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister, 'the same now offering, through the
ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross,' but especially in the Eucharistic species.
By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself
who baptizes. He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are
read in the Church. Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised 'where
two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them."'11
1089 "Christ, indeed, always associates the Church with himself in this great work in which God is
perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is his beloved Bride who calls to her Lord and
through him offers worship to the eternal Father."12

. . . which participates in the liturgy of heaven
1090 "In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the
Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of
God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army
we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and
fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear
and we too will appear with him in glory."13

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH IN THE LITURGY
1091 In the liturgy the Holy Spirit is teacher of the faith of the People of God and artisan of "God's
masterpieces," the sacraments of the New Covenant. The desire and work of the Spirit in the heart of
the Church is that we may live from the life of the risen Christ. When the Spirit encounters in us the
response of faith which he has aroused in us, he brings about genuine cooperation. Through it, the
liturgy becomes the common work of the Holy Spirit and the Church.
1092 In this sacramental dispensation of Christ's mystery the Holy Spirit acts in the same way as at
other times in the economy of salvation: he prepares the Church to encounter her Lord; he recalls and
makes Christ manifest to the faith of the assembly. By his transforming power, he makes the mystery
of Christ present here and now. Finally the Spirit of communion unites the Church to the life and
mission of Christ.

The Holy Spirit prepares for the reception of Christ
1093 In the sacramental economy the Holy Spirit fulfills what was prefigured in the Old Covenant. Since
Christ's Church was "prepared in marvelous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and in the Old
Covenant,"14 the Church's liturgy has retained certain elements of the worship of the Old Covenant as
integral and irreplaceable, adopting them as her own:
-notably, reading the Old Testament;
-praying the Psalms;
-above all, recalling the saving events and significant realities which have found their fulfillment in the
mystery of Christ (promise and covenant, Exodus and Passover, kingdom and temple, exile and return).
1094 It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built,15 and
then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under
the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called "typological" because it reveals the
newness of Christ on the basis of the "figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and
symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures
are unveiled.16 Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism,17 as did the cloud and
the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ, and
manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread from heaven."18

1095 For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the Easter Vigil, rereads
and re-lives the great events of salvation history in the "today" of her liturgy. But this also
demands that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this spiritual understanding of the
economy of salvation as the Church's liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it.

1096 Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy. A better knowledge of the Jewish people's faith and religious
life as professed and lived even now can help our better understanding of certain aspects of Christian
liturgy. For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an essential part of their respective liturgies: in
the proclamation of the Word of God, the response to this word, prayer of praise and intercession for
the living and the dead, invocation of God's mercy. In its characteristic structure the Liturgy of the
Word originates in Jewish prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical texts and formularies, as
well as those of our most venerable prayers, including the Lord's Prayer, have parallels in Jewish
prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers also draw their inspiration from the Jewish tradition. The relationship
between Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy, but also their differences in content, are particularly
evident in the great feasts of the liturgical year, such as Passover. Christians and Jews both celebrate
the Passover. For Jews, it is the Passover of history, tending toward the future; for Christians, it is the
Passover fulfilled in the death and Resurrection of Christ, though always in expectation of its definitive
consummation.
1097 In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the
Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly
derives its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who gathers the children of God into the one
Body of Christ. This assembly transcends racial, cultural, social - indeed, all human affinities.
1098 The assembly should prepare itself to encounter its Lord and to become "a people well disposed."
The preparation of hearts is the joint work of the Holy Spirit and the assembly, especially of its
ministers. The grace of the Holy Spirit seeks to awaken faith, conversion of heart, and adherence to the
Father's will. These dispositions are the precondition both for the reception of other graces conferred
in the celebration itself and the fruits of new life which the celebration is intended to produce
afterward.

The Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ
1099 The Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work of salvation in the liturgy.
Primarily in the Eucharist, and by analogy in the other sacraments, the liturgy is the memorial of the
mystery of salvation. The Holy Spirit is the Church's living memory.19
1100 The Word of God. The Holy Spirit first recalls the meaning of the salvation event to the liturgical
assembly by giving life to the Word of God, which is proclaimed so that it may be received and lived:
In the celebration of the liturgy, Sacred Scripture is extremely important. From it come the
lessons that are read and explained in the homily and the psalms that are sung. It is from the
Scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and that
actions and signs derive their meaning.20
1101 The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to those who read or hear it,
according to the dispositions of their hearts. By means of the words, actions, and symbols that form
the structure of a celebration, the Spirit puts both the faithful and the ministers into a living
relationship with Christ, the Word and Image of the Father, so that they can live out the meaning of
what they hear, contemplate, and do in the celebration.
1102 "By the saving word of God, faith . . . is nourished in the hearts of believers. By this faith then the
congregation of the faithful begins and grows."21 The proclamation does not stop with a teaching; it
elicits the response of faith as consent and commitment, directed at the covenant between God and
his people. Once again it is the Holy Spirit who gives the grace of faith, strengthens it and makes it
grow in the community. The liturgical assembly is first of all a communion in faith.

1103 Anamnesis. The liturgical celebration always refers to God's saving interventions in history. "The
economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each
other. . . . [T]he words for their part proclaim the works and bring to light the mystery they contain."22
In the Liturgy of the Word the Holy Spirit "recalls" to the assembly all that Christ has done for us. In
keeping with the nature of liturgical actions and the ritual traditions of the churches, the celebration
"makes a remembrance" of the marvelous works of God in an anamnesis which may be more or less
developed. The Holy Spirit who thus awakens the memory of the Church then inspires thanksgiving and
praise (doxology).

The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ
1104 Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them
present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are
repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique
mystery present.

1105 The Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send
the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that
the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God.23
1106 Together with the anamnesis, the epiclesis is at the heart of each sacramental celebration, most
especially of the Eucharist:
You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine . . . the Blood of Christ I shall
tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and
thought. . . . Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of
the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh.24
1107 The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the
consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the
fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father who hears the epiclesis of the Church,
the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance.25

The communion of the Holy Spirit
1108 In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ
and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its
branches.26 The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy.
The Spirit who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church
is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together.
Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the
liturgy.27
1109 The epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of
Christ. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit"28
have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration. The Church therefore
asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their
spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part
in her mission through the witness and service of charity.

IN BRIEF
1110 In the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is blessed and adored as the source of all the
blessings of creation and salvation with which he has blessed us in his Son, in order to give us the Spirit
of filial adoption.
1111 Christ's work in the liturgy is sacramental: because his mystery of salvation is made present there
by the power of his Holy Spirit; because his Body, which is the Church, is like a sacrament (sign and
instrument) in which the Holy Spirit dispenses the mystery of salvation; and because through her
liturgical actions the pilgrim Church already participates, as by a foretaste, in the heavenly liturgy.
1112 The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the Church is to prepare the assembly to encounter
Christ; to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly; to make the saving work of Christ
present and active by his transforming power; and to make the gift of communion bear fruit in the
Church.
3 Eph 1:3-6.
4 eu-logia, bene-dictio.
5 Lk 10:21.
6 2 Cor 9:15.
7 Eph 1:6.
8 Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; 9:12; cf. Jn 13:1; 17:1.
9 SC 6.
10 Cf. Jn 20:21-23.
11 SC 7; Mt 18:20.
12 SC 7.
13 SC 8; cf. LG 50.
14 LG 2.
15 Cf. DV 14-16; Lk 24:13-49.
16 Cf. 2 Cor 3:14-16.
17 Cf. 1 Pet 3:21.
18 Jn 6:32; cf. 1 Cor 10:1-6.
19 Cf. Jn 14:26.
20 SC 24.
21 PO 4.
22 DV 2.
23 Cf. Rom 12:1.
24 St. John Damascene, De fide orth. 4,13:PG 94,1145A.
25 Cf. Eph 1:14; 2 Cor 1:22.
26 Cf. Jn 15:1-17; Gal 5:22.
27 Cf. 1 Jn 1:3-7.
28 2 Cor 13:13.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER ONE
THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH

ARTICLE 1
THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY

I. THE FATHER-SOURCE AND GOAL OF THE LITURGY
1077 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us before him in love to be his sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he
freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."3
1078 Blessing is a divine and life-giving action, the source of which is the Father; his blessing is both
word and gift.4 When applied to man, the word "blessing" means adoration and surrender to his
Creator in thanksgiving.
1079 From the beginning until the end of time the whole of God's work is a blessing. From the liturgical
poem of the first creation to the canticles of the heavenly Jerusalem, the inspired authors proclaim the
plan of salvation as one vast divine blessing.
1080 From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man and woman. The covenant
with Noah and with all living things renewed this blessing of fruitfulness despite man's sin which had
brought a curse on the ground. But with Abraham, the divine blessing entered into human history
which was moving toward death, to redirect it toward life, toward its source. By the faith of "the father
of all believers," who embraced the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.
1081 The divine blessings were made manifest in astonishing and saving events: the birth of Isaac, the
escape from Egypt (Passover and Exodus), the gift of the promised land, the election of David, the
presence of God in the Temple, the purifying exile, and return of a "small remnant." The Law, the
Prophets, and the Psalms, interwoven in the liturgy of the Chosen People, recall these divine blessings
and at the same time respond to them with blessings of praise and thanksgiving.
1082 In the Church's liturgy the divine blessing is fully revealed and communicated. The Father is
acknowledged and adored as the source and the end of all the blessings of creation and salvation. In
his Word who became incarnate, died, and rose for us, he fills us with his blessings. Through his Word,
he pours into our hearts the Gift that contains all gifts, the Holy Spirit.
1083 The dual dimension of the Christian liturgy as a response of faith and love to the spiritual
blessings the Father bestows on us is thus evident. On the one hand, the Church, united with her Lord
and "in the Holy Spirit,"5 blesses the Father "for his inexpressible gift6 in her adoration, praise, and
thanksgiving. On the other hand, until the consummation of God's plan, the Church never ceases to
present to the Father the offering of his own gifts and to beg him to send the Holy Spirit upon that
offering, upon herself, upon the faithful, and upon the whole world, so that through communion in the
death and resurrection of Christ the Priest, and by the power of the Spirit, these divine blessings will
bring forth the fruits of life "to the praise of his glorious grace."7

II. CHRIST'S WORK IN THE LITURGY
Christ glorified . . .
1084 "Seated at the right hand of the Father" and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his Body which is the
Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. The
sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of
Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify.
1085 In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and
makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and
anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does
not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father
"once for all."8 His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other
historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal
mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed
death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the divine eternity,
and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and
Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.

. . . from the time of the Church of the Apostles . . .
1086 "Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father so also he sent the apostles, filled with the
Holy Spirit. This he did so that they might preach the Gospel to every creature and proclaim that the
Son of God by his death and resurrection had freed us from the power of Satan and from death and
brought us into the Kingdom of his Father. But he also willed that the work of salvation which they
preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical
life revolves."9
1087 Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of
sanctifying:10 they became sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit they
entrusted this power to their successors. This "apostolic succession" structures the whole liturgical life
of the Church and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of Holy Orders.

. . . is present in the earthly liturgy . . .
1088 "To accomplish so great a work" - the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation -
"Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the
Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister, 'the same now offering, through the
ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross,' but especially in the Eucharistic species.
By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself
who baptizes. He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are
read in the Church. Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised 'where
two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them."'11
1089 "Christ, indeed, always associates the Church with himself in this great work in which God is
perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is his beloved Bride who calls to her Lord and
through him offers worship to the eternal Father."12

. . . which participates in the liturgy of heaven
1090 "In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the
Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of
God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army
we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and
fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear
and we too will appear with him in glory."13

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH IN THE LITURGY
1091 In the liturgy the Holy Spirit is teacher of the faith of the People of God and artisan of "God's
masterpieces," the sacraments of the New Covenant. The desire and work of the Spirit in the heart of
the Church is that we may live from the life of the risen Christ. When the Spirit encounters in us the
response of faith which he has aroused in us, he brings about genuine cooperation. Through it, the
liturgy becomes the common work of the Holy Spirit and the Church.
1092 In this sacramental dispensation of Christ's mystery the Holy Spirit acts in the same way as at
other times in the economy of salvation: he prepares the Church to encounter her Lord; he recalls and
makes Christ manifest to the faith of the assembly. By his transforming power, he makes the mystery
of Christ present here and now. Finally the Spirit of communion unites the Church to the life and
mission of Christ.

The Holy Spirit prepares for the reception of Christ
1093 In the sacramental economy the Holy Spirit fulfills what was prefigured in the Old Covenant. Since
Christ's Church was "prepared in marvelous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and in the Old
Covenant,"14 the Church's liturgy has retained certain elements of the worship of the Old Covenant as
integral and irreplaceable, adopting them as her own:
-notably, reading the Old Testament;
-praying the Psalms;
-above all, recalling the saving events and significant realities which have found their fulfillment in the
mystery of Christ (promise and covenant, Exodus and Passover, kingdom and temple, exile and return).
1094 It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built,15 and
then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under
the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called "typological" because it reveals the
newness of Christ on the basis of the "figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and
symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures
are unveiled.16 Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism,17 as did the cloud and
the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ, and
manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread from heaven."18
1095 For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the Easter Vigil, rereads
and re-lives the great events of salvation history in the "today" of her liturgy. But this also
demands that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this spiritual understanding of the
economy of salvation as the Church's liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it.
1096 Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy. A better knowledge of the Jewish people's faith and religious
life as professed and lived even now can help our better understanding of certain aspects of Christian
liturgy. For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an essential part of their respective liturgies: in
the proclamation of the Word of God, the response to this word, prayer of praise and intercession for
the living and the dead, invocation of God's mercy. In its characteristic structure the Liturgy of the
Word originates in Jewish prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical texts and formularies, as
well as those of our most venerable prayers, including the Lord's Prayer, have parallels in Jewish
prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers also draw their inspiration from the Jewish tradition. The relationship
between Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy, but also their differences in content, are particularly
evident in the great feasts of the liturgical year, such as Passover. Christians and Jews both celebrate
the Passover. For Jews, it is the Passover of history, tending toward the future; for Christians, it is the
Passover fulfilled in the death and Resurrection of Christ, though always in expectation of its definitive
consummation.
1097 In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the
Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly
derives its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who gathers the children of God into the one
Body of Christ. This assembly transcends racial, cultural, social - indeed, all human affinities.
1098 The assembly should prepare itself to encounter its Lord and to become "a people well disposed."
The preparation of hearts is the joint work of the Holy Spirit and the assembly, especially of its
ministers. The grace of the Holy Spirit seeks to awaken faith, conversion of heart, and adherence to the
Father's will. These dispositions are the precondition both for the reception of other graces conferred
in the celebration itself and the fruits of new life which the celebration is intended to produce
afterward.

The Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ
1099 The Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work of salvation in the liturgy.
Primarily in the Eucharist, and by analogy in the other sacraments, the liturgy is the memorial of the
mystery of salvation. The Holy Spirit is the Church's living memory.19
1100 The Word of God. The Holy Spirit first recalls the meaning of the salvation event to the liturgical
assembly by giving life to the Word of God, which is proclaimed so that it may be received and lived:
In the celebration of the liturgy, Sacred Scripture is extremely important. From it come the
lessons that are read and explained in the homily and the psalms that are sung. It is from the
Scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and that
actions and signs derive their meaning.20
1101 The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to those who read or hear it,
according to the dispositions of their hearts. By means of the words, actions, and symbols that form
the structure of a celebration, the Spirit puts both the faithful and the ministers into a living
relationship with Christ, the Word and Image of the Father, so that they can live out the meaning of
what they hear, contemplate, and do in the celebration.
1102 "By the saving word of God, faith . . . is nourished in the hearts of believers. By this faith then the
congregation of the faithful begins and grows."21 The proclamation does not stop with a teaching; it
elicits the response of faith as consent and commitment, directed at the covenant between God and
his people. Once again it is the Holy Spirit who gives the grace of faith, strengthens it and makes it
grow in the community. The liturgical assembly is first of all a communion in faith.
1103 Anamnesis. The liturgical celebration always refers to God's saving interventions in history. "The
economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each
other. . . . [T]he words for their part proclaim the works and bring to light the mystery they contain."22
In the Liturgy of the Word the Holy Spirit "recalls" to the assembly all that Christ has done for us. In
keeping with the nature of liturgical actions and the ritual traditions of the churches, the celebration
"makes a remembrance" of the marvelous works of God in an anamnesis which may be more or less
developed. The Holy Spirit who thus awakens the memory of the Church then inspires thanksgiving and
praise (doxology).

The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ
1104 Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them
present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are
repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique
mystery present.
1105 The Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send
the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that
the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God.23
1106 Together with the anamnesis, the epiclesis is at the heart of each sacramental celebration, most
especially of the Eucharist:
You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine . . . the Blood of Christ I shall
tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and
thought. . . . Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of
the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh.24
1107 The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the
consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the
fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father who hears the epiclesis of the Church,
the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance.25
The communion of the Holy Spirit
1108 In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ
and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its
branches.26 The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy.
The Spirit who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church
is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together.
Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the
liturgy.27
1109 The epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of
Christ. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit"28
have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration. The Church therefore
asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their
spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part
in her mission through the witness and service of charity.

IN BRIEF
1110 In the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is blessed and adored as the source of all the
blessings of creation and salvation with which he has blessed us in his Son, in order to give us the Spirit
of filial adoption.
1111 Christ's work in the liturgy is sacramental: because his mystery of salvation is made present there
by the power of his Holy Spirit; because his Body, which is the Church, is like a sacrament (sign and
instrument) in which the Holy Spirit dispenses the mystery of salvation; and because through her
liturgical actions the pilgrim Church already participates, as by a foretaste, in the heavenly liturgy.
1112 The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the Church is to prepare the assembly to encounter
Christ; to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly; to make the saving work of Christ
present and active by his transforming power; and to make the gift of communion bear fruit in the
Church.
3 Eph 1:3-6.
4 eu-logia, bene-dictio.
5 Lk 10:21.
6 2 Cor 9:15.
7 Eph 1:6.
8 Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; 9:12; cf. Jn 13:1; 17:1.
9 SC 6.
10 Cf. Jn 20:21-23.
11 SC 7; Mt 18:20.
12 SC 7.
13 SC 8; cf. LG 50.
14 LG 2.
15 Cf. DV 14-16; Lk 24:13-49.
16 Cf. 2 Cor 3:14-16.
17 Cf. 1 Pet 3:21.
18 Jn 6:32; cf. 1 Cor 10:1-6.
19 Cf. Jn 14:26.
20 SC 24.
21 PO 4.
22 DV 2.
23 Cf. Rom 12:1.
24 St. John Damascene, De fide orth. 4,13:PG 94,1145A.
25 Cf. Eph 1:14; 2 Cor 1:22.
26 Cf. Jn 15:1-17; Gal 5:22.
27 Cf. 1 Jn 1:3-7.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER ONE
THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH

ARTICLE 2
THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE CHURCH'S SACRAMENTS
1113 The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the
sacraments.29 There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation,
Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.30 This article will discuss what
is common to the Church's seven sacraments from a doctrinal point of view. What is common to them
in terms of their celebration will be presented in the second chapter, and what is distinctive about
each will be the topic of the Section Two.

I. THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRIST
1114 "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."31
1115 Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they
anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give
the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he
would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for "what was
visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries."32
1116 Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ,33 which is ever-living and lifegiving.
They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are "the masterworks of
God" in the new and everlasting covenant.

II. THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
1117 As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by
the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this treasure received
from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its "dispensation."34 Thus
the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that
are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord.
1118 The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her."
They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission
of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the Church,"35
since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion
with the God who is love, One in three persons.
1119 Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments
as "an organically structured priestly community."36 Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly
people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders,
are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ."37
1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood.38
The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy
Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed
to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name
and in his person.39 The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to
what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and
foundation of the sacraments.
1121 The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a
sacramental character or "seal" by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a
member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to
the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible,40 it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive
disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship
and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated.

III. THE SACRAMENTS OF FAITH
1122 Christ sent his apostles so that "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his
name to all nations."41 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."42 The mission to baptize, and so the sacramental
mission, is implied in the mission to evangelize, because the sacrament is prepared for by the word of
God and by the faith which is assent to this word:
The People of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God. . . . The
preaching of the Word is required for the sacramental ministry itself, since the sacraments are
sacraments of faith, drawing their origin and nourishment from the Word.43
1123 "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to
give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by
words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called
'sacraments of faith.'"44
1124 The Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When the
Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles - whence the
ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi, according to Prosper
of Aquitaine [5th cent.]).45 The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays.
Liturgy is a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition.46
1125 For this reason no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or
the community. Even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but
only in the obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy.
1126 Likewise, since the sacraments express and develop the communion of faith in the Church, the lex
orandi is one of the essential criteria of the dialogue that seeks to restore the unity of Christians.47

IV. THE SACRAMENTS OF SALVATION
1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.48 They are
efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his
sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears
the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the
power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms
into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.
1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation49 that the sacraments act ex opere operato
(literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ,
accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either
the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God."50 From the moment that a sacrament is
celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and
through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the
sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for
salvation.51 "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each
sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of
God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the
divine nature52 by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.

V. THE SACRAMENTS OF ETERNAL LIFE
1130 The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord "until he comes," when God will be "everything to
everyone."53 Since the apostolic age the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning
in the Church: Marana tha!54 The liturgy thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I have earnestly desired to eat
this Passover with you . . . until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."55 In the sacraments of Christ the
Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while
"awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus."56 The
"Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come . . . Come, Lord Jesus!'"57
St. Thomas sums up the various aspects of sacramental signs: "Therefore a sacrament is a sign
that commemorates what precedes it - Christ's Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in
us through Christ's Passion - grace; and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us - future
glory."58

IN BRIEF
1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by
which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and
make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the
required dispositions.
1132 The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal
priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers.
1133 The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the Word of God and the faith which
welcomes that word in well-disposed hearts. Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.
1134 The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful on the
one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in
charity and in her mission of witness.
29 Cf. SC 6.
30 Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274) DS 860; Council of Florence (1439): DS 1310; Council of Trent (1547):
DS 1601.
31 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1600-1601.
32 St. Leo the Great, Sermo. 74,2:PL 54,398.
33 Cf. Lk 5:17; 6:19; 8:46.
34 Jn 16:13; cf. Mt 13:52; 1 Cor 4:1.
35 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 22,17:PL 41,779; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,64,2 ad 3.
36 LG 11; cf. Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (1943).
37 LG 11 § 2.
38 Cf. LG 10 § 2.
39 Cf. Jn 20:21-23; Lk 24:47; Mt 28:18-20.
40 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609.
41 Lk 24:47.
42 Mt 28:19.
43 PO 4 §§ 1,2.
44 SC 59.
45 Ep. 8.
46 Cf. DV 8.
47 Cf. UR 2; 15.
48 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1605; DS 1606.
49 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1608.
50 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 68,8.
51 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1604.
52 Cf. 2 Pet 1:4.
53 1 Cor 11:26; 15:28.
54 1 Cor 16:22.
55 Lk 22:15.
56 Titus 2:13.
57 Rev 22:17, 20.
58 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,60,3.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY

CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY
1135 The catechesis of the liturgy entails first of all an understanding of the sacramental economy
(Chapter One). In this light, the innovation of its celebration is revealed. This chapter will therefore
treat of the celebration of the sacraments of the Church. It will consider that which, through the
diversity of liturgical traditions, is common to the celebration of the seven sacraments. What is proper
to each will be treated later. This fundamental catechesis on the sacramental celebrations responds to
the first questions posed by the faithful regarding this subject:
- Who celebrates the liturgy?
- How is the liturgy celebrated?
- When is the liturgy celebrated?
- Where is the liturgy celebrated?
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

ARTICLE 1
CELEBRATING THE CHURCH'S LITURGY

I. WHO CELEBRATES?
1136 Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those who even now celebrate it
without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast.

The celebrants of the heavenly liturgy
1137 The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, "A throne stood
in heaven, with one seated on the throne": "the Lord God."1 It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as
though it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same
one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is given."2 Finally it presents "the river of the water of
life . . . flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful symbols of the Holy
Spirit.3
1138 "Recapitulated in Christ," these are the ones who take part in the service of the praise of God and
the fulfillment of his plan: the heavenly powers, all creation (the four living beings), the servants of the
Old and New Covenants (the twenty-four elders), the new People of God (the one hundred and fortyfour
thousand),4 especially the martyrs "slain for the word of God," and the all-holy Mother of God (the
Woman), the Bride of the Lamb,5 and finally "a great multitude which no one could number, from
every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues."6
1139 It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we
celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.

The celebrants of the sacramental liturgy
1140 It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. "Liturgical
services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is 'the sacrament of unity,'
namely, the holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical
services pertain to the whole Body of the Church. They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they
touch individual members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the
liturgical services, and their actual participation in them."7 For this reason, "rites which are meant to be
celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be
celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately."8
1141 The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized who, "by regeneration and the
anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that through
all the works of Christian men they may offer spiritual sacrifices."9 This "common priesthood" is that of
Christ the sole priest, in which all his members participate:10
Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and
active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the
liturgy, and to which the Christian people, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
redeemed people," have a right and an obligation by reason of their Baptism.11
1142 But "the members do not all have the same function."12 Certain members are called by God, in
and through the Church, to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and
consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the
person of Christ the head, for the service of all the members of the Church.13 The ordained minister is,
as it were, an "icon" of Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is
made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as
well as, in communion with him, the ministry of priests and deacons.
1143 For the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the faithful, other particular
ministries also exist, not consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders; their functions are determined
by the bishops, in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral needs. "Servers, readers,
commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function."14
1144 In the celebration of the sacraments it is thus the whole assembly that is leitourgos, each
according to his function, but in the "unity of the Spirit" who acts in all. "In liturgical celebrations each
person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should carry out all and only those parts
which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy."15

II. HOW IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED?
* Signs and symbols
1145 A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping with the divine pedagogy
of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and in human culture, specified by the
events of the Old Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Christ.
1146 Signs of the human world. In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being
at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and
symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through
language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God.
1147 God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man's
intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator.16 Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and
earth, the tree and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his nearness.
1148 Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of expressing the
action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. The same is true of
signs and symbols taken from the social life of man: washing and anointing, breaking bread and sharing
the cup can express the sanctifying presence of God and man's gratitude toward his Creator.
1149 The great religions of mankind witness, often impressively, to this cosmic and symbolic meaning
of religious rites. The liturgy of the Church presupposes, integrates and sanctifies elements from
creation and human culture, conferring on them the dignity of signs of grace, of the new creation in
Jesus Christ.
1150 Signs of the covenant. The Chosen People received from God distinctive signs and symbols that
marked its liturgical life. These are no longer solely celebrations of cosmic cycles and social gestures,
but signs of the covenant, symbols of God's mighty deeds for his people. Among these liturgical signs
from the Old Covenant are circumcision, anointing and consecration of kings and priests, laying on of
hands, sacrifices, and above all the Passover. The Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of the
sacraments of the New Covenant.
1151 Signs taken up by Christ. In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes use of the signs of creation
to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.17 He performs healings and illustrates his
preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures.18 He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of
the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover,19 for he himself is the meaning of all these
signs.
1152 Sacramental signs. Since Pentecost, it is through the sacramental signs of his Church that the Holy
Spirit carries on the work of sanctification. The sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and
integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of social life. Further, they fulfill
the types and figures of the Old Covenant, signify and make actively present the salvation wrought by
Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven.

Words and actions
1153 A sacramental celebration is a meeting of God's children with their Father, in Christ and the Holy
Spirit; this meeting takes the form of a dialogue, through actions and words. Admittedly, the symbolic
actions are already a language, but the Word of God and the response of faith have to accompany and
give life to them, so that the seed of the Kingdom can bear its fruit in good soil. The liturgical actions
signify what the Word of God expresses: both his free initiative and his people's response of faith.
1154 The liturgy of the Word is an integral part of sacramental celebrations. To nourish the faith of
believers, the signs which accompany the Word of God should be emphasized: the book of the Word (a
lectionary or a book of the Gospels), its veneration (procession, incense, candles), the place of its
proclamation (lectern or ambo), its audible and intelligible reading, the minister's homily which
extends its proclamation, and the responses of the assembly (acclamations, meditation psalms,
litanies, and profession of faith).
1155 The liturgical word and action are inseparable both insofar as they are signs and instruction and
insofar as they accomplish what they signify. When the Holy Spirit awakens faith, he not only gives an
understanding of the Word of God, but through the sacraments also makes present the "wonders" of
God which it proclaims. The Spirit makes present and communicates the Father's work, fulfilled by the
beloved Son.

Singing and music
1156 "The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even
than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred
music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of solemn liturgy."20 The composition and
singing of inspired psalms, often accompanied by musical instruments, were already closely linked to
the liturgical celebrations of the Old Covenant. The Church continues and develops this tradition:
"Address . . . one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the
Lord with all your heart." "He who sings prays twice."21
1157 Song and music fulfill their function as signs in a manner all the more significant when they are
"more closely connected . . . with the liturgical action,"22 according to three principal criteria: beauty
expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the designated moments, and the
solemn character of the celebration. In this way they participate in the purpose of the liturgical words
and actions: the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful:23
How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, and the voices that echoed through your
Church! What emotion I experienced in them! Those sounds flowed into my ears distilling the
truth in my heart. A feeling of devotion surged within me, and tears streamed down my face -
tears that did me good.24
1158 The harmony of signs (song, music, words, and actions) is all the more expressive and fruitful
when expressed in the cultural richness of the People of God who celebrate.25 Hence "religious singing
by the faithful is to be intelligently fostered so that in devotions and sacred exercises as well as in
liturgical services," in conformity with the Church's norms, "the voices of the faithful may be heard."
But "the texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine. Indeed they
should be drawn chiefly from the Sacred Scripture and from liturgical sources."26

* Holy images
1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the
invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new
"economy" of images:
Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an
image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make
an image of what I have seen of God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face
unveiled.27
1160 Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture
communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other:
We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the Church which
have been entrusted to us. One of these traditions consists in the production of
representational artwork, which accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it
confirms that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary, and to our
benefit as well, for realities that illustrate each other undoubtedly reflect each other's
meaning.28
1161 All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ: as are sacred images of the holy
Mother of God and of the saints as well. They truly signify Christ, who is glorified in them. They make
manifest the "cloud of witnesses"29 who continue to participate in the salvation of the world and to
whom we are united, above all in sacramental celebrations. Through their icons, it is man "in the image
of God," finally transfigured "into his likeness,"30 who is revealed to our faith. So too are the angels,
who also are recapitulated in Christ:
Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic
Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly
define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving
cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate
Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether
painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy
churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets.31
1162 "The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly
infuses the soul with the glory of God."32 Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with
meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the
signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory and is then
expressed in the new life of the faithful.

III. WHEN IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED?
Liturgical seasons
1163 "Holy Mother Church believes that she should celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse in a
sacred commemoration on certain days throughout the course of the year. Once each week, on the
day which she has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's resurrection. She also
celebrates it once every year, together with his blessed Passion, at Easter, that most solemn of all
feasts. In the course of the year, moreover, she unfolds the whole mystery of Christ. . . . Thus recalling
the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and
merits, so that these are in some way made present in every age; the faithful lay hold of them and are
filled with saving grace."33
1164 From the time of the Mosaic law, the People of God have observed fixed feasts, beginning with
Passover, to commemorate the astonishing actions of the Savior God, to give him thanks for them, to
perpetuate their remembrance, and to teach new generations to conform their conduct to them. In
the age of the Church, between the Passover of Christ already accomplished once for all, and its
consummation in the kingdom of God, the liturgy celebrated on fixed days bears the imprint of the
newness of the mystery of Christ.
1165 When the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ, there is a word that marks her prayer:
"Today!" - a word echoing the prayer her Lord taught her and the call of the Holy Spirit.34 This "today"
of the living God which man is called to enter is "the hour" of Jesus' Passover, which reaches across
and underlies all history:
Life extends over all beings and fills them with unlimited light; the Orient of orients pervades
the universe, and he who was "before the daystar" and before the heavenly bodies, immortal
and vast, the great Christ, shines over all beings more brightly than the sun. Therefore a day of
long, eternal light is ushered in for us who believe in him, a day which is never blotted out: the
mystical Passover.35

* The Lord's day
1166 "By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's
Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately
called the Lord's Day or Sunday."36 The day of Christ's Resurrection is both the first day of the week,
the memorial of the first day of creation, and the "eighth day," on which Christ after his "rest" on the
great sabbath inaugurates the "day that the Lord has made," the "day that knows no evening."37 The
Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole community of the faithful encounters the risen Lord
who invites them to his banquet:38
The Lord's day, the day of Resurrection, the day of Christians, is our day. It is called the Lord's
day because on it the Lord rose victorious to the Father. If pagans call it the "day of the sun,"
we willingly agree, for today the light of the world is raised, today is revealed the sun of justice
with healing in his rays.39
1167 Sunday is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly, when the faithful gather "to listen to
the word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and
glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who 'has begotten them again, by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead' unto a living hope":40
When we ponder, O Christ, the marvels accomplished on this day, the Sunday of your holy
resurrection, we say: "Blessed is Sunday, for on it began creation . . . the world's salvation . . .
the renewal of the human race. . . . On Sunday heaven and earth rejoiced and the whole
universe was filled with light. Blessed is Sunday, for on it were opened the gates of paradise so
that Adam and all the exiles might enter it without fear.41

The liturgical year
1168 Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the
whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured
by the liturgy. It really is a "year of the Lord's favor."42 The economy of salvation is at work within the
framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated "as a foretaste," and the kingdom of God enters into our
time.
1169 Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the "Feast of feasts," the "Solemnity
of solemnities," just as the Eucharist is the "Sacrament of sacraments" (the Great Sacrament). St.
Athanasius calls Easter "the Great Sunday"43 and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week "the Great
Week." The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful
energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.
1170 At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover,
should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox.
Because of the different methods of calculating the 14th day of the month of Nisan, the date of Easter
in the Western and Eastern Churches is not always the same. For this reason, the Churches are
currently seeking an agreement in order once again to celebrate the day of the Lord's Resurrection on
a common date.
1171 In the liturgical year the various aspects of the one Paschal mystery unfold. This is also the case
with the cycle of feasts surrounding the mystery of the incarnation (Annunciation, Christmas,
Epiphany). They commemorate the beginning of our salvation and communicate to us the first fruits of
the Paschal mystery.

The sanctoral in the liturgical year
1172 "In celebrating this annual cycle of the mysteries of Christ, Holy Church honors the Blessed Mary,
Mother of God, with a special love. She is inseparably linked with the saving work of her Son. In her the
Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a
faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be."44
1173 When the Church keeps the memorials of martyrs and other saints during the annual cycle, she
proclaims the Paschal mystery in those "who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ. She
proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through
their merits she begs for God's favors."45

The Liturgy of the Hours
1174 The mystery of Christ, his Incarnation and Passover, which we celebrate in the Eucharist
especially at the Sunday assembly, permeates and transfigures the time of each day, through the
celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, "the divine office."46 This celebration, faithful to the apostolic
exhortations to "pray constantly," is "so devised that the whole course of the day and night is made
holy by the praise of God."47 In this "public prayer of the Church,"48 the faithful (clergy, religious, and
lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized. Celebrated in "the form approved" by the
Church, the Liturgy of the Hours "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It
is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father.49
1175 The Liturgy of the Hours is intended to become the prayer of the whole People of God. In it Christ
himself "continues his priestly work through his Church."50 His members participate according to their
own place in the Church and the circumstances of their lives: priests devoted to the pastoral ministry,
because they are called to remain diligent in prayer and the service of the word; religious, by the
charism of their consecrated lives; all the faithful as much as possible: "Pastors of souls should see to it
that the principal hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and on
the more solemn feasts. The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the
priests, or among themselves, or even individually."51
1176 The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours demands not only harmonizing the voice with the
praying heart, but also a deeper "understanding of the liturgy and of the Bible, especially of the
Psalms."52
1177 The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age
of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being
celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses
or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply
the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for
silent prayer. The lectio divina, where the Word of God is so read and meditated that it becomes
prayer, is thus rooted in the liturgical celebration.
1178 The Liturgy of the Hours, which is like an extension of the Eucharistic celebration, does not
exclude but rather in a complementary way calls forth the various devotions of the People of God,
especially adoration and worship of the Blessed Sacrament.

IV. WHERE IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED?
1179 The worship "in Spirit and in truth"53 of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place.
The whole earth is sacred and entrusted to the children of men. What matters above all is that, when
the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the "living stones," gathered to be "built into a
spiritual house."54 For the Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of
living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, "we are the temple of the living
God."55
1180 When the exercise of religious liberty is not thwarted,56 Christians construct buildings for divine
worship. These visible churches are not simply gathering places but signify and make visible the Church
living in this place, the dwelling of God with men reconciled and united in Christ.
1181 A church, "a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful
assemble, and where is worshipped the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the
sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful - this house ought to be in good taste and a
worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial."57 In this "house of God" the truth and the harmony of
the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place.58
1182 The altar of the New Covenant is the Lord's Cross,59 from which the sacraments of the Paschal
mystery flow. On the altar, which is the center of the church, the sacrifice of the Cross is made present
under sacramental signs. The altar is also the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are
invited.60 In certain Eastern liturgies, the altar is also the symbol of the tomb (Christ truly died and is
truly risen).
1183 The tabernacle is to be situated "in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor."61
The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord
really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.62
The sacred chrism (myron), used in anointings as the sacramental sign of the seal of the gift of the Holy
Spirit, is traditionally reserved and venerated in a secure place in the sanctuary. The oil of catechumens
and the oil of the sick may also be placed there.
1184 The chair of the bishop (cathedra) or that of the priest "should express his office of presiding over
the assembly and of directing prayer."63
The lectern (ambo): "The dignity of the Word of God requires the church to have a suitable place for
announcing his message so that the attention of the people may be easily directed to that place during
the liturgy of the Word."64
1185 The gathering of the People of God begins with Baptism; a church must have a place for the
celebration of Baptism (baptistry) and for fostering remembrance of the baptismal promises (holy
water font).
The renewal of the baptismal life requires penance. A church, then, must lend itself to the expression
of repentance and the reception of forgiveness, which requires an appropriate place to receive
penitents.
A church must also be a space that invites us to the recollection and silent prayer that extend and
internalize the great prayer of the Eucharist.
1186 Finally, the church has an eschatological significance. To enter into the house of God, we must
cross a threshold, which symbolizes passing from the world wounded by sin to the world of the new
Life to which all men are called. The visible church is a symbol of the Father's house toward which the
People of God is journeying and where the Father "will wipe every tear from their eyes."65 Also for this
reason, the Church is the house of all God's children, open and welcoming.

IN BRIEF
1187 The liturgy is the work of the whole Christ, head and body. Our high priest celebrates it
unceasingly in the heavenly liturgy, with the holy Mother of God, the apostles, all the saints, and the
multitude of those who have already entered the kingdom.
1188 In a liturgical celebration, the whole assembly is leitourgos, each member according to his own
function. The baptismal priesthood is that of the whole Body of Christ. But some of the faithful are
ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders to represent Christ as head of the Body.
1189 The liturgical celebration involves signs and symbols relating to creation (candles, water, fire),
human life (washing, anointing, breaking bread) and the history of salvation (the rites of the Passover).
Integrated into the world of faith and taken up by the power of the Holy Spirit, these cosmic elements,
human rituals, and gestures of remembrance of God become bearers of the saving and sanctifying
action of Christ.
1190 The Liturgy of the Word is an integral part of the celebration. The meaning of the celebration is
expressed by the Word of God which is proclaimed and by the response of faith to it.
1191 Song and music are closely connected with the liturgical action. The criteria for their proper use
are the beauty expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly, and the sacred
character of the celebration.
1192 Sacred images in our churches and homes are intended to awaken and nourish our faith in the
mystery of Christ. Through the icon of Christ and his works of salvation, it is he whom we adore.
Through sacred images of the holy Mother of God, of the angels and of the saints, we venerate the
persons represented.
1193 Sunday, the "Lord's Day," is the principal day for the celebration of the Eucharist because it is the
day of the Resurrection. It is the pre-eminent day of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian
family, and the day of joy and rest from work. Sunday is "the foundation and kernel of the whole
liturgical year" (SC 106).
1194 The Church, "in the course of the year, . . . unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from his
Incarnation and Nativity through his Ascension, to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed hope
of the coming of the Lord" (SC 102 § 2).
1195 By keeping the memorials of the saints - first of all the holy Mother of God, then the apostles, the
martyrs, and other saints - on fixed days of the liturgical year, the Church on earth shows that she is
united with the liturgy of heaven. She gives glory to Christ for having accomplished his salvation in his
glorified members; their example encourages her on her way to the Father.
1196 The faithful who celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours are united to Christ our high priest, by the
prayer of the Psalms, meditation on the Word of God, and canticles and blessings, in order to be joined
with his unceasing and universal prayer that gives glory to the Father and implores the gift of the Holy
Spirit on the whole world.
1197 Christ is the true temple of God, "the place where his glory dwells"; by the grace of God,
Christians also become the temples of the Holy Spirit, living stones out of which the Church is built.
1198 In its earthly state the Church needs places where the community can gather together. Our
visible churches, holy places, are images of the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, toward which we are
making our way on pilgrimage.
1199 It is in these churches that the Church celebrates public worship to the glory of the Holy Trinity,
hears the word of God and sings his praise, lifts up her prayer, and offers the sacrifice of Christ
sacramentally present in the midst of the assembly. These churches are also places of recollection and
personal prayer.
1 Rev 4:2, 8; Isa 6:1; cf. Ezek 1:26-28.
2 Rev 5:6; Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Anaphora; cf. Jn 1:29; Heb 4:14-15; 10:19-2.
3 Rev 22:1; cf. 21:6; Jn 4:10-14.
4 Cf. Rev 4-5; 7:1-8; 14:1; Isa 6:2-3.
5 Rev 6:9-11; Rev 21:9; cf. 12.
6 Rev 7:9.
7 SC 26.
8 SC 27.
9 LG 10; cf. 1 Pet 2:4-5.
10 Cf. LG 10; 34; PO 2.
11 SC 14; Cf. 1 Pet 2:9; 2:4-5.
12 Rom 12:4.
13 Cf. PO 2; 15.
14 SC 29.
15 SC 28.
16 Cf. Wis 13:1; Rom 1:19 f.; Acts 14:17.
17 Cf. Lk 8:10.
18 Cf. Jn 9:6; Mk 7:33 ff.; 8:22 ff.
19 Cf. Lk 9:31; 22:7-20.
20 SC 112.
21 Eph 5:19; St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 72,1:PL 36,914; cf. Col 3:16.
22 SC 112 § 3.
23 Cf. SC 112.
24 St. Augustine, Conf. 9,6,14:PL 32,769-770.
25 Cf. SC 119.
26 SC 118; 121.
27 St. John Damascene, De imag. 1,16:PG 96:1245-1248.
28 Council of Nicaea II (787): COD 111.
29 Heb 12:1.
30 Cf. Rom 8:29; 1 Jn 3:2.
31 Council of Nicaea II: DS 600.
32 St. John Damascene, De imag. 1,27:PG 94,1268A,B.
33 SC 102.
34 Cf. Mt 6:11; Heb 3:7-4:11; Ps 95:7.
35 St. Hippolytus, De pasch. 1-2 SCh 27,117.
36 SC 106.
37 Byzantine liturgy.
38 Cf. Jn 21:12; Lk 24:30.
39 St. Jerome, Pasch.: CCL 78,550.
40 SC 106.
41 Fanqith, The Syriac Office of Antioch, vol. VI, first part of Summer, 193 B.
42 Lk 4:19.
43 St. Athanasius (ad 329) ep. fest. 1:PG 24,1366.
44 SC 103.
45 SC 104; cf. SC 108,111.
46 Cf. SC, Ch. IV,83-101.
47 SC 84; 1 Thess 5:17; Eph 6:18.
48 SC 98.
49 SC 84.
50 SC 83.
51 SC 100; Cf. 86; 96; 98; PO 5.
52 SC 90.
53 Jn 4:24.
54 1 Pet 2:4-5.
55 2 Cor 6:16.
56 Cf. DH 4
57 PO 5; Cf. SC 122-127.
58 Cf. SC 7.
59 Cf. Heb 13:10.
60 Cf. GIRM 259.
61 Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei: AAS (1965) 771.
62 Cf. SC 128.
63 GIRM 271.
64 GIRM 272.
65 Rev 21:4.

PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE
THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

ARTICLE 2
LITURGICAL DIVERSITY AND THE UNITY OF THE MYSTERY
Liturgical traditions and the catholicity of the Church
1200 From the first community of Jerusalem until the parousia, it is the same Paschal mystery that the
Churches of God, faithful to the apostolic faith, celebrate in every place. The mystery celebrated in the
liturgy is one, but the forms of its celebration are diverse.
1201 The mystery of Christ is so unfathomably rich that it cannot be exhausted by its expression in any
single liturgical tradition. The history of the blossoming and development of these rites witnesses to a
remarkable complementarity. When the Churches lived their respective liturgical traditions in the
communion of the faith and the sacraments of the faith, they enriched one another and grew in fidelity
to Tradition and to the common mission of the whole Church.66
1202 The diverse liturgical traditions have arisen by very reason of the Church's mission. Churches of
the same geographical and cultural area came to celebrate the mystery of Christ through particular
expressions characterized by the culture: in the tradition of the "deposit of faith,"67 in liturgical
symbolism, in the organization of fraternal communion, in the theological understanding of the
mysteries, and in various forms of holiness. Through the liturgical life of a local church, Christ, the light
and salvation of all peoples, is made manifest to the particular people and culture to which that Church
is sent and in which she is rooted. The Church is catholic, capable of integrating into her unity, while
purifying them, all the authentic riches of cultures.68
1203 The liturgical traditions or rites presently in use in the Church are the Latin (principally the Roman
rite, but also the rites of certain local churches, such as the Ambrosian rite, or those of certain religious
orders) and the Byzantine, Alexandrian or Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite and Chaldean rites. In
"faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully
recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity, and that she wishes to preserve them in the future
and to foster them in every way."69

Liturgy and culture
1204 The celebration of the liturgy, therefore, should correspond to the genius and culture of the
different peoples.70 In order that the mystery of Christ be "made known to all the nations . . . to bring
about the obedience of faith,"71 it must be proclaimed, celebrated, and lived in all cultures in such a
way that they themselves are not abolished by it, but redeemed and fulfilled:72 It is with and through
their own human culture, assumed and transfigured by Christ, that the multitude of God's children has
access to the Father, in order to glorify him in the one Spirit.
1205 "In the liturgy, above all that of the sacraments, there is an immutable part, a part that is divinely
instituted and of which the Church is the guardian, and parts that can be changed, which the Church
has the power and on occasion also the duty to adapt to the cultures of recently evangelized
peoples."73
1206 "Liturgical diversity can be a source of enrichment, but it can also provoke tensions, mutual
misunderstandings, and even schisms. In this matter it is clear that diversity must not damage unity. It
must express only fidelity to the common faith, to the sacramental signs that the Church has received
from Christ, and to hierarchical communion. Cultural adaptation also requires a conversion of heart
and even, where necessary, a breaking with ancestral customs incompatible with the Catholic faith."74

IN BRIEF
1207 It is fitting that liturgical celebration tends to express itself in the culture of the people where the
Church finds herself, though without being submissive to it. Moreover, the liturgy itself generates
cultures and shapes them.
1208 The diverse liturgical traditions or rites, legitimately recognized, manifest the catholicity of the
Church, because they signify and communicate the same mystery of Christ.
1209 The criterion that assures unity amid the diversity of liturgical traditions is fidelity to apostolic
Tradition, i.e., the communion in the faith and the sacraments received from the apostles, a
communion that is both signified and guaranteed by apostolic succession.
66 Cf. Paul VI, EN 63-64.
67 2 Tim 1:14 (Vulg.).
68 Cf. LG 23; UR 4.
69 SC 4.
70 Cf. SC 37-40.
71 Rom 16:26.
72 Cf. CT 53.
73 John Paul II, Vicesimus quintus annus, 16; cf. SC 21.
74 John Paul 11, Vicesimus quintus annus, 16.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
1210 Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or
Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven
sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life:1 they give birth and
increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance
between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.
1211 Following this analogy, the first chapter will expound the three sacraments of Christian initiation;
the second, the sacraments of healing; and the third, the sacraments at the service of communion and
the mission of the faithful. This order, while not the only one possible, does allow one to see that the
sacraments form an organic whole in which each particular sacrament has its own vital place. In this
organic whole, the Eucharist occupies a unique place as the "Sacrament of sacraments": "all the other
sacraments are ordered to it as to their end."2
1 Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,65,1.
2 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,65,3.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
1212 The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the
foundations of every Christian life. "The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of
Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful
are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the
Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus
receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of
charity."3
3 Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Divinae consortium naturae: AAS 63 (1971) 657; cf. RCIA Introduction
1-2.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

ARTICLE 1
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae
spiritualis ianua),4 and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are
freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the
Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in
the word."5

I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?
1214 This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek
baptizein) means to "plunge" or "immerse"; the "plunge" into the water symbolizes the catechumen's
burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as "a new creature."6
1215 This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it
signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter
the kingdom of God."7
1216 "This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are
enlightened in their understanding . . . ."8 Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that
enlightens every man," the person baptized has been "enlightened," he becomes a "son of light,"
indeed, he becomes "light" himself:9
Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . .We call it gift, grace, anointing,
enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called
gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even
to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as
are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our
shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship.10

II. BAPTISM IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
Prefigurations of Baptism in the Old Covenant
1217 In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water, the Church solemnly
commemorates the great events in salvation history that already prefigured the mystery of Baptism:
Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs,
which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.
In Baptism we use your gift of water,
which you have made a rich symbol
of the grace you give us in this sacrament.11
1218 Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature, has been the
source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred Scripture sees it as "overshadowed" by the Spirit of God:12
At the very dawn of creation
your Spirit breathed on the waters,
making them the wellspring of all holiness.13
1219 The Church has seen in Noah's ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it "a few, that is,
eight persons, were saved through water":14
The waters of the great flood
you made a sign of the waters of Baptism,
that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.15
1220 If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death and
so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ's
death.
1221 But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel from the slavery of
Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism:
You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,
bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea,
to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.16
1222 Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God
received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, an image of eternal life. The promise
of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.

Christ's Baptism
1223 All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life
after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan.17 After his resurrection Christ gives
this mission to his apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you."18
1224 Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for sinners, in order
to "fulfill all righteousness."19 Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying.20 The Spirit who
had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new
creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beloved Son."21
1225 In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of his
Passion, which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a "Baptism" with which he had to be baptized.22
The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and
the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life.23 From then on, it is possible "to be born of water and the
Spirit"24 in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
See where you are baptized, see where Baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ,
from his death. There is the whole mystery: he died for you. In him you are redeemed, in him
you are saved.25

Baptism in the Church
1226 From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism.
Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: "Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit."26 The apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus:
Jews, the God-fearing, pagans.27 Always, Baptism is seen as connected with faith: "Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household," St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. And the
narrative continues, the jailer "was baptized at once, with all his family."28
1227 According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's
death, is buried with him, and rises with him:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.29
The baptized have "put on Christ."30 Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies,
and sanctifies.31
1228 Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the "imperishable seed" of the Word of God produces
its life-giving effect.32 St. Augustine says of Baptism: "The word is brought to the material element, and
it becomes a sacrament."33

III. HOW IS THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM CELEBRATED?
Christian Initiation
1229 From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and
initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential
elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing
conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to
Eucharistic communion.
1230 This initiation has varied greatly through the centuries according to circumstances. In the first
centuries of the Church, Christian initiation saw considerable development. A long period of
catechumenate included a series of preparatory rites, which were liturgical landmarks along the path
of catechumenal preparation and culminated in the celebration of the sacraments of Christian
initiation.
1231 Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has
become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way.
By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. Not only is there a need for
instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth.
The catechism has its proper place here.
1232 The second Vatican Council restored for the Latin Church "the catechumenate for adults,
comprising several distinct steps."34 The rites for these stages are to be found in the Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults (RCIA).35 The Council also gives permission that: "In mission countries, in addition to
what is furnished by the Christian tradition, those elements of initiation rites may be admitted which
are already in use among some peoples insofar as they can be adapted to the Christian ritual."36
1233 Today in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry
into the catechumenate and reaches its culmination in a single celebration of the three sacraments of
initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.37 In the Eastern rites the Christian initiation of
infants also begins with Baptism followed immediately by Confirmation and the Eucharist, while in the
Roman rite it is followed by years of catechesis before being completed later by Confirmation and the
Eucharist, the summit of their Christian initiation.38

The mystagogy of the celebration
1234 The meaning and grace of the sacrament of Baptism are clearly seen in the rites of its celebration.
By following the gestures and words of this celebration with attentive participation, the faithful are
initiated into the riches this sacrament signifies and actually brings about in each newly baptized
person.
1235 The sign of the cross, on the threshold of the celebration, marks with the imprint of Christ the
one who is going to belong to him and signifies the grace of the redemption Christ won for us by his
cross.
1236 The proclamation of the Word of God enlightens the candidates and the assembly with the
revealed truth and elicits the response of faith, which is inseparable from Baptism. Indeed Baptism is
"the sacrament of faith" in a particular way, since it is the sacramental entry into the life of faith.
1237 Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil, one or more exorcisms
are pronounced over the candidate. The celebrant then anoints him with the oil of catechumens, or
lays his hands on him, and he explicitly renounces Satan. Thus prepared, he is able to confess the faith
of the Church, to which he will be "entrusted" by Baptism.39
1238 The baptismal water is consecrated by a prayer of epiclesis (either at this moment or at the
Easter Vigil). The Church asks God that through his Son the power of the Holy Spirit may be sent upon
the water, so that those who will be baptized in it may be "born of water and the Spirit."40
1239 The essential rite of the sacrament follows: Baptism properly speaking. It signifies and actually
brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the
Paschal mystery of Christ. Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the
baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the
water three times over the candidate's head.
1240 In the Latin Church this triple infusion is accompanied by the minister's words: "N., I baptize you
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." In the Eastern liturgies the
catechumen turns toward the East and the priest says: "The servant of God, N., is baptized in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." At the invocation of each person of the Most Holy
Trinity, the priest immerses the candidate in the water and raises him up again.
1241 The anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, signifies the gift of the
Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one "anointed" by the Holy
Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king.41
1242 In the liturgy of the Eastern Churches, the post-baptismal anointing is the sacrament of
Chrismation (Confirmation). In the Roman liturgy the post- baptismal anointing announces a second
anointing with sacred chrism to be conferred later by the bishop Confirmation, which will as it were
"confirm" and complete the baptismal anointing.
1243 The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has "put on Christ,"42 has risen with
Christ. The candle, lit from the Easter candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him
the baptized are "the light of the world."43
The newly baptized is now, in the only Son, a child of God entitled to say the prayer of the children of
God: "Our Father."
1244 First Holy Communion. Having become a child of God clothed with the wedding garment, the
neophyte is admitted "to the marriage supper of the Lamb"44 and receives the food of the new life, the
body and blood of Christ. The Eastern Churches maintain a lively awareness of the unity of Christian
initiation by giving Holy Communion to all the newly baptized and confirmed, even little children,
recalling the Lord's words: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them."45 The Latin Church,
which reserves admission to Holy Communion to those who have attained the age of reason, expresses
the orientation of Baptism to the Eucharist by having the newly baptized child brought to the altar for
the praying of the Our Father.
1245 The solemn blessing concludes the celebration of Baptism. At the Baptism of newborns the
blessing of the mother occupies a special place.

IV. WHO CAN RECEIVE BAPTISM?
1246 "Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be baptized."46
The Baptism of adults
1247 Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common practice where the proclamation
of the Gospel is still new. The catechumenate (preparation for Baptism) therefore occupies an
important place. This initiation into Christian faith and life should dispose the catechumen to receive
the gift of God in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.
1248 The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and faith to
maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. The
catechumenate is to be "a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be
joined to Christ their teacher. The catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of
salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of
faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites."47
1249 Catechumens "are already joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ, and
are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity."48 "With love and solicitude mother
Church already embraces them as her own."49

The Baptism of infants
1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new
birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of
the children of God, to which all men are called.50 The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is
particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless
grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.51
1251 Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the
life that God has entrusted to them.52
1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit
testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning
of the apostolic preaching, when whole "households" received baptism, infants may also have been
baptized.53

Faith and Baptism
1253 Baptism is the sacrament of faith.54 But faith needs the community of believers. It is only within
the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. The faith required for Baptism is not a
perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. The catechumen or the godparent is
asked: "What do you ask of God's Church?" The response is: "Faith!"
1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church
celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism
leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the
entire Christian life springs forth.
1255 For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is the role of the
godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized -
child or adult on the road of Christian life.55 Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium).56 The
whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the
grace given at Baptism.

V. WHO CAN BAPTIZE?
1256 The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and, in the Latin Church, also the
deacon.57 In case of necessity, anyone, even a non-baptized person, with the required intention, can
baptize58 , by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The intention required is to will to do what the
Church does when she baptizes. The Church finds the reason for this possibility in the universal saving
will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation.59

VI. THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM
1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.60 He also commands his disciples
to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.61 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those
to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this
sacrament.62 The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into
eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord
to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the
sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the
faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of
blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with
repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive
through the sacrament.
1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is
divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way
known to God, of the Paschal mystery."63 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his
Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be
saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known
its necessity.
1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the
mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires
that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the
children come to me, do not hinder them,"64 allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for
children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little
children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

VII. THE GRACE OF BAPTISM
1262 The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of the sacramental rite.
Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal.
Thus the two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.65
For the forgiveness of sins . . .
1263 By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for
sin.66 In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom
of God, neither Adam's sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is
separation from God.
1264 Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death,
and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin
that Tradition calls concupiscence, or metaphorically, "the tinder for sin" (fomes peccati); since
concupiscence "is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot harm those who do not consent but manfully
resist it by the grace of Jesus Christ."67 Indeed, "an athlete is not crowned unless he competes
according to the rules."68
"A new creature"
1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature," an
adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature,"69 member of Christ and co-heir
with him,70 and a temple of the Holy Spirit.71
1266 The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification:
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the
Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
Incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ
1267 Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore . . . we are members one of
another."72 Baptism incorporates us into the Church. From the baptismal fonts is born the one People
of God of the New Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures,
races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."73
1268 The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy
priesthood."74 By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission.
They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare
the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light."75 Baptism
gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers.
1269 Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but
to him who died and rose for us.76 From now on, he is called to be subject to others, to serve them in
the communion of the Church, and to "obey and submit" to the Church's leaders,77 holding them in
respect and affection.78 Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person
also enjoys rights within the Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God
and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.79
1270 "Reborn as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith they have received
from God through the Church" and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of
God.80

The sacramental bond of the unity of Christians
1271 Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those who are
not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church: "For men who believe in Christ and have been
properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. Justified by
faith in Baptism, [they] are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians,
and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church."81 "Baptism
therefore constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn."82

An indelible spiritual mark . . .
1272 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals
the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase
this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation.83 Given once for all,
Baptism cannot be repeated.
1273 Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental character
that consecrates them for Christian religious worship.84 The baptismal seal enables and commits
Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their
baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity.85
1274 The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus character") "for the day of
redemption."86 "Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life."87 The faithful Christian who has "kept the
seal" until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life
"marked with the sign of faith,"88 with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God -
the consummation of faith - and in the hope of resurrection.

IN BRIEF
1275 Christian initiation is accomplished by three sacraments together: Baptism which is the beginning
of new life; Confirmation which is its strengthening; and the Eucharist which nourishes the disciple
with Christ's Body and Blood for his transformation in Christ.
1276 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19-
20).
1277 Baptism is birth into the new life in Christ. In accordance with the Lord's will, it is necessary for
salvation, as is the Church herself, which we enter by Baptism.
1278 The essential rite of Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water on his
head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
1279 The fruit of Baptism, or baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin
and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a
member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated
into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ.
1280 Baptism imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual sign, the character, which consecrates the
baptized person for Christian worship. Because of the character Baptism cannot be repeated (cf. DS
1609 and DS 1624).
1281 Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of
the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, can
be saved even if they have not been baptized (cf. LG 16).
1282 Since the earliest times, Baptism has been administered to children, for it is a grace and a gift of
God that does not presuppose any human merit; children are baptized in the faith of the Church. Entry
into Christian life gives access to true freedom.
1283 With respect to children who have died without Baptism, the liturgy of the Church invites us to
trust in God's mercy and to pray for their salvation.
1284 In case of necessity, any person can baptize provided that he have the intention of doing that
which the Church does and provided that he pours water on the candidate's head while saying: "I
baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
4 Cf. Council Of Florence: DS 1314: vitae spiritualis ianua.
5 Roman Catechism II,2,5; Cf. Council Of Florence: DS 1314; CIC, cann. 204 § 1; 849; CCEO, can. 675 § 1.
6 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Cf. Rom 6:34; Col 2:12.
7 Titus 3:5; Jn 3:5.
8 St. Justin, Apol. 1,61,12:PG 6,421.
9 Jn 1:9; 1 Thess 5:5; Heb 10:32; Eph 5:8.
10 St. Gregory Of Nazianzus, Oratio 40,3-4:PG 36,361C.
11 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water.
12 Cf. Gen 1:2.
13 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water.
14 1 Pet 3:20.
15 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water.
16 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 42: Blessing of Water: "Abrahae filios per mare Rubrum sicco vestigio
transire fecisti, ut plebs, a Pharaonis servitute liberata, populum baptizatorum præfiguraret."
17 Cf. Mt 3:13.
18 Mt 28:19-20; cf. Mk 16:15-16.
19 Mt 3:15.
20 Cf. Phil 2:7.
21 Mt 3:16-17.
22 Mk 10:38; cf. Lk 12:50.
23 Cf. Jn 19:34; 1 Jn 5:6-8.
24 Cf. Jn 3:5.
25 St. Ambrose, De sacr. 2,2,6:PL 16,444; cf. Jn 3:5.
26 Acts 2:38.
27 Cf. Acts 2:41; 8:12-13; 10:48; 16:15.
28 Acts 16:31-33.
29 Rom 6:3-4; cf. Col 2:12.
30 Gal 3:27.
31 CE 1 Cor 6:11; 12:13.
32 1 Pet 1:23; cf. Eph 5:26.
33 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 80,3:PL 35,1840.
34 SC 64.
35 Cf. RCIA (1972).
36 SC 65; cf. SC 37-40.
37 Cf. AG 14; CIC, cann. 851; 865; 866.
38 Cf. CIC, cann. 851, 2o; 868.
39 Cf. Rom 6:17.
40 Jn 3:5.
41 Cf. RBC 62.
42 Gal 3:27.
43 Mt 5:14; cf. Phil 2:15.
44 Rev 19:9.
45 Mk 10:14.
46 CIC, can. 864; cf. CCEO, can. 679.
47 AG 14; cf. RCIA 19; 98.
48 AG 14 § 5.
49 LG 14 § 3; cf. CIC, cann. 206; 788 § 3.
50 Cf. Council of Trent (1546): DS 1514; cf. Col 1:12-14.
51 Cf. CIC, can. 867; CCEO, cann. 681; 686,1.
52 Cf. LG 11; 41; GS 48; CIC, can. 868.
53 Cf. Acts 16:15,33; 18:8; 1 Cor 1:16; CDF, instruction, Pastoralis actio: AAS 72 (1980) 1137-1156.
54 Cf. Mk 16:16.
55 Cf. CIC, cann. 872-874.
56 Cf. SC 67.
57 Cf. CIC, can. 861 § 1; CCEO, can. 677 § 1.
58 CIC, can. 861.2.
59 Cf. 1 Tim 2:4.
60 Cf. Jn 3:5.
61 Cf. Mt 28:19-20; cf. Council of Trent (1547) DS 1618; LG 14; AG 5.
62 Cf. Mk 16:16.
63 GS 22 § 5; cf. LG 16; AG 7.
64 Mk 10 14; cf. 1 Tim 2:4.
65 Cf. Acts 2:38; Jn 3:5.
66 Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1316.
67 Council of Trent (1546): DS 1515.
68 2 Tim 2:5.
69 2 Cor 5:17; 2 Pet 1:4; cf. Gal 4:5-7.
70 Cf. 1 Cor 6:15; 12:27; Rom 8:17.
71 Cf. 1 Cor 6:19.
72 Eph 4:25.
73 1 Cor 12:13.
74 1 Pet 2:5.
75 1 Pet 2:9.
76 Cf. 1 Cor 6:19; 2 Cor 5:15.
77 Heb 13:17.
78 Cf. Eph 5:21; 1 Cor 16:15-16; 1 Thess 5:12-13; Jn 13:12-15.
79 Cf. LG 37; CIC, cann. 208-223; CCEO, can. 675:2.
80 LG 11; cf. LG 17; AG 7; 23.
81 UR 3.
82 UR 22 § 2.
83 Cf. Rom 8:29; Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609-1619.
84 Cf. LG 11.
85 Cf. LG 10.
86 St. Augustine, Ep. 98,5:PL 33,362; Eph 4:30; cf. 1:13-14; 2 Cor 1:21-22.
87 St. Irenaeus, Dem ap. 3:SCh 62,32.
88 Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 97.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

ARTICLE 2
THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
1285 Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments
of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the
reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace.89 For
"by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are
enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more
strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."90

I. CONFIRMATION IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
1286 In the Old Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the
hoped-for Messiah for his saving mission.91 The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his baptism by
John was the sign that this was he who was to come, the Messiah, the Son of God.92 He was conceived
of the Holy Spirit; his whole life and his whole mission are carried out in total communion with the Holy
Spirit whom the Father gives him "without measure."93
1287 This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated
to the whole messianic people.94 On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit,95 a
promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost.96 Filled with the
Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," and Peter declared this
outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age.97 Those who believed in the apostolic
preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn.98
1288 "From that time on the apostles, in fulfillment of Christ's will, imparted to the newly baptized by
the laying on of hands the gift of the Spirit that completes the grace of Baptism. For this reason in the
Letter to the Hebrews the doctrine concerning Baptism and the laying on of hands is listed among the
first elements of Christian instruction. The imposition of hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic
tradition as the origin of the sacrament of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace
of Pentecost in the Church."99
1289 Very early, the better to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit, an anointing with perfumed oil (chrism)
was added to the laying on of hands. This anointing highlights the name "Christian," which means
"anointed" and derives from that of Christ himself whom God "anointed with the Holy Spirit."100 This
rite of anointing has continued ever since, in both East and West. For this reason the Eastern Churches
call this sacrament Chrismation, anointing with chrism, or myron which means "chrism." In the West,
the term Confirmation suggests that this sacrament both confirms and strengthens baptismal grace.

Two traditions: East and West
1290 In the first centuries Confirmation generally comprised one single celebration with Baptism,
forming with it a "double sacrament," according to the expression of St. Cyprian. Among other reasons,
the multiplication of infant baptisms all through the year, the increase of rural parishes, and the
growth of dioceses often prevented the bishop from being present at all baptismal celebrations. In the
West the desire to reserve the completion of Baptism to the bishop caused the temporal separation of
the two sacraments. The East has kept them united, so that Confirmation is conferred by the priest
who baptizes. But he can do so only with the "myron" consecrated by a bishop.101
1291 A custom of the Roman Church facilitated the development of the Western practice: a double
anointing with sacred chrism after Baptism. The first anointing of the neophyte on coming out of the
baptismal bath was performed by the priest; it was completed by a second anointing on the forehead
of the newly baptized by the bishop.102 The first anointing with sacred chrism, by the priest, has
remained attached to the baptismal rite; it signifies the participation of the one baptized in the
prophetic, priestly, and kingly offices of Christ. If Baptism is conferred on an adult, there is only one
post-baptismal anointing, that of Confirmation.
1292 The practice of the Eastern Churches gives greater emphasis to the unity of Christian initiation.
That of the Latin Church more clearly expresses the communion of the new Christian with the bishop
as guarantor and servant of the unity, catholicity and apostolicity of his Church, and hence the
connection with the apostolic origins of Christ's Church.

II. THE SIGNS AND THE RITE OF CONFIRMATION
1293 In treating the rite of Confirmation, it is fitting to consider the sign of anointing and what it
signifies and imprints: a spiritual seal.
Anointing, in Biblical and other ancient symbolism, is rich in meaning: oil is a sign of abundance and
joy;103 it cleanses (anointing before and after a bath) and limbers (the anointing of athletes and
wrestlers); oil is a sign of healing, since it is soothing to bruises and wounds;104 and it makes radiant
with beauty, health, and strength.
1294 Anointing with oil has all these meanings in the sacramental life. The pre-baptismal anointing
with the oil of catechumens signifies cleansing and strengthening; the anointing of the sick expresses
healing and comfort. The post-baptismal anointing with sacred chrism in Confirmation and ordination
is the sign of consecration. By Confirmation Christians, that is, those who are anointed, share more
completely in the mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which he is filled, so
that their lives may give off "the aroma of Christ."105
1295 By this anointing the confirmand receives the "mark," the seal of the Holy Spirit. A seal is a
symbol of a person, a sign of personal authority, or ownership of an object.106 Hence soldiers were
marked with their leader's seal and slaves with their master's. A seal authenticates a juridical act or
document and occasionally makes it secret.107
1296 Christ himself declared that he was marked with his Father's seal.108 Christians are also marked
with a seal: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; he has put his
seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."109 This seal of the Holy Spirit marks our
total belonging to Christ, our enrollment in his service for ever, as well as the promise of divine
protection in the great eschatological trial.110

The celebration of Confirmation
1297 The consecration of the sacred chrism is an important action that precedes the celebration of
Confirmation, but is in a certain way a part of it. It is the bishop who, in the course of the Chrism Mass
of Holy Thursday, consecrates the sacred chrism for his whole diocese. In some Eastern Churches this
consecration is even reserved to the patriarch:
The liturgy of Antioch expresses the epiclesis for the consecration of the sacred chrism (myron)
in this way: "[Father . . . send your Holy Spirit] on us and on this oil which is before us and
consecrate it, so that it may be for all who are anointed and marked with it holy myron, priestly
myron, royal myron, anointing with gladness, clothing with light, a cloak of salvation, a spiritual
gift, the sanctification of souls and bodies, imperishable happiness, the indelible seal, a buckler
of faith, and a fearsome helmet against all the works of the adversary."
1298 When Confirmation is celebrated separately from Baptism, as is the case in the Roman Rite, the
Liturgy of Confirmation begins with the renewal of baptismal promises and the profession of faith by
the confirmands. This clearly shows that Confirmation follows Baptism.111 When adults are baptized,
they immediately receive Confirmation and participate in the Eucharist.112
1299 In the Roman Rite the bishop extends his hands over the whole group of the confirmands. Since
the time of the apostles this gesture has signified the gift of the Spirit. The bishop invokes the
outpouring of the Spirit in these words:
All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by water and the Holy Spirit
you freed your sons and daughters from sin
and gave them new life.
Send your Holy Spirit upon them
to be their helper and guide.
Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of right judgment and courage,
the spirit of knowledge and reverence.
Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.113
1300 The essential rite of the sacrament follows. In the Latin rite, "the sacrament of Confirmation is
conferred through the anointing with chrism on the forehead, which is done by the laying on of the
hand, and through the words: 'Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti' [Be sealed with the Gift of the
Holy Spirit.]."114 In the Eastern Churches of Byzantine rite, after a prayer of epiclesis, the more
significant parts of the body are anointed with myron: forehead, eyes, nose, ears, lips, chest, back,
hands, and feet. Each anointing is accompanied by the formula SfragiV dwreaV PneumatoV ¢Agiou
(Signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti): "the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit."115
1301 The sign of peace that concludes the rite of the sacrament signifies and demonstrates ecclesial
communion with the bishop and with all the faithful.116

III. THE EFFECTS OF CONFIRMATION
1302 It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special
outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
1303 From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
- it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!";117
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;118
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as
true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross:119
Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of
holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you
with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your
hearts.120
1304 Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul
an indelible spiritual mark, the "character," which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian
with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness.121
1305 This "character" perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received in Baptism, and "the
confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially (quasi Ex
officio)."122

IV. WHO CAN RECEIVE THIS SACRAMENT?
1306 Every baptized person not yet confirmed can and should receive the sacrament of
Confirmation.123 Since Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist form a unity, it follows that "the faithful
are obliged to receive this sacrament at the appropriate time,"124 for without Confirmation and
Eucharist, Baptism is certainly valid and efficacious, but Christian initiation remains incomplete.
1307 For centuries, Latin custom has indicated "the age of discretion" as the reference point for
receiving Confirmation. But in danger of death children should be confirmed even if they have not yet
attained the age of discretion.125
1308 Although Confirmation is sometimes called the "sacrament of Christian maturity," we must not
confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace
of free, unmerited election and does not need "ratification" to become effective. St. Thomas reminds
us of this:
Age of body does not determine age of soul. Even in childhood man can attain spiritual
maturity: as the book of Wisdom says: "For old age is not honored for length of time, or
measured by number of years. "Many children, through the strength of the Holy Spirit they
have received, have bravely fought for Christ even to the shedding of their blood.126
1309 Preparation for Confirmation should aim at leading the Christian toward a more intimate union
with Christ and a more lively familiarity with the Holy Spirit - his actions, his gifts, and his biddings - in
order to be more capable of assuming the apostolic responsibilities of Christian life. To this end
catechesis for Confirmation should strive to awaken a sense of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ,
the universal Church as well as the parish community. The latter bears special responsibility for the
preparation of confirmands.127
1310 To receive Confirmation one must be in a state of grace. One should receive the sacrament of
Penance in order to be cleansed for the gift of the Holy Spirit. More intense prayer should prepare one
to receive the strength and graces of the Holy Spirit with docility and readiness to act.128
1311 Candidates for Confirmation, as for Baptism, fittingly seek the spiritual help of a sponsor. To
emphasize the unity of the two sacraments, it is appropriate that this be one of the baptismal
godparents.129

V. THE MINISTER OF CONFIRMATION
1312 The original minister of Confirmation is the bishop.130
In the East, ordinarily the priest who baptizes also immediately confers Confirmation in one and the
same celebration. But he does so with sacred chrism consecrated by the patriarch or the bishop, thus
expressing the apostolic unity of the Church whose bonds are strengthened by the sacrament of
Confirmation. In the Latin Church, the same discipline applies to the Baptism of adults or to the
reception into full communion with the Church of a person baptized in another Christian community
that does not have valid Confirmation.131
1313 In the Latin Rite, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop.132 If the need arises, the
bishop may grant the faculty of administering Confirmation to priests,133 although it is fitting that he
confer it himself, mindful that the celebration of Confirmation has been temporally separated from
Baptism for this reason. Bishops are the successors of the apostles. They have received the fullness of
the sacrament of Holy Orders. The administration of this sacrament by them demonstrates clearly that
its effect is to unite those who receive it more closely to the Church, to her apostolic origins, and to her
mission of bearing witness to Christ.
1314 If a Christian is in danger of death, any priest can give him Confirmation.134 Indeed the Church
desires that none of her children, even the youngest, should depart this world without having been
perfected by the Holy Spirit with the gift of Christ's fullness.

IN BRIEF
1315 "Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they
sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy
Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:14-17).
1316 Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to
root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond
with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian
faith in words accompanied by deeds.
1317 Confirmation, like Baptism, imprints a spiritual mark or indelible character on the Christian's soul;
for this reason one can receive this sacrament only once in one's life.
1318 In the East this sacrament is administered immediately after Baptism and is followed by
participation in the Eucharist; this tradition highlights the unity of the three sacraments of Christian
initiation. In the Latin Church this sacrament is administered when the age of reason has been reached,
and its celebration is ordinarily reserved to the bishop, thus signifying that this sacrament strengthens
the ecclesial bond.
1319 A candidate for Confirmation who has attained the age of reason must profess the faith, be in the
state of grace, have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to assume the role of
disciple and witness to Christ, both within the ecclesial community and in temporal affairs.
1320 The essential rite of Confirmation is anointing the forehead of the baptized with sacred chrism (in
the East other sense-organs as well), together with the laying on of the minister's hand and the words:
"Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti" (Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.) in the Roman rite,
or: Signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti [the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit] in the Byzantine rite.
1321 When Confirmation is celebrated separately from Baptism, its connection with Baptism is
expressed, among other ways, by the renewal of baptismal promises. The celebration of Confirmation
during the Eucharist helps underline the unity of the sacraments of Christian initiation.
89 Cf. Roman Ritual, Rite of Confirmation (OC), Introduction 1.
90 LG 11; Cf. OC, Introduction 2.
91 Cf. Isa 11:2; 61:1; Lk 4:16-22.
92 Cf. Mt 3:13-17; Jn 1:33-34.
93 Jn 3:34.
94 Cf. Ezek 36:25-27; Joel 3:1-2.
95 Cf. Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8.
96 Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1-14.
97 Acts 2:11; Cf. 2:17-18.
98 Cf. Acts 2:38.
99 Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, 659; cf. Acts 8:15-17; 19:5-6; Heb 6:2.
100 Acts 10:38.
101 Cf. CCEO, Can. 695 § 1; 696 § 1.
102 Cf. St. Hippolytus, Trad. Ap. 21:SCh 11,80-95.
103 Cf. Deut 11:14; Pss 23:5; 104:15.
104 Cf. Isa 1:6; Lk 1034.
105 2 Cor 2:15.
106 Cf Gen 38:18; 41:42; Deut 32:34; CT 8:6.
107 Cf. 1 Kings 21:8; Jer 32:10; Isa 29:11.
108 Cf. Jn 6:27.
109 2 Cor 1:21-22; cf. Eph 1:13; 4,30.
110 Cf. Rev 7:2-3; 9:4; Ezek 9:4-6.
111 Cf. SC 71.
112 Cf. CIC, can. 866.
113 OC 25.
114 Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Divinae consortium naturae, 663.
115 Rituale per le Chiese orientali di rito bizantino in lingua greca, Pars Prima (Liberia Editrice Vaticana,
1954) 36.
116 Cf. St. Hippolytus, Trad. Ap. 21:SCh 11,80-95.
117 Rom 8:15.
118 Cf. LG 11.
119 Cf. Council Of Florence (1439): DS 1319; LG 11; 12.
120 St. Ambrose, De myst. 7,42:PL 16,402-403.
121 Cf. Council Of Trent (1547): DS 1609; Lk 24:48-49.
122 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,72,5, ad 2.
123 Cf. CIC, can. 889 § 1.
124 CIC, can. 890.
125 Cf. CIC, cann. 891; 883, 3o.
126 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,72,8, ad 2; Cf. Wis 4:8.
127 Cf. OC Introduction 3.
128 Cf. Acts 1:14.
129 Cf. OC Introduction 5; 6; CIC, Can. 893 §§ 1-2.
130 Cf. LG 26.
131 Cf. CIC, Can. 883 § 2.
132 Cf. CIC, Can. 882.
133 Cf. CIC, Can. 884 § 2.
134 Cf. CIC, Can. 883 § 3.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE
THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

ARTICLE 3
THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of
the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with
the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice
of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages
until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his
death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in
which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"135

I. THE EUCHARIST - SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF ECCLESIAL LIFE
1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."136 "The other sacraments, and
indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and
are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church,
namely Christ himself, our Pasch."137
1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and
that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's
action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the
Father in the Holy Spirit."138
1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and
anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.139
1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the
Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking."140

II. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?
1328 The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each
name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called:
Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein141 and
eulogein142 recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation,
redemption, and sanctification.
1329 The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his
disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the
heavenly Jerusalem.143
The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meal, when as master of the table
he blessed and distributed the bread,144 above all at the Last Supper.145 It is by this action that his
disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection,146 and it is this expression that the first Christians
will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies;147 by doing so they signified that all who eat the one
broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.148
The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the
faithful, the visible expression of the Church.149

1330 The memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection.
The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the
Church's offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise," spiritual sacrifice, pure and
holy sacrifice are also used,150 since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.
The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the Church's whole liturgy finds its center and most intense
expression in the celebration of this sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the
Sacred Mysteries. We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the Sacrament of sacraments.
The Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are designated by this same name.
1331 Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers
in his Body and Blood to form a single body.151 We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia; sancta)152 - the
first meaning of the phrase "communion of saints" in the Apostles' Creed - the bread of angels, bread
from heaven, medicine of immortality,153 viaticum. . . .
1332 Holy Mass (Missa), because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished
concludes with the sending forth (missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfill God's will in their daily
lives.

III. THE EUCHARIST IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
The signs of bread and wine
1333 At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ
and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's Body and Blood. Faithful to the Lord's command
the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his
Passion: "He took bread. . . ." "He took the cup filled with wine. . . ." The signs of bread and wine
become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify
the goodness of creation. Thus in the Offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread and wine,154
fruit of the "work of human hands," but above all as "fruit of the earth" and "of the vine" - gifts of the
Creator. The Church sees in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and
wine," a prefiguring of her own offering.155
1334 In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as
a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the
context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates
the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the
desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God;156 their daily bread is the
fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises. The "cup of blessing"157 at
the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the
messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a
new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.
1335 The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and
distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this
unique bread of his Eucharist.158 The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the
Hour of Jesus' glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father's
kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.159
1336 The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the
Passion scandalized them: "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"160 The Eucharist and the Cross
are stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery and it never ceases to be an occasion of division. "Will you
also go away?":161 the Lord's question echoes through the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that
only he has "the words of eternal life"162 and that to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to
receive the Lord himself.

The institution of the Eucharist
1337 The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour
had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and
gave them the commandment of love.163 In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to
depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the
memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return;
"thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament."164
1338 The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account of the institution of the
Eucharist; St. John, for his part, reports the words of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that
prepare for the institution of the Eucharist: Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from
heaven.165
1339 Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum: giving his
disciples his Body and his Blood:
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So
Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the passover meal for us, that we may eat it.
. . ." They went . . . and prepared the passover. And when the hour came, he sat at table, and
the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with
you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of
God.". . . . And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them,
saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise
the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my
blood."166
1340 By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave
the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his death and
Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which
fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom.
"Do this in memory of me"
1341 The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to
remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their
successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his
intercession in the presence of the Father.167
1342 From the beginning the Church has been faithful to the Lord's command. Of the Church of
Jerusalem it is written:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and
the prayers. . . . Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes,
they partook of food with glad and generous hearts.168
1343 It was above all on "the first day of the week," Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection, that the
Christians met "to break bread."169 From that time on down to our own day the celebration of the
Eucharist has been continued so that today we encounter it everywhere in the Church with the same
fundamental structure. It remains the center of the Church's life.
1344 Thus from celebration to celebration, as they proclaim the Paschal mystery of Jesus "until he
comes," the pilgrim People of God advances, "following the narrow way of the cross,"170 toward the
heavenly banquet, when all the elect will be seated at the table of the kingdom.

IV. THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST
The Mass of all ages
1345 As early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the
order of the Eucharistic celebration. They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great
liturgical families. St. Justin wrote to the pagan emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) around the year 155,
explaining what Christians did:
On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same
place.
The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time
permits.
When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges
them to imitate these beautiful things.
Then we all rise together and offer prayers* for ourselves . . .and for all others, wherever they
may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the
commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation.
When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss.
Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides
over the brethren.
He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek:
eucharistian) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.
When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give voice to an acclamation
by saying: 'Amen.'
When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call
deacons give to those present the "eucharisted" bread, wine and water and take them to those
who are absent.171
1346 The liturgy of the Eucharist unfolds according to a fundamental structure which has been
preserved throughout the centuries down to our own day. It displays two great parts that form a
fundamental unity:
- the gathering, the liturgy of the Word, with readings, homily and general intercessions;
- the liturgy of the Eucharist, with the presentation of the bread and wine, the consecratory
thanksgiving, and communion.
The liturgy of the Word and liturgy of the Eucharist together form "one single act of worship";172 the
Eucharistic table set for us is the table both of the Word of God and of the Body of the Lord.173
1347 Is this not the same movement as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his disciples? Walking
with them he explained the Scriptures to them; sitting with them at table "he took bread, blessed and
broke it, and gave it to them."174

The movement of the celebration
1348 All gather together. Christians come together in one place for the Eucharistic assembly. At its
head is Christ himself, the principal agent of the Eucharist. He is high priest of the New Covenant; it is
he himself who presides invisibly over every Eucharistic celebration. It is in representing him that the
bishop or priest acting in the person of Christ the head (in persona Christi capitis) presides over the
assembly, speaks after the readings, receives the offerings, and says the Eucharistic Prayer. All have
their own active parts to play in the celebration, each in his own way: readers, those who bring up the
offerings, those who give communion, and the whole people whose "Amen" manifests their
participation.

1349 The Liturgy of the Word includes "the writings of the prophets," that is, the Old Testament, and
"the memoirs of the apostles" (their letters and the Gospels). After the homily, which is an exhortation
to accept this Word as what it truly is, the Word of God,175 and to put it into practice, come the
intercessions for all men, according to the Apostle's words: "I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in high positions."176

1350 The presentation of the offerings (the Offertory). Then, sometimes in procession, the bread and
wine are brought to the altar; they will be offered by the priest in the name of Christ in the Eucharistic
sacrifice in which they will become his body and blood. It is the very action of Christ at the Last Supper
- "taking the bread and a cup." "The Church alone offers this pure oblation to the Creator, when she
offers what comes forth from his creation with thanksgiving."177 The presentation of the offerings at
the altar takes up the gesture of Melchizedek and commits the Creator's gifts into the hands of Christ
who, in his sacrifice, brings to perfection all human attempts to offer sacrifices.
1351 From the very beginning Christians have brought, along with the bread and wine for the
Eucharist, gifts to share with those in need. This custom of the collection, ever appropriate, is inspired
by the example of Christ who became poor to make us rich:178
Those who are well off, and who are also willing, give as each chooses. What is gathered is
given to him who presides to assist orphans and widows, those whom illness or any other cause
has deprived of resources, prisoners, immigrants and, in a word, all who are in need.179

1352 The anaphora: with the Eucharistic Prayer - the prayer of thanksgiving and consecration - we
come to the heart and summit of the celebration:
In the preface, the Church gives thanks to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, for all his
works: creation, redemption, and sanctification. The whole community thus joins in the unending
praise that the Church in heaven, the angels and all the saints, sing to the thrice-holy God.

1353 In the epiclesis, the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit (or the power of his blessing180)
on the bread and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and
so that those who take part in the Eucharist may be one body and one spirit (some liturgical traditions
put the epiclesis after the anamnesis).
In the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy
Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and blood, his
sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.

1354 In the anamnesis that follows, the Church calls to mind the Passion, resurrection, and glorious
return of Christ Jesus; she presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles us with him.
In the intercessions, the Church indicates that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the whole
Church in heaven and on earth, the living and the dead, and in communion with the pastors of the
Church, the Pope, the diocesan bishop, his presbyterium and his deacons, and all the bishops of the
whole world together with their Churches.

1355 In the communion, preceded by the Lord's prayer and the breaking of the bread, the faithful
receive "the bread of heaven" and "the cup of salvation," the body and blood of Christ who offered
himself "for the life of the world":181
Because this bread and wine have been made Eucharist ("eucharisted," according to an ancient
expression), "we call this food Eucharist, and no one may take part in it unless he believes that
what we teach is true, has received baptism for the forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives
in keeping with what Christ taught."182

V. THE SACRAMENTAL SACRIFICE THANKSGIVING, MEMORIAL, PRESENCE
1356 If from the beginning Christians have celebrated the Eucharist and in a form whose substance has
not changed despite the great diversity of times and liturgies, it is because we know ourselves to be
bound by the command the Lord gave on the eve of his Passion: "Do this in remembrance of me."183
1357 We carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the memorial of his sacrifice. In so doing,
we offer to the Father what he has himself given us: the gifts of his creation, bread and wine which, by
the power of the Holy Spirit and by the words of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ.
Christ is thus really and mysteriously made present.
1358 We must therefore consider the Eucharist as:
- thanksgiving and praise to the Father;
- the sacrificial memorial of Christ and his Body;
- the presence of Christ by the power of his word and of his Spirit.

Thanksgiving and praise to the Father
1359 The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a
sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic sacrifice the whole of
creation loved by God is presented to the Father through the death and the Resurrection of Christ.
Through Christ the Church can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God has made
good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity.
1360 The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses
her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption,
and sanctification. Eucharist means first of all "thanksgiving."
1361 The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of praise by which the Church sings the glory of God in the name
of all creation. This sacrifice of praise is possible only through Christ: he unites the faithful to his
person, to his praise, and to his intercession, so that the sacrifice of praise to the Father is offered
through Christ and with him, to be accepted in him.

The sacrificial memorial of Christ and of his Body, the Church
1362 The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present and the sacramental
offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharistic
Prayers we find after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.
1363 In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but
the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men.184 In the liturgical celebration of these
events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation
from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of
believers so that they may conform their lives to them.
1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the
Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once
for all on the cross remains ever present.185 "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our
Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out."186
1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial
character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given
for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."187 In the
Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he
"poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."188
1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross,
because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death
on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his
priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was
betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the
nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all
on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its
salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.189
1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one
and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the
cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in
the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is
contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."190
1368 The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ
participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire. She unites
herself to his intercession with the Father for all men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes
also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer,
and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value.
Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united
with his offering.
In the catacombs the Church is often represented as a woman in prayer, arms outstretched in the
praying position. Like Christ who stretched out his arms on the cross, through him, with him, and in
him, she offers herself and intercedes for all men.
1369 The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. Since he has the ministry
of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is
named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church. The bishop of the place is always
responsible for the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's name is mentioned to signify
his presidency over the particular Church, in the midst of his presbyterium and with the assistance of
deacons. The community intercedes also for all ministers who, for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic
sacrifice:
Let only that Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebrated under [the presidency of]
the bishop or him to whom he has entrusted it.191
Through the ministry of priests the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is completed in union with
the sacrifice of Christ the only Mediator, which in the Eucharist is offered through the priests'
hands in the name of the whole Church in an unbloody and sacramental manner until the Lord
himself comes.192
1370 To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those
already in the glory of heaven. In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all
the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the
foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ.
1371 The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who "have died in Christ but are
not yet wholly purified,"193 so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ:
Put this body anywhere! Don't trouble yourselves about it! I simply ask you to remember me at
the Lord's altar wherever you are.194
Then, we pray [in the anaphora] for the holy fathers and bishops who have fallen asleep, and in
general for all who have fallen asleep before us, in the belief that it is a great benefit to the
souls on whose behalf the supplication is offered, while the holy and tremendous Victim is
present. . . . By offering to God our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, if they have
sinned, we . . . offer Christ sacrificed for the sins of all, and so render favorable, for them and
for us, the God who loves man.195
1372 St. Augustine admirably summed up this doctrine that moves us to an ever more complete
participation in our Redeemer's sacrifice which we celebrate in the Eucharist:
This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, is offered to God as a
universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself
for us in his Passion, to make us the Body of so great a head. . . . Such is the sacrifice of
Christians: "we who are many are one Body in Christ" The Church continues to reproduce this
sacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers wherein it is evident to them
that in what she offers she herself is offered.196

The presence of Christ by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit
1373 "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who
indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to his Church:197 in his word, in his Church's prayer,
"where two or three are gathered in my name,"199 in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned,199 in the
sacraments of which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister.
But "he is present . . . most especially in the Eucharistic species."200
1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist
above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments
tend."201 In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul
and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially
contained."202 "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of
presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say,
it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely
present."203
1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes
present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy
of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John
Chrysostom declares:
It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who
was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words,
but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things
offered.204
And St. Ambrose says about this conversion:
Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated.
The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is
changed. . . . Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change
existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original
nature than to change their nature.205
1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer
said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the
conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of
the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance
of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood.
This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."206
1377 The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long
as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole
and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.207

1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of
Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a
sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament
of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the
consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and
carrying them in procession."208
1379 The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it
could be brought to the sick and those absent outside of Mass. As faith in the real presence of Christ in
his Eucharist deepened, the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord
present under the Eucharistic species. It is for this reason that the tabernacle should be located in an
especially worthy place in the church and should be constructed in such a way that it emphasizes and
manifests the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
1380 It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique
way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us
his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to
have the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end,"209 even to the giving of his life. In
his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave
himself up for us,210 and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love:
The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this
sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation
full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let
our adoration never cease.211
1381 "That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that 'cannot
be apprehended by the senses,' says St. Thomas, 'but only by faith, which relies on divine authority.'
For this reason, in a commentary on Luke 22:19 ('This is my body which is given for you.'), St. Cyril says:
'Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since he is the
truth, he cannot lie.'"212
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.213

VI. THE PASCHAL BANQUET
1382 The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of
the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood. But
the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful
with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered
himself for us.
1383 The altar, around which the Church is gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist, represents the
two aspects of the same mystery: the altar of the sacrifice and the table of the Lord. This is all the more
so since the Christian altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present in the midst of the assembly of his
faithful, both as the victim offered for our reconciliation and as food from heaven who is giving himself
to us. "For what is the altar of Christ if not the image of the Body of Christ?"214 asks St. Ambrose. He
says elsewhere, "The altar represents the body [of Christ] and the Body of Christ is on the altar."215 The
liturgy expresses this unity of sacrifice and communion in many prayers. Thus the Roman Church prays
in its anaphora:
We entreat you, almighty God,
that by the hands of your holy Angel
this offering may be borne to your altar in heaven
in the sight of your divine majesty,
so that as we receive in communion at this altar
the most holy Body and Blood of your Son,
we may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace.216
"Take this and eat it, all of you": communion
1384 The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist:
"Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in
you."217
1385 To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St.
Paul urges us to examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man
examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks
without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself."218 Anyone conscious of a grave
sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.
1386 Before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of
the Centurion: "Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et
sanabitur anima mea" ("Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the
word and my soul will be healed.").219 And in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom the faithful pray
in the same spirit:
O Son of God, bring me into communion today with your mystical supper. I shall not tell your
enemies the secret, nor kiss you with Judas' kiss. But like the good thief I cry, "Jesus, remember
me when you come into your kingdom."
1387 To prepare for worthy reception of this sacrament, the faithful should observe the fast required
in their Church.220 Bodily demeanor (gestures, clothing) ought to convey the respect, solemnity, and
joy of this moment when Christ becomes our guest.
1388 It is in keeping with the very meaning of the Eucharist that the faithful, if they have the required
dispositions,221 receive communion when they participate in the Mass.222 As the Second Vatican Council
says: "That more perfect form of participation in the Mass whereby the faithful, after the priest's
communion, receive the Lord's Body from the same sacrifice, is warmly recommended."223
1389 The Church obliges the faithful to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days and,
prepared by the sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, if possible
during the Easter season.224 But the Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the holy
Eucharist on Sundays and feast days, or more often still, even daily.
1390 Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communion under the species of
bread alone makes it possible to receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace. For pastoral reasons this
manner of receiving communion has been legitimately established as the most common form in the
Latin rite. But "the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that
form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly."225 This is the usual form of receiving
communion in the Eastern rites.

The fruits of Holy Communion
1391 Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in
Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: "He who eats my flesh
and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."226 Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic
banquet: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live
because of me."227
On the feasts of the Lord, when the faithful receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one
another the Good News that the first fruits of life have been given, as when the angel said to
Mary Magdalene, "Christ is risen!" Now too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever
receives Christ.228
1392 What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our
spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh "given life and giving life through the
Holy Spirit,"229 preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. This growth in
Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the
moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.
1393 Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is
"given up for us," and the blood we drink "shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins." For this
reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and
preserving us from future sins:
For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we
proclaim the Lord's death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured
out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always
forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.230
1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which
tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins.231 By giving himself to
us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root
ourselves in him:
Since Christ died for us out of love, when we celebrate the memorial of his death at the
moment of sacrifice we ask that love may be granted to us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We
humbly pray that in the strength of this love by which Christ willed to die for us, we, by
receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, may be able to consider the world as crucified for us, and to
be ourselves as crucified to the world. . . . Having received the gift of love, let us die to sin and
live for God.232
1395 By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The
more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away
from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to
the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full
communion with the Church.

1396 The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church. Those who receive the Eucharist
are united more closely to Christ. Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body - the
Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already
achieved by Baptism. In Baptism we have been called to form but one body.233 The Eucharist fulfills this
call: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are
many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread:"234
If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table
of the Lord; it is your sacrament that you receive. To that which you are you respond "Amen"
("yes, it is true!") and by responding to it you assent to it. For you hear the words, "the Body of
Christ" and respond "Amen." Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be
true.235

1397 The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up
for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren:
You have tasted the Blood of the Lord, yet you do not recognize your brother,. . . . You dishonor
this table when you do not judge worthy of sharing your food someone judged worthy to take
part in this meal. . . . God freed you from all your sins and invited you here, but you have not
become more merciful.236

1398 The Eucharist and the unity of Christians. Before the greatness of this mystery St. Augustine
exclaims, "O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!"237 The more painful the
experience of the divisions in the Church which break the common participation in the table of the
Lord, the more urgent are our prayers to the Lord that the time of complete unity among all who
believe in him may return.
1399 The Eastern churches that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church celebrate the
Eucharist with great love. "These Churches, although separated from us, yet possess true sacraments,
above all - by apostolic succession - the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are still joined to
us in closest intimacy." A certain communion in sacris, and so in the Eucharist, "given suitable
circumstances and the approval of Church authority, is not merely possible but is encouraged."238
1400 Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church,
"have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of
the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders."239 It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church,
Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible. However these ecclesial
communities, "when they commemorate the Lord's death and resurrection in the Holy Supper . . .
profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory."240
1401 When, in the Ordinary's judgment, a grave necessity arises, Catholic ministers may give the
sacraments of Eucharist, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick to other Christians not in full communion
with the Catholic Church, who ask for them of their own will, provided they give evidence of holding
the Catholic faith regarding these sacraments and possess the required dispositions.241

VII. THE EUCHARIST - "PLEDGE OF THE GLORY TO COME"
1402 In an ancient prayer the Church acclaims the mystery of the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in
which Christ is received as food, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace and
a pledge of the life to come is given to us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover of the Lord
Jesus, if by our communion at the altar we are filled "with every heavenly blessing and grace,"242 then
the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly glory.
1403 At the Last Supper the Lord himself directed his disciples' attention toward the fulfillment of the
Passover in the kingdom of God: "I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day
when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."243 Whenever the Church celebrates the
Eucharist she remembers this promise and turns her gaze "to him who is to come." In her prayer she
calls for his coming: "Marana tha!" "Come, Lord Jesus!"244 "May your grace come and this world pass
away!"245
1404 The Church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our
midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the blessed
hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ,"246 asking "to share in your glory when every tear will
be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise
you for ever through Christ our Lord."247
1405 There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in
which righteousness dwells,"248 than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, "the work of
our redemption is carried on" and we "break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality,
the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ."249

IN BRIEF
1406 Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he
will live for ever; . . . he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and . . . abides in me,
and I in him" (Jn 6:51, 54, 56).
1407 The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church's life, for in it Christ associates his Church
and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his
Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.
1408 The Eucharistic celebration always includes: the proclamation of the Word of God; thanksgiving
to God the Father for all his benefits, above all the gift of his Son; the consecration of bread and wine;
and participation in the liturgical banquet by receiving the Lord's body and blood. These elements
constitute one single act of worship.
1409 The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, that is, of the work of salvation accomplished
by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, a work made present by the liturgical action.
1410 It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry
of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species
of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
1411 Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine
so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord.
1412 The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the
blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by
Jesus during the Last Supper: "This is my body which will be given up for you. . . . This is the cup of my
blood. . . ."
1413 By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of
Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and
glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his
divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).
1414 As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and
to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.
1415 Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace.
Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received
absolution in the sacrament of penance.
1416 Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant's union with the Lord,
forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens
the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as
the Mystical Body of Christ.
1417 The Church warmly recommends that the faithful receive Holy Communion when they participate
in the celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges them to do so at least once a year.
1418 Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the
worship of adoration. "To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love,
and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord" (Paul VI, MF 66).
1419 Having passed from this world to the Father, Christ gives us in the Eucharist the pledge of glory
with him. Participation in the Holy Sacrifice identifies us with his Heart, sustains our strength along the
pilgrimage of this life, makes us long for eternal life, and unites us even now to the Church in heaven,
the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints.
135 SC 47.
136 LG 11.
137 PO 5.
138 Congregation of Rites, instruction, Eucharisticum mysterium, 6.
139 Cf. 1 Cor 15:28.
140 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,18,5:PG 7/l,1028.
141 Cf. Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24.
142 Cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22.
143 Cf. 1 Cor 11:20; Rev 19:9.
144 Cf. Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mk 8:6, 19.
145 Cf. Mt 26:26; 1 Cor 11:24.
146 Cf. Lk 24:13-35.
147 Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7,11.
148 Cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17.
149 Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34.
150 Heb 13:15; cf. 1 Pet 25; Ps 116:13, 17; Mal 1:11.
151 Cf. 1 Cor 1016-17.
152 Apostolic Constitutions 8,13,12:PG 1,1108; Didache 9,5; 10:6:SCh 248,176-178.
153 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20,2:SCh 10,76.
154 Cf. Ps 104:13-15.
155 Gen 14:18; cf. Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 95.
156 Cf. Deut 8:3.
157 1 Cor 10:16.
158 Cf. Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39.
159 Cf. Jn 2:11; Mk 14:25.
160 Jn 6:60.
161 Jn 6:67.
162 Jn 6:68.
163 Cf. Jn 13:1-17; 34-35.
164 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740.
165 Cf. Jn 6.
166 Lk 22:7-20; Cf. Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; 1 Cor 11:23-26.
167 Cf. 2 Cor 11:26.
168 Acts 2:42,46.
169 Acts 20:7.
170 AG 1; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
171 St. Justin, Apol. 1, 65-67:PG 6,428-429; the text before the asterisk (*) is from chap. 67.
172 SC 56.
173 Cf. DV 21.
174 Cf. Lk 24:13-35.
175 Cf. 1 Thess 2:13.
176 1 Tim 2:1-2.
177 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,18,4:PG 7/1,1027; cf. Mal 1:11.
178 Cf. 1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8:9.
179 St. Justin, Apol. 1,67:PG 6,429.
180 Cf. Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 90.
181 Jn 6:51.
182 St. Justin, Apol. 1,66,1-2:PG 6,428.
183 1 Cor 11:24-25.
184 Cf. Ex 13:3.
185 Cf. Heb 7:25-27.
186 LG 3; cf. 1 Cor 5:7.
187 Lk 22:19-20.
188 Mt 26:28.
189 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740; cf. 1 Cor 11:23; Heb 7:24, 27.
190 Council of Trent (1562) Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c. 2: DS 1743; cf. Heb 9:14,27.
191 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8:1;SCh 10,138.
192 PO 2 § 4.
193 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1743.
194 St. Monica, before her death, to her sons, St. Augustine and his brother; Conf. 9,11,27:PL 32,775.
195 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5,9,10:PG 33,1116-1117.
196 St. Augustine, De civ Dei, 10,6:PL 41,283; cf. Rom 12:5.
197 Rom 8:34; cf. LG 48.
198 Mt 18:20.
199 Cf. Mt 25:31-46.
200 SC 7.
201 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,73,3c.
202 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651.
203 Paul VI, MF 39.
204 St. John Chrysostom, prod. Jud. 1:6:PG 49,380.
205 St. Ambrose, De myst. 9,50; 52:PL 16,405-407.
206 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1642; cf. Mt 26:26 ff.; Mk 14:22 ff.; Lk 22:19 ff.; 1 Cor 11:24 ff.
207 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641.
208 Paul VI, MF 56.
209 Jn 13:1.
210 Cf. Gal 2:20.
211 John Paul II, Dominicae cenae, 3.
212 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,75,1; cf. Paul VI, MF 18; St. Cyril of Alexandria, In Luc. 22,19:PG 72,912;
cf. Paul VI, MF 18.
213 St. Thomas Aquinas (attr.), Adoro te devote; tr. Gerard Manley Hopkins.
214 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5,2,7:PL 16,447C.
215 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4,2,7:PL 16,437D.
216 Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus: iube hæc perferri
per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divinae maiestatis tuae: ut, quotquot
ex hac altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione
cælesti et gratia repleamur.
217 Jn 6:53.
218 1 Cor 11:27-29.
219 Roman Missal, response to the invitation to communion; cf. Mt 8:8.
220 Cf. CIC, can. 919.
221 Cf. CIC, can. 916. 222 Cf. CIC, can. 917; The faithful may recieve the Holy Eucharist only a second
time on the same day [CF. Pontificia Commissio Codici luris Canonici Authentice Intrepretando,
Responsa ad proposita dubia, 1:AAS 76 (1984) 746].
223 SC 55.
224 OE 15; CIC, can. 920.
225 GIRM 240.
226 Jn 6:56.
227 Jn 6:57.
228 Fanqith, Syriac Office of Antioch, Vol. I, Commun., 237a-b.
229 PO 5.
230 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4,6,28:PL 16,446; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
231 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1638.
232 St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, Contra Fab. 28,16-19: CCL 19A,813-814.
233 Cf. 1 Cor 12:13.
234 1 Cor 10:16-17.
235 St. Augustine, Sermo 272:PL 38,1247.
236 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 27,4:PG 61,229-230; cf. Mt 25:40.
237 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 26,13:PL 35,1613; cf. SC 47.
238 UR 15 § 2; cf. CIC, can. 844 § 3.
239 UR 22 § 3.
240 UR 22 § 3.
241 Cf. CIC, can. 844 § 4.
242 Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus.
243 Mt 26:29; cf. Lk 22:18; Mk 14:25.
244 Rev 1:4; 22 20; 1 Cor 16:22.
245 Didache 10,6:SCh 248,180.
246 Roman Missal 126, embolism after the Our Father: expectantes beatam spem et adventum
Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi; cf. Titus 2:13.
247 EP III 116: prayer for the dead.
248 2 Pet 3:13.
249 LG 3; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20,2:SCh 10,76.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING
1420 Through the sacraments of Christian initiation, man receives the new life of Christ. Now we carry
this life "in earthen vessels," and it remains "hidden with Christ in God."1 We are still in our "earthly
tent," subject to suffering, illness, and death.2 This new life as a child of God can be weakened and
even lost by sin.
1421 The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and
restored him to bodily health,3 has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his
work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two
sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.
1 2 Cor 4:7; Col 3:3.
2 2 Cor 5:1.
3 Cf. Mk 2:1-12.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING

ARTICLE 4
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
1422 "Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense
committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have
wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion."4

I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?
1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to
conversion, the first step in returning to the Father5 from whom one has strayed by sin.
It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial
steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.
1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an
essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment
and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.
It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the
penitent "pardon and peace."6
It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who
reconciles: "Be reconciled to God."7 He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the
Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."8

II. WHY A SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION AFTER BAPTISM?
1425 "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the Spirit of our God."9 One must appreciate the magnitude of the gift God has given us in the
sacraments of Christian initiation in order to grasp the degree to which sin is excluded for him who has
"put on Christ."10 But the apostle John also says: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us."11 And the Lord himself taught us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses,"12 linking
our forgiveness of one another's offenses to the forgiveness of our sins that God will grant us.
1426 Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood
of Christ received as food have made us "holy and without blemish," just as the Church herself, the
Bride of Christ, is "holy and without blemish."13 Nevertheless the new life received in Christian
initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that
tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of
Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life.14 This is the struggle of conversion
directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us.15

III. THE CONVERSION OF THE BAPTIZED
1427 Jesus calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the proclamation of the kingdom: "The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."16 In the Church's
preaching this call is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and his Gospel. Also, Baptism
is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is by faith in the Gospel and by
Baptism17 that one renounces evil and gains salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of
new life.
1428 Christ's call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is
an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, "clasping sinners to her bosom, [is] at once holy and
always in need of purification, [and] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal."18 This
endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a "contrite heart," drawn and
moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.19
1429 St. Peter's conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus' look
of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord's resurrection, a threefold
affirmation of love for him.20 The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in
the Lord's call to a whole Church: "Repent!"21
St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, "there are water and tears: the
water of Baptism and the tears of repentance."22

IV. INTERIOR PENANCE
1430 Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at
outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart,
interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion
urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.23
1431 Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with
all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have
committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in
God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary
pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis
(repentance of heart).24
1432 The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart.25 Conversion is first of
all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that
we may be restored!"26 God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of
God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by
sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins
have pierced:27
Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured
out for our salvation it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance.
1433 Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved "the world wrong about sin,"29 i.e., proved that the world
has not believed in him whom the Father has sent. But this same Spirit who brings sin to light is also
the Consoler who gives the human heart grace for repentance and conversion.30

V. THE MANY FORMS OF PENANCE IN CHRISTIAN LIFE
1434 The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and
the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving,31 which express conversion
in relation to oneself, to God, and to others. Alongside the radical purification brought about by
Baptism or martyrdom they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins: effort at reconciliation with
one's neighbor, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of one's neighbor, the intercession of
the saints, and the practice of charity "which covers a multitude of sins."32
1435 Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the
exercise and defense of justice and right,33 by the admission of faults to one's brethren, fraternal
correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering,
endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one's cross each day and following
Jesus is the surest way of penance.34
1436 Eucharist and Penance. Daily conversion and penance find their source and nourishment in the
Eucharist, for in it is made present the sacrifice of Christ which has reconciled us with God. Through the
Eucharist those who live from the life of Christ are fed and strengthened. "It is a remedy to free us
from our daily faults and to preserve us from mortal sins."35
1437 Reading Sacred Scripture, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Our Father - every sincere act
of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the
forgiveness of our sins.
1438 The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in
memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church's penitential practice.36 These
times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of
penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and
missionary works).
1439 The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal
son, the center of which is the merciful father:37 the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment
of the father's house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune;
his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the
husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty
before his father; the journey back; the father's generous welcome; the father's joy - all these are
characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are
symbols of that new life - pure worthy, and joyful - of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of
his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love
could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.

VI. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
1440 Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time
it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God's forgiveness and
reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of
Penance and Reconciliation.38
Only God forgives sin
1441 Only God forgives sins.39 Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has
authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven."40 Further,
by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.41
1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and
instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But
he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with
the "ministry of reconciliation."42 The apostle is sent out "on behalf of Christ" with "God making his
appeal" through him and pleading: "Be reconciled to God."43
Reconciliation with the Church
1443 During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this
forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin
had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at
his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the return to the
bosom of the People of God.44
1444 In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority
to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in
Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven."45 "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college
of the apostles united to its head."46
1445 The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded
from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome
back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.
The sacrament of forgiveness
1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for
those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and
wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to
convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as
"the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace."47
1447 Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from
the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had
committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was
tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins,
often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this "order of penitents" (which concerned only
certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During
the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental
Europe the "private" practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of
penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been
performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of
repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness
of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is
the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.
1448 Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the
centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential
elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the
Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action through the
intervention of the Church. The Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the
name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does
penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion.
1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this
sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of
sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the
Church:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.48

VII. THE ACTS OF THE PENITENT
1450 "Penance requires . . . the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with
the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction."49
Contrition
1451 Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and
detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."50
1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect"
(contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it
includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.51
1453 The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy
Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other
penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior
process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution.
By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one
to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.52
1454 The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made
in the light of the Word of God. The passages best suited to this can be found in the Ten
Commandments, the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon on
the Mount and the apostolic teachings.53
The confession of sins
1455 The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and
facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he
is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the
communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.
1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which
penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession,
even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue;
for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which
are committed openly."54
When Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly
place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly
withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation
of the priest, "for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the
medicine cannot heal what it does not know."55
1457 According to the Church's command, "after having attained the age of discretion, each of the
faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year."56 Anyone who
is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences
deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution, unless he has a grave reason for
receiving Communion and there is no possibility of going to confession.57 Children must go to the
sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time.58
1458 Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless
strongly recommended by the Church.59 Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form
our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life
of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father's mercy, we are
spurred to be merciful as he is merciful:60
Whoever confesses his sins . . . is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also
indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you
hear "man" - this is what God has made; when you hear "sinner" - this is what man himself has
made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made. . . . When you
begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you
are accusing yourself of your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil
works. You do the truth and come to the light.61
Satisfaction
1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g.,
return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries).
Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his
relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the
disorders sin has caused.62 Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by
doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must "make satisfaction for" or "expiate" his
sins. This satisfaction is also called "penance."
1460 The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent's personal situation and
must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the
sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary
self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances
help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs
with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him."63
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not
done through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all
things with the cooperation of "him who strengthens" us. Thus man has nothing of which to
boast, but all our boasting is in Christ . . . in whom we make satisfaction by bringing forth "fruits
that befit repentance." These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the
Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father.64

VIII. THE MINISTER OF THIS SACRAMENT
1461 Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation,65 bishops who are their
successors, and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops
and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins "in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
1462 Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the Church. Since ancient times
the bishop, visible head of a particular Church, has thus rightfully been considered to be the one who
principally has the power and ministry of reconciliation: he is the moderator of the penitential
discipline.66 Priests, his collaborators, exercise it to the extent that they have received the commission
either from their bishop (or religious superior) or the Pope, according to the law of the Church.67
1463 Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty,
which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for
which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the
bishop of the place or priests authorized by them. In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of
faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.69
1464 Priests must encourage the faithful to come to the sacrament of Penance and must make
themselves available to celebrate this sacrament each time Christians reasonably ask for it.70
1465 When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good
Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who
awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose
judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for
the sinner.
1466 The confessor is not the master of God's forgiveness, but its servant. The minister of this
sacrament should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ.71 He should have a proven
knowledge of Christian behavior, experience of human affairs, respect and sensitivity toward the one
who has fallen; he must love the truth, be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, and lead the
penitent with patience toward healing and full maturity. He must pray and do penance for his penitent,
entrusting him to the Lord's mercy.
1467 Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church
declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute
secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge
that confession gives him about penitents' lives.72 This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called
the "sacramental seal," because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains "sealed" by
the sacrament.

IX. THE EFFECTS OF THIS SACRAMENT
1468 "The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God's grace and joining
us with him in an intimate friendship."73 Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this
sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious
disposition, reconciliation "is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual
consolation."74 Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true "spiritual
resurrection," restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the
most precious is friendship with God.75
1469 This sacrament reconciles us with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion.
The sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense it does not simply heal the one restored
to ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from
the sin of one of her members.76 Re-established or strengthened in the communion of saints, the
sinner is made stronger by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of the Body of
Christ, whether still on pilgrimage or already in the heavenly homeland:77
It must be recalled that . . . this reconciliation with God leads, as it were, to other
reconciliations, which repair the other breaches caused by sin. The forgiven penitent is
reconciled with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his innermost truth. He is
reconciled with his brethren whom he has in some way offended and wounded. He is
reconciled with the Church. He is reconciled with all creation.78
1470 In this sacrament, the sinner, placing himself before the merciful judgment of God, anticipates in
a certain way the judgment to which he will be subjected at the end of his earthly life. For it is now, in
this life, that we are offered the choice between life and death, and it is only by the road of conversion
that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin.79 In converting to Christ
through penance and faith, the sinner passes from death to life and "does not come into judgment."80

X. INDULGENCES
1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the
sacrament of Penance.

What is an indulgence?
"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has
already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed
conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and
applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints."81
"An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal
punishment due to sin."82 The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the
dead.83

The punishments of sin
1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has
a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us
incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other
hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified
either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what
is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind
of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion
which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way
that no punishment would remain.84
1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal
punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and
trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept
this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as
by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the
"new man."85

In the Communion of Saints
1474 The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God's
grace is not alone. "The life of each of God's children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a
wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical
Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person."86
1475 In the communion of saints, "a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have
already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who
are still pilgrims on earth. between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things."87 In
this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one
could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more
promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.
1476 We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury, which is "not
the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the
contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's
merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin
and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of
his Redemption exist and find their efficacy."88
1477 "This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are
truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the
prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord
and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical
Body."89

Obtaining indulgence from God through the Church
1478 An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing
granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury
of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the
temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of
these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.90
1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of
saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments
due for their sins may be remitted.

XI. THE CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
1480 Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are
ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the
conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which
acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance;
the priest's absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.
1481 The Byzantine Liturgy recognizes several formulas of absolution, in the form of invocation, which
admirably express the mystery of forgiveness: "May the same God, who through the Prophet Nathan
forgave David when he confessed his sins, who forgave Peter when he wept bitterly, the prostitute
when she washed his feet with her tears, the publican, and the prodigal son, through me, a sinner,
forgive you both in this life and in the next and enable you to appear before his awe-inspiring tribunal
without condemnation, he who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen."
1482 The sacrament of Penance can also take place in the framework of a communal celebration in
which we prepare ourselves together for confession and give thanks together for the forgiveness
received. Here, the personal confession of sins and individual absolution are inserted into a liturgy of
the word of God with readings and a homily, an examination of conscience conducted in common, a
communal request for forgiveness, the Our Father and a thanksgiving in common. This communal
celebration expresses more clearly the ecclesial character of penance. However, regardless of its
manner of celebration the sacrament of Penance is always, by its very nature, a liturgical action, and
therefore an ecclesial and public action.91
1483 In case of grave necessity recourse may be had to a communal celebration of reconciliation with
general confession and general absolution. Grave necessity of this sort can arise when there is
imminent danger of death without sufficient time for the priest or priests to hear each penitent's
confession. Grave necessity can also exist when, given the number of penitents, there are not enough
confessors to hear individual confessions properly in a reasonable time, so that the penitents through
no fault of their own would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time. In
this case, for the absolution to be valid the faithful must have the intention of individually confessing
their grave sins in the time required.92 The diocesan bishop is the judge of whether or not the
conditions required for general absolution exist.93 A large gathering of the faithful on the occasion of
major feasts or pilgrimages does not constitute a case of grave necessity.94
1484 "Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to
reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this
kind of confession."95 There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments.
He personally addresses every sinner: "My son, your sins are forgiven."96 He is the physician tending
each one of the sick who need him to cure them.97 He raises them up and reintegrates them into
fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God
and with the Church.

IN BRIEF
1485 "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week," Jesus showed himself to his apostles. "He
breathed on them, and said to them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"' (Jn 20:19, 22-23).
1486 The forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism is conferred by a particular sacrament called the
sacrament of conversion, confession, penance, or reconciliation.
1487 The sinner wounds God's honor and love, his own human dignity as a man called to be a son of
God, and the spiritual well-being of the Church, of which each Christian ought to be a living stone.
1488 To the eyes of faith no evil is graver than sin and nothing has worse consequences for sinners
themselves, for the Church, and for the whole world.
1489 To return to communion with God after having lost it through sin is a process born of the grace of
God who is rich in mercy and solicitous for the salvation of men. One must ask for this precious gift for
oneself and for others.
1490 The movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow for and
abhorrence of sins committed, and the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future. Conversion
touches the past and the future and is nourished by hope in God's mercy.
1491 The sacrament of Penance is a whole consisting in three actions of the penitent and the priest's
absolution. The penitent's acts are repentance, confession or disclosure of sins to the priest, and the
intention to make reparation and do works of reparation.
1492 Repentance (also called contrition) must be inspired by motives that arise from faith. If
repentance arises from love of charity for God, it is called "perfect" contrition; if it is founded on other
motives, it is called "imperfect."
1493 One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest
all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The
confession of venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly recommended by
the Church.
1494 The confessor proposes the performance of certain acts of "satisfaction" or "penance" to be
performed by the penitent in order to repair the harm caused by sin and to re-establish habits befitting
a disciple of Christ.
1495 Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can
forgive sins in the name of Christ.
1496 The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are:
- reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace;
- reconciliation with the Church;
- remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins;
- remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin;
- peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation;
- an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.
1497 Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary
means of reconciliation with God and with the Church.
1498 Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from
sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.
4 LG 11 § 2.
5 Cf. Mk 1:15; Lk 15:18.
6 OP 46 formula of absolution.
7 2 Cor 5:20.
8 Mt 5:24.
9 1 Cor 6:11.
10 Gal 3:27.
11 1 Jn 1:8.
12 Cf. Lk 11:4; Mt 6:12.
13 Eph 1:4; 5:27.
14 Cf. Council of Trent (1546): DS 1515.
15 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1545; LG 40.
16 Mk 1:15.
17 Cf. Acts 2:38.
18 LG 8 § 3.
19 Ps 51:17; cf. Jn 6:44; 12:32; 1 Jn 4:10.
20 Cf. Lk 22:61; Jn 21:15-17.
21 Rev 2:5,16.
22 St. Ambrose, ep. 41,12:PL 16,1116.
23 Cf. Joel 2:12-13; Isa 1:16-17; Mt 6:1-6; 16-18.
24 Cf. Council Of Trent (1551): DS 1676-1678; 1705; Cf. Roman Catechism, II,V,4.
25 Cf. Ezek 36:26-27.
26 Lam 5:21.
27 Cf. Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10.
28 St. Clement Of Rome, Ad Cor. 7,4:PG 1,224.
29 Cf. Jn 16:8-9.
30 Cf. Jn 15:26; Acts 2:36-38; John Paul II, DeV 27-48.
31 Cf. Tob 12:8; Mt 6:1-18.
32 1 Pet 4:8; Cf. Jas 5:20.
33 Cf. Am 5:24; Isa 1:17.
34 Cf. Lk 9:23.
35 Council Of Trent (1551): DS 1638.
36 Cf. SC 109-110; CIC, cann. 1249-1253; CCEO, Cann. 880-883.
37 Cf. Lk 15:11-24.
38 Cf. LG 11.
39 Cf. Mk 2:7.
40 Mk 2:5,10; Lk 7:48.
41 Cf. Jn 20:21-23.
42 2 Cor 5:18.
43 2 Cor 5:20.
44 Cf. Lk 15; 19:9.
45 Mt 16:19; cf. Mt 18:18; 28:16-20.
46 LG 22 § 2.
47 Tertullian, De Paenit. 4,2:PL 1,1343; cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1542.
48 OP 46: formula of absolution.
49 Roman Catechism II,V,21; cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1673.
50 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1676.
51 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1677.
52 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1678; 1705.
53 Cf. Mt 5-7; Rom 12-15; 1 Cor 12-13; Gal 5; Eph 4-6; etc.
54 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. Ex 20:17; Mt 5:28.
55 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. St. Jerome, In Eccl. 10,11:PL 23:1096.
56 Cf. CIC, Can. 989; Council of Trent (1551): DS 1683; DS 1708.
57 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1647; 1661; CIC, can. 916; CCEO, can. 711.
58 Cf. CIC, can. 914.
59 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1680; CIC, can. 988 § 2.
60 Cf. Lk 6:36.
61 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 12,13:PL 35,1491.
62 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1712.
63 Rom 8:17; Rom 3:25; 1 Jn 2:1-2; cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1690.
64 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1691; cf. Phil 4:13; 1 Cor 1:31; 2 Cor 10:17; Gal 6:14; Lk 3:8.
65 Cf. Jn 20:23; 2 Cor 5:18.
66 Cf. LG 26 § 3.
67 Cf. CIC, cann. 844; 967-969; 972; CCEO, can. 722 §§ 3-4.
68 Cf. CIC, cann. 1331; 1354-1357; CCEO, can. 1431; 1434; 1420.
69 Cf. CIC, can. 976; CCEO, can. 725.
70 Cf. CIC, can. 486; CCEO, can. 735; PO 13.
71 Cf. PO 13.
72 Cf. CIC, can. 1388 § 1; CCEO, can. 1456.
73 Roman Catechism, II,V,18.
74 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1674.
75 Cf. Lk 15:32.
76 Cf. 1 Cor 12:26.
77 Cf. LG 48-50.
78 John Paul II, RP 31,5.
79 Cf. 1 Cor 5:11; Gal 5:19-21; Rev 22:15.
80 Jn 5:24.
81 Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Indulgentiarum doctrina, Norm 1.
82 Indulgentiarum doctrina, Norm 2; Cf. Norm 3.
83 CIC, can. 994. 84 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1712-1713; (1563): 1820.
85 Eph 4:22, 24.
86 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5.
87 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5.
88 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5.
89 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5.
90 Cf. Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5.
91 Cf. SC 26-27.
92 Cf. CIC, can. 962 #1.
93 Cf. CIC, can. 961 § 2.
94 Cf. CIC, can. 961 § 1.
95 OP 31.
96 Mk 2:5.
97 Cf. Mk 2:17.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER TWO
THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING

ARTICLE 5
THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK
1499 "By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends
those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And
indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves
to the Passion and death of Christ."98

I. ITS FOUNDATIONS IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
Illness in human life
1500 Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In
illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us
glimpse death.
1501 Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can
also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can
turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him.

The sick person before God
1502 The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the presence of God. It is before God that he
laments his illness, and it is of God, Master of life and death, that he implores healing.99 Illness
becomes a way to conversion; God's forgiveness initiates the healing.100 It is the experience of Israel
that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and that faithfulness to God according to his law
restores life: "For I am the Lord, your healer."101 The prophet intuits that suffering can also have a
redemptive meaning for the sins of others.102 Finally Isaiah announces that God will usher in a time for
Zion when he will pardon every offense and heal every illness.103

Christ the physician
1503 Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a
resplendent sign that "God has visited his people"104 and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.
Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins;105 he has come to heal the whole man,
soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of.106 His compassion toward all who suffer goes
so far that he identifies himself with them: "I was sick and you visited me."107 His preferential love for
the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians toward all
those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort them.
1504 Often Jesus asks the sick to believe.108 He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of
hands,109 mud and washing.110 The sick try to touch him, "for power came forth from him and healed
them all."111 And so in the sacraments Christ continues to "touch" us in order to heal us.
1505 Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he
makes their miseries his own: "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.".112 But he did not heal all
the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical
healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the
whole weight of evil and took away the "sin of the world,".113 of which illness is only a consequence. By
his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth
configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion.
"Heal the sick . . ."
1506 Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking up their cross in their turn..114 By following him
they acquire a new outlook on illness and the sick. Jesus associates them with his own life of poverty
and service. He makes them share in his ministry of compassion and healing: "So they went out and
preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that
were sick and healed them.".115
1507 The risen Lord renews this mission ("In my name . . . they will lay their hands on the sick, and they
will recover."116) and confirms it through the signs that the Church performs by invoking his name.117
These signs demonstrate in a special way that Jesus is truly "God who saves."118
1508 The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing119 so as to make manifest the power of
the grace of the risen Lord. But even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all
illnesses. Thus St. Paul must learn from the Lord that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weakness," and that the sufferings to be endured can mean that "in my flesh I
complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church."120
1509 "Heal the sick!"121 The Church has received this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out by
taking care of the sick as well as by accompanying them with her prayer of intercession. She believes in
the life-giving presence of Christ, the physician of souls and bodies. This presence is particularly active
through the sacraments, and in an altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives
eternal life and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health.122
1510 However, the apostolic Church has its own rite for the sick, attested to by St. James: "Is any
among you sick? Let him call for the elders [presbyters] of the Church and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the
Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."123 Tradition has recognized in
this rite one of the seven sacraments.124

A sacrament of the sick
1511 The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially
intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, the Anointing of the Sick:
This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper
sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the
faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord.125
1512 From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the
practice of anointings of the sick with blessed oil. Over the centuries the Anointing of the Sick was
conferred more and more exclusively on those at the point of death. Because of this it received the
name "Extreme Unction." Notwithstanding this evolution the liturgy has never failed to beg the Lord
that the sick person may recover his health if it would be conducive to his salvation.126
1513 The Apostolic Constitution Sacram unctionem infirmorum,127 following upon the Second Vatican
Council,128 established that henceforth, in the Roman Rite, the following be observed:
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them
on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil - pressed from olives or from other plants -
saying, only once: "Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you
with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you
up."129

II. WHO RECEIVES AND WHO ADMINISTERS THIS SACRAMENT?
In case of grave illness . . .
1514 The Anointing of the Sick "is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence,
as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting
time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived."130
1515 If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, he can in the case of another
grave illness receive this sacrament again. If during the same illness the person's condition becomes
more serious, the sacrament may be repeated. It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior
to a serious operation. The same holds for the elderly whose frailty becomes more pronounced.
" . . . let him call for the presbyters of the Church"
1516 Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick.131 It is the duty of
pastors to instruct the faithful on the benefits of this sacrament. The faithful should encourage the sick
to call for a priest to receive this sacrament. The sick should prepare themselves to receive it with good
dispositions, assisted by their pastor and the whole ecclesial community, which is invited to surround
the sick in a special way through their prayers and fraternal attention.

III. HOW IS THIS SACRAMENT CELEBRATED?
1517 Like all the sacraments the Anointing of the Sick is a liturgical and communal celebration,132
whether it takes place in the family home, a hospital or church, for a single sick person or a whole
group of sick persons. It is very fitting to celebrate it within the Eucharist, the memorial of the Lord's
Passover. If circumstances suggest it, the celebration of the sacrament can be preceded by the
sacrament of Penance and followed by the sacrament of the Eucharist. As the sacrament of Christ's
Passover the Eucharist should always be the last sacrament of the earthly journey, the "viaticum" for
"passing over" to eternal life.
1518 Word and sacrament form an indivisible whole. The Liturgy of the Word, preceded by an act of
repentance, opens the celebration. The words of Christ, the witness of the apostles, awaken the faith
of the sick person and of the community to ask the Lord for the strength of his Spirit.
1519 The celebration of the sacrament includes the following principal elements: the "priests of the
Church"133 - in silence - lay hands on the sick; they pray over them in the faith of the Church134 - this is
the epiclesis proper to this sacrament; they then anoint them with oil blessed, if possible, by the
bishop.
These liturgical actions indicate what grace this sacrament confers upon the sick.

IV. THE EFFECTS OF THE CELEBRATION OF THIS SACRAMENT
1520 A particular gift of the Holy Spirit. The first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace
and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of
old age. This grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who renews trust and faith in God and strengthens against
the temptations of the evil one, the temptation to discouragement and anguish in the face of death.135
This assistance from the Lord by the power of his Spirit is meant to lead the sick person to healing of
the soul, but also of the body if such is God's will.136 Furthermore, "if he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven."137
1521 Union with the passion of Christ. By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the
strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain way he is
consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence
of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.
1522 An ecclesial grace. The sick who receive this sacrament, "by freely uniting themselves to the
passion and death of Christ," "contribute to the good of the People of God."138 By celebrating this
sacrament the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and
he, for his part, through the grace of this sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church and
to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to God the
Father.
1523 A preparation for the final journey. If the sacrament of anointing of the sick is given to all who
suffer from serious illness and infirmity, even more rightly is it given to those at the point of departing
this life; so it is also called sacramentum exeuntium (the sacrament of those departing).139 The
Anointing of the Sick completes our conformity to the death and Resurrection of Christ, just as Baptism
began it. It completes the holy anointings that mark the whole Christian life: that of Baptism which
sealed the new life in us, and that of Confirmation which strengthened us for the combat of this life.
This last anointing fortifies the end of our earthly life like a solid rampart for the final struggles before
entering the Father's house.140

V. VIATICUM, THE LAST SACRAMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN
1524 In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life
the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of
"passing over" to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life
and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."141 The sacrament of Christ once dead
and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world
to the Father.142
1525 Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called "the
sacraments of Christian initiation," so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the
Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life "the sacraments that prepare for our
heavenly homeland" or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage.

IN BRIEF
1526 "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the
Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas 5:14-15).
1527 The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick has as its purpose the conferral of a special grace on the
Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age.
1528 The proper time for receiving this holy anointing has certainly arrived when the believer begins to
be in danger of death because of illness or old age.
1529 Each time a Christian falls seriously ill, he may receive the Anointing of the Sick, and also when,
after he has received it, the illness worsens.
1530 Only priests (presbyters and bishops) can give the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, using
oil blessed by the bishop, or if necessary by the celebrating presbyter himself.
1531 The celebration of the Anointing of the Sick consists essentially in the anointing of the forehead
and hands of the sick person (in the Roman Rite) or of other parts of the body (in the Eastern rite), the
anointing being accompanied by the liturgical prayer of the celebrant asking for the special grace of
this sacrament.
1532 The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects:
- the uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church;
- the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old
age;
- the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance;
- the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul;
- the preparation for passing over to eternal life.
98 LG 11; cf. Jas 5:14-16; Rom 8:17; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 2:11-12; 1 Pet 4:13.
99 Cf. Pss 6:3; 38; Isa 38.
100 Cf. Pss 32:5; 38:5; 39:9, 12; 107:20; cf. Mk 2:5-12.
101 Ex 15:26.
102 Cf. Isa 53:11.
103 Cf. Isa 33:24.
104 Lk 7:16; cf. Mt 4:24.
105 Cf. Mk 2:5-12.
106 Cf. Mk 2:17.
107 Mt 25:36.
108 Cf. Mk 5:34, 36; 9:23.
109 Cf. Mk 7:32-36; 8:22-25.
110 Cf. Jn 9:6-7.
111 Lk 6:19; cf. Mk 1:41; 3:10; 6:56.
112 Mt 8:17; cf. Isa 53:4.
113 Jn 1:29; cf. Isa 53:4-6.
114 Cf. Mt 10:38.
115 Mk 6:12-13.
116 Mk 16:17-18.
117 Cf. Acts 9:34; 14:3.
118 Cf. Mt 1:21; Acts 4:12.
119 Cf. 1 Cor 12:9,28,30.
120 2 Cor 12:9; Col 1:24.
121 Mt 10:8.
122 Cf. Jn 6:54, 58; 1 Cor 11:30.
123 Jas 5:14-15.
124 Cf. Council of Constantinople II (553) DS 216; Council Of Florence (1439) 1324- 1325; Council Of
Trent (1551) 1695-1696; 1716-1717.
125 Council Of Trent (1551): DS 1695; cf. Mk 6:13; Jas 5:14-15.
126 Cf. Council Of Trent (1551): DS 1696.
127 Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Sacram unctionem infirmorum, November 30, 1972.
128 Cf. SC 73.
129 Cf. CIC, Can. 847 § 1.
130 SC 73; cf. CIC, Cann. 1004 § 1; 1005; 1007; CCEO, Can. 738.
131 Cf. Council Of Trent (1551): DS 1697; 1719; CIC, Can. 1003; CCEO, Can. 739 § 1.
132 Cf. SC 27.
133 Jas 5:14.
134 Cf. Jas 5:15.
135 Cf. Heb 2:15.
136 Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1325.
137 Jas 515; cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1717.
138 LG 11 § 2.
139 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1698.
140 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1694.
141 Jn 6:54.
142 Cf. Jn 13:1.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER THREE
THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION
1533 Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist are sacraments of Christian initiation. They ground the
common vocation of all Christ's disciples, a vocation to holiness and to the mission of evangelizing the
world. They confer the graces needed for the life according to the Spirit during this life as pilgrims on
the march towards the homeland.

1534 Two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others;
if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They
confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God.
1535 Through these sacraments those already consecrated by Baptism and Confirmation1 for the
common priesthood of all the faithful can receive particular consecrations. Those who receive the
sacrament of Holy Orders are consecrated in Christ's name "to feed the Church by the word and grace
of God."2 On their part, "Christian spouses are fortified and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and
dignity of their state by a special sacrament."3
1 Cf. LG 10.
2 LG 11 § 2.
3 GS 48 § 2.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER THREE
THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION

ARTICLE 6
THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS
1536 Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles
continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic
ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate.
(On the institution and mission of the apostolic ministry by Christ, see above, no. 874 ff. Here only the
sacramental means by which this ministry is handed on will be treated.)

I. WHY IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED "ORDERS"?
1537 The word order in Roman antiquity designated an established civil body, especially a governing
body. Ordinatio means incorporation into an ordo. In the Church there are established bodies which
Tradition, not without a basis in Sacred Scripture,4 has since ancient times called taxeis (Greek) or
ordines. And so the liturgy speaks of the ordo episcoporum, the ordo presbyterorum, the ordo
diaconorum. Other groups also receive this name of ordo: catechumens, virgins, spouses, widows,. . . .
1538 Integration into one of these bodies in the Church was accomplished by a rite called ordinatio, a
religious and liturgical act which was a consecration, a blessing or a sacrament. Today the word
"ordination" is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops,
presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by
the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a "sacred power"
(sacra potestas)5 which can come only from Christ himself through his Church. Ordination is also called
consecratio, for it is a setting apart and an investiture by Christ himself for his Church. The laying on of
hands by the bishop, with the consecratory prayer, constitutes the visible sign of this ordination.

II. THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
The priesthood of the Old Covenant
1539 The chosen people was constituted by God as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."6 But
within the people of Israel, God chose one of the twelve tribes, that of Levi, and set it apart for
liturgical service; God himself is its inheritance.7 A special rite consecrated the beginnings of the
priesthood of the Old Covenant. The priests are "appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."8
1540 Instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifices and
prayer,9 this priesthood nevertheless remains powerless to bring about salvation, needing to repeat its
sacrifices ceaselessly and being unable to achieve a definitive sanctification, which only the sacrifice of
Christ would accomplish.10
1541 The liturgy of the Church, however, sees in the priesthood of Aaron and the service of the Levites,
as in the institution of the seventy elders,11 a prefiguring of the ordained ministry of the New
Covenant. Thus in the Latin Rite the Church prays in the consecratory preface of the ordination of
bishops:
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . .
by your gracious word
you have established the plan of your Church.
From the beginning,
you chose the descendants of Abraham to be your holy nation.
You established rulers and priests
and did not leave your sanctuary without ministers to serve you. . . .12
1542 At the ordination of priests, the Church prays:
Lord, holy Father, . . .
when you had appointed high priests to rule your people,
you chose other men next to them in rank and dignity
to be with them and to help them in their task. . . .
you extended the spirit of Moses to seventy wise men. . . .
You shared among the sons of Aaron
the fullness of their father's power.13
1543 In the consecratory prayer for ordination of deacons, the Church confesses:
Almighty God . . .,
You make the Church, Christ's body,
grow to its full stature as a new and greater temple.
You enrich it with every kind of grace
and perfect it with a diversity of members
to serve the whole body in a wonderful pattern of unity.
You established a threefold ministry of worship and service,
for the glory of your name.
As ministers of your tabernacle you chose the sons of Levi
and gave them your blessing as their everlasting inheritance.14

The one priesthood of Christ
1544 Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus,
the "one mediator between God and men."15 The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, "priest of
God Most High," as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique "high priest after the order
of Melchizedek";16 "holy, blameless, unstained,"17 "by a single offering he has perfected for all time
those who are sanctified,"18 that is, by the unique sacrifice of the cross.
1545 The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in
the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; it is made
present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ's priesthood:
"Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers."19

Two participations in the one priesthood of Christ
1546 Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom, priests for his God
and Father."20 The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their
baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's
mission as priest, prophet, and king. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful
are "consecrated to be . . . a holy priesthood."21
1547 The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of
all the faithful participate, "each in its own proper way, in the one priesthood of Christ." While being
"ordered one to another," they differ essentially.22 In what sense? While the common priesthood of
the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace --a life of faith, hope, and charity, a life
according to the Spirit--, the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is
directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians. The ministerial priesthood is a means
by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. For this reason it is transmitted by its own
sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders.

In the person of Christ the Head . . .
1548 In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as
Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is
what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in
persona Christi Capitis:23
It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the
minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is truly made like to
the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ
himself (virtute ac persona ipsius Christi).24
Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the
priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ.25
1549 Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as
head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the community of believers.26 In the beautiful
expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is typos tou Patros: he is like the living image of God
the Father.27
1550 This presence of Christ in the minister is not to be understood as if the latter were preserved
from all human weaknesses, the spirit of domination, error, even sin. The power of the Holy Spirit does
not guarantee all acts of ministers in the same way. While this guarantee extends to the sacraments, so
that even the minister's sin cannot impede the fruit of grace, in many other acts the minister leaves
human traces that are not always signs of fidelity to the Gospel and consequently can harm the
apostolic fruitfulness of the Church.

1551 This priesthood is ministerial. "That office . . . which the Lord committed to the pastors of his
people, is in the strict sense of the term a service."28 It is entirely related to Christ and to men. It
depends entirely on Christ and on his unique priesthood; it has been instituted for the good of men
and the communion of the Church. The sacrament of Holy Orders communicates a "sacred power"
which is none other than that of Christ. The exercise of this authority must therefore be measured
against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least and the servant of all.29 "The Lord said
clearly that concern for his flock was proof of love for him."30

. . . "in the name of the whole Church"
1552 The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ - Head of the Church -
before the assembly of the faithful, but also of acting in the name of the whole Church when
presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice.31
1553 "In the name of the whole Church" does not mean that priests are the delegates of the
community. The prayer and offering of the Church are inseparable from the prayer and offering of
Christ, her head; it is always the case that Christ worships in and through his Church. The whole
Church, the Body of Christ, prays and offers herself "through him, with him, in him," in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, to God the Father. The whole Body, caput et membra, prays and offers itself, and therefore
those who in the Body are especially his ministers are called ministers not only of Christ, but also of the
Church. It is because the ministerial priesthood represents Christ that it can represent the Church.

III. THE THREE DEGREES OF THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS
1554 "The divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees by those who even
from ancient times have been called bishops, priests, and deacons."32 Catholic doctrine, expressed in
the liturgy, the Magisterium, and the constant practice of the Church, recognizes that there are two
degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ: the episcopacy and the presbyterate .
The diaconate is intended to help and serve them. For this reason the term sacerdos in current usage
denotes bishops and priests but not deacons. Yet Catholic doctrine teaches that the degrees of priestly
participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate) are all three
conferred by a sacramental act called "ordination," that is, by the sacrament of Holy Orders:
Let everyone revere the deacons as Jesus Christ, the bishop as the image of the Father, and the
presbyters as the senate of God and the assembly of the apostles. For without them one cannot
speak of the Church.33

Episcopal ordination - fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders
1555 "Amongst those various offices which have been exercised in the Church from the earliest times
the chief place, according to the witness of tradition, is held by the function of those who, through
their appointment to the dignity and responsibility of bishop, and in virtue consequently of the
unbroken succession going back to the beginning, are regarded as transmitters of the apostolic line."34
1556 To fulfill their exalted mission, "the apostles were endowed by Christ with a special outpouring of
the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and by the imposition of hands they passed on to their auxiliaries
the gift of the Spirit, which is transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration."35
1557 The Second Vatican Council "teaches . . . that the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is
conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness namely which, both in the liturgical tradition of the
Church and the language of the Fathers of the Church, is called the high priesthood, the acme (summa)
of the sacred ministry."36
1558 "Episcopal consecration confers, together with the office of sanctifying, also the offices of
teaching and ruling. . . . In fact . . . by the imposition of hands and through the words of the
consecration, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given, and a sacred character is impressed in such wise that
bishops, in an eminent and visible manner, take the place of Christ himself, teacher, shepherd, and
priest, and act as his representative (in Eius persona agant)."37 "By virtue, therefore, of the Holy Spirit
who has been given to them, bishops have been constituted true and authentic teachers of the faith
and have been made pontiffs and pastors."38
1559 "One is constituted a member of the episcopal body in virtue of the sacramental consecration
and by the hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college."39 The character and
collegial nature of the episcopal order are evidenced among other ways by the Church's ancient
practice which calls for several bishops to participate in the consecration of a new bishop.40 In our day,
the lawful ordination of a bishop requires a special intervention of the Bishop of Rome, because he is
the supreme visible bond of the communion of the particular Churches in the one Church and the
guarantor of their freedom.
1560 As Christ's vicar, each bishop has the pastoral care of the particular Church entrusted to him, but
at the same time he bears collegially with all his brothers in the episcopacy the solicitude for all the
Churches: "Though each bishop is the lawful pastor only of the portion of the flock entrusted to his
care, as a legitimate successor of the apostles he is, by divine institution and precept, responsible with
the other bishops for the apostolic mission of the Church."41
1561 The above considerations explain why the Eucharist celebrated by the bishop has a quite special
significance as an expression of the Church gathered around the altar, with the one who represents
Christ, the Good Shepherd and Head of his Church, presiding.42

The ordination of priests - co-workers of the bishops
1562 "Christ, whom the Father hallowed and sent into the world, has, through his apostles, made their
successors, the bishops namely, sharers in his consecration and mission; and these, in their turn, duly
entrusted in varying degrees various members of the Church with the office of their ministry."43 "The
function of the bishops' ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that they might
be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper
fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ."44
1563 "Because it is joined with the episcopal order the office of priests shares in the authority by which
Christ himself builds up and sanctifies and rules his Body. Hence the priesthood of priests, while
presupposing the sacraments of initiation, is nevertheless conferred by its own particular sacrament.
Through that sacrament priests by the anointing of the Holy Spirit are signed with a special character
and so are configured to Christ the priest in such a way that they are able to act in the person of Christ
the head."45
1564 "Whilst not having the supreme degree of the pontifical office, and notwithstanding the fact that
they depend on the bishops in the exercise of their own proper power, the priests are for all that
associated with them by reason of their sacerdotal dignity; and in virtue of the sacrament of Holy
Orders, after the image of Christ, the supreme and eternal priest, they are consecrated in order to
preach the Gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship as true priests of the
New Testament."46
1565 Through the sacrament of Holy Orders priests share in the universal dimensions of the mission
that Christ entrusted to the apostles. The spiritual gift they have received in ordination prepares them,
not for a limited and restricted mission, "but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation 'to
the end of the earth,"'47 "prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere."48
1566 "It is in the Eucharistic cult or in the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful (synaxis) that they
exercise in a supreme degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming
his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in
the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique
sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to
the Father."49 From this unique sacrifice their whole priestly ministry draws its strength.50
1567 "The priests, prudent cooperators of the episcopal college and its support and instrument, called
to the service of the People of God, constitute, together with their bishop, a unique sacerdotal college
(presbyterium) dedicated, it is, true to a variety of distinct duties. In each local assembly of the faithful
they represent, in a certain sense, the bishop, with whom they are associated in all trust and
generosity; in part they take upon themselves his duties and solicitude and in their daily toils discharge
them."51 priests can exercise their ministry only in dependence on the bishop and in communion with
him. The promise of obedience they make to the bishop at the moment of ordination and the kiss of
peace from him at the end of the ordination liturgy mean that the bishop considers them his coworkers,
his sons, his brothers and his friends, and that they in return owe him love and obedience.
1568 "All priests, who are constituted in the order of priesthood by the sacrament of Order, are bound
together by an intimate sacramental brotherhood, but in a special way they form one priestly body in
the diocese to which they are attached under their own bishop. . . ."52 The unity of the presbyterium
finds liturgical expression in the custom of the presbyters' imposing hands, after the bishop, during the
Ate of ordination.

The ordination of deacons - "in order to serve"
1569 "At a lower level of the hierarchy are to be found deacons, who receive the imposition of hands
'not unto the priesthood, but unto the ministry."'53 At an ordination to the diaconate only the bishop
lays hands on the candidate, thus signifying the deacon's special attachment to the bishop in the tasks
of his "diakonia."54
1570 Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way.55 The sacrament of Holy Orders
marks them with an imprint ("character") which cannot be removed and which configures them to
Christ, who made himself the "deacon" or servant of all.56 Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons
to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the
distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the
Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries
of charity.57
1571 Since the Second Vatican Council the Latin Church has restored the diaconate "as a proper and
permanent rank of the hierarchy,"58 while the Churches of the East had always maintained it. This
permanent diaconate, which can be conferred on married men, constitutes an important enrichment
for the Church's mission. Indeed it is appropriate and useful that men who carry out a truly diaconal
ministry in the Church, whether in its liturgical and pastoral life or whether in its social and charitable
works, should "be strengthened by the imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles.
They would be more closely bound to the altar and their ministry would be made more fruitful through
the sacramental grace of the diaconate."59

IV. THE CELEBRATION OF THIS SACRAMENT
1572 Given the importance that the ordination of a bishop, a priest, or a deacon has for the life of the
particular Church, its celebration calls for as many of the faithful as possible to take part. It should take
place preferably on Sunday, in the cathedral, with solemnity appropriate to the occasion. All three
ordinations, of the bishop, of the priest, and of the deacon, follow the same movement. Their proper
place is within the Eucharistic liturgy.
1573 The essential rite of the sacrament of Holy Orders for all three degrees consists in the bishop's
imposition of hands on the head of the ordinand and in the bishop's specific consecratory prayer
asking God for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and his gifts proper to the ministry to which the
candidate is being ordained.60
1574 As in all the sacraments additional rites surround the celebration. Varying greatly among the
different liturgical traditions, these rites have in common the expression of the multiple aspects of
sacramental grace. Thus in the Latin Church, the initial rites - presentation and election of the
ordinand, instruction by the bishop, examination of the candidate, litany of the saints - attest that the
choice of the candidate is made in keeping with the practice of the Church and prepare for the solemn
act of consecration, after which several rites symbolically express and complete the mystery
accomplished: for bishop and priest, an anointing with holy chrism, a sign of the special anointing of
the Holy Spirit who makes their ministry fruitful; giving the book of the Gospels, the ring, the miter,
and the crosier to the bishop as the sign of his apostolic mission to proclaim the Word of God, of his
fidelity to the Church, the bride of Christ, and his office as shepherd of the Lord's flock; presentation to
the priest of the paten and chalice, "the offering of the holy people" which he is called to present to
God; giving the book of the Gospels to the deacon who has just received the mission to proclaim the
Gospel of Christ.

V. WHO CAN CONFER THIS SACRAMENT?
1575 Christ himself chose the apostles and gave them a share in his mission and authority. Raised to
the Father's right hand, he has not forsaken his flock but he keeps it under his constant protection
through the apostles, and guides it still through these same pastors who continue his work today.61
Thus, it is Christ whose gift it is that some be apostles, others pastors. He continues to act through the
bishops.62
1576 Since the sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament of the apostolic ministry, it is for the bishops
as the successors of the apostles to hand on the "gift of the Spirit,"63 the "apostolic line."64 Validly
ordained bishops, i.e., those who are in the line of apostolic succession, validly confer the three
degrees of the sacrament of Holy Orders.65

VI. WHO CAN RECEIVE THIS SACRAMENT?
1577 "Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination."66 The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to
form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators
to succeed them in their ministry.67 The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the
priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's
return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this
reason the ordination of women is not possible.68
1578 No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for
himself; he is called to it by God.69 Anyone who thinks he recognizes the signs of God's call to the
ordained ministry must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, who has the
responsibility and right to call someone to receive orders. Like every grace this sacrament can be
received only as an unmerited gift.
1579 All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are
normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate
"for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."70 Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the
Lord and to "the affairs of the Lord,"71 they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a
sign of this new life to the service of which the Church's minister is consecrated; accepted with a
joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.72
1580 In the Eastern Churches a different discipline has been in force for many centuries: while bishops
are chosen solely from among celibates, married men can be ordained as deacons and priests. This
practice has long been considered legitimate; these priests exercise a fruitful ministry within their
communities.73 Moreover, priestly celibacy is held in great honor in the Eastern Churches and many
priests have freely chosen it for the sake of the Kingdom of God. In the East as in the West a man who
has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry.

VII. THE EFFECTS OF THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS
The indelible character
1581 This sacrament configures the recipient to Christ by a special grace of the Holy Spirit, so that he
may serve as Christ's instrument for his Church. By ordination one is enabled to act as a representative
of Christ, Head of the Church, in his triple office of priest, prophet, and king.
1582 As in the case of Baptism and Confirmation this share in Christ's office is granted once for all. The
sacrament of Holy Orders, like the other two, confers an indelible spiritual character and cannot be
repeated or conferred temporarily.74
1583 It is true that someone validly ordained can, for grave reasons, be discharged from the
obligations and functions linked to ordination, or can be forbidden to exercise them; but he cannot
become a layman again in the strict sense,75 because the character imprinted by ordination is for ever.
The vocation and mission received on the day of his ordination mark him permanently.
1584 Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the
unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting.76 St. Augustine states this forcefully:
As for the proud minister, he is to be ranked with the devil. Christ's gift is not thereby profaned:
what flows through him keeps its purity, and what passes through him remains dear and
reaches the fertile earth. . . . The spiritual power of the sacrament is indeed comparable to
light: those to be enlightened receive it in its purity, and if it should pass through defiled beings,
it is not itself defiled.77

The grace of the Holy Spirit
1585 The grace of the Holy Spirit proper to this sacrament is configuration to Christ as Priest, Teacher,
and Pastor, of whom the ordained is made a minister.
1586 For the bishop, this is first of all a grace of strength ("the governing spirit": Prayer of Episcopal
Consecration in the Latin rite):78 the grace to guide and defend his Church with strength and prudence
as a father and pastor, with gratuitous love for all and a preferential love for the poor, the sick, and the
needy. This grace impels him to proclaim the Gospel to all, to be the model for his flock, to go before it
on the way of sanctification by identifying himself in the Eucharist with Christ the priest and victim, not
fearing to give his life for his sheep:
Father, you know all hearts.
You have chosen your servant for the office of bishop.
May he be a shepherd to your holy flock,
and a high priest blameless in your sight,
ministering to you night and day;
may he always gain the blessing of your favor
and offer the gifts of your holy Church.
Through the Spirit who gives the grace of high priesthood
grant him the power
to forgive sins as you have commanded
to assign ministries as you have decreed
and to loose from every bond by the authority which you
gave to your apostles. May he be pleasing to you by his gentleness and purity of heart,
presenting a fragrant offering to you,
through Jesus Christ, your Son. . . .79
1587 The spiritual gift conferred by presbyteral ordination is expressed by this prayer of the Byzantine
Rite. The bishop, while laying on his hand, says among other things:
Lord, fill with the gift of the Holy Spirit
him whom you have deigned to raise to the rank of the priesthood,
that he may be worthy to stand without reproach before your altar
to proclaim the Gospel of your kingdom,
to fulfill the ministry of your word of truth,
to offer you spiritual gifts and sacrifices,
to renew your people by the bath of rebirth;
so that he may go out to meet
our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, your only Son,
on the day of his second coming,
and may receive from your vast goodness
the recompense for a faithful administration of his order.80
1588 With regard to deacons, "strengthened by sacramental grace they are dedicated to the People of
God, in conjunction with the bishop and his body of priests, in the service (diakonia) of the liturgy, of
the Gospel, and of works of charity."81
1589 Before the grandeur of the priestly grace and office, the holy doctors felt an urgent call to
conversion in order to conform their whole lives to him whose sacrament had made them ministers.
Thus St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as a very young priest, exclaimed:
We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able
to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him close to others, be
sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel prudently. I know whose ministers we are,
where we find ourselves and to where we strive. I know God's greatness and man's weakness,
but also his potential. [Who then is the priest? He is] the defender of truth, who stands with
angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high, shares Christ's
priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God's image, recreates it for the world on high
and, even greater, is divinized and divinizes.82 And the holy Cure of Ars: "The priest continues
the work of redemption on earth. . . . If we really understood the priest on earth, we would die
not of fright but of love. . . . The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus."83

IN BRIEF
1590 St. Paul said to his disciple Timothy: "I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you
through the laying on of my hands" (2 Tim 1:6), and "If any one aspires to the office of bishop, he
desires a noble task." (1 Tim 3:1) To Titus he said: "This is why I left you in Crete, that you amend what
was defective, and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you" (Titus 1:5).
1591 The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of
Christ. This participation is called the "common priesthood of the faithful." Based on this common
priesthood and ordered to its service, there exists another participation in the mission of Christ: the
ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, where the task is to serve in the name and in the
person of Christ the Head in the midst of the community.
1592 The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because
it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. The ordained ministers exercise their service
for the People of God by teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum) and pastoral
governance (munus regendi).
1593 Since the beginning, the ordained ministry has been conferred and exercised in three degrees:
that of bishops, that of presbyters, and that of deacons. The ministries conferred by ordination are
irreplaceable for the organic structure of the Church: without the bishop, presbyters, and deacons, one
cannot speak of the Church (cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1).
1594 The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the
episcopal college and makes him the visible head of the particular Church entrusted to him. As
successors of the apostles and members of the college, the bishops share in the apostolic responsibility
and mission of the whole Church under the authority of the Pope, successor of St. Peter.
1595 Priests are united with the bishops in sacerdotal dignity and at the same time depend on them in
the exercise of their pastoral functions; they are called to be the bishops' prudent co-workers. They
form around their bishop the presbyterium which bears responsibility with him for the particular
Church. They receive from the bishop the charge of a parish community or a determinate ecclesial
office.
1596 Deacons are ministers ordained for tasks of service of the Church; they do not receive the
ministerial priesthood, but ordination confers on them important functions in the ministry of the word,
divine worship, pastoral governance, and the service of charity, tasks which they must carry out under
the pastoral authority of their bishop.
1597 The sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by the laying on of hands followed by a solemn prayer
of consecration asking God to grant the ordinand the graces of the Holy Spirit required for his ministry.
Ordination imprints an indelible sacramental character.
1598 The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptized men (viri), whose suitability
for the exercise of the ministry has been duly recognized. Church authority alone has the responsibility
and right to call someone to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders.
1599 In the Latin Church the sacrament of Holy Orders for the presbyterate is normally conferred only
on candidates who are ready to embrace celibacy freely and who publicly manifest their intention of
staying celibate for the love of God's kingdom and the service of men.
1600 It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the three degrees.
4 Cf. Heb 5:6; 7:11; Ps 110:4.
5 Cf. LG 10.
6 Ex 19:6; cf. Isa 61:6.
7 Cf. Num 1:48-53; Josh 13:33.
8 Heb 5:1; cf. Ex 29:1-30; Lev 8.
9 Cf. Mal 2:7-9.
10 Cf. Heb 5:3; 7:27; 101-4.
11 Cf. Num 11:24-25.
12 Roman Pontifical, Ordination of Bishops 26, Prayer of Consecration.
13 Roman Pontifical, Ordination of Priests 22, Prayer of Consecration.
14 Roman Pontifical, Ordination of Deacons 21, Prayer of Consecration.
15 2 Tim 2:5.
16 Heb 5:10; cf. 6:20; Gen 14:18.
17 Heb 7:26.
18 Heb 10:14.
19 St. Thomas Aquinas, Hebr. 8,4.
20 Rev 1:6; cf. Rev 5:9-10; 1 Pet 2:5,9.
21 LG 10 § 1.
22 LG 10 § 2.
23 Cf. LG 10; 28; SC 33; CD 11; PO 2; 6.
24 Pius XII, encyclical, Mediator Dei: AAS, 39 (1947) 548.
25 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,22,4c.
26 Cf. LG 21.
27 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1:SCh 10,96; cf. Ad Magn. 6,1:SCh 10,82-84.
28 LG 24.
29 Cf. Mk 10:43-45; 1 Pet 5:3.
30 St. John Chrysostom, De sac. 2, 4:PG 48, 636; cf. Jn 21:15-17.
31 Cf. SC 33N; LG 10.
32 LG 28.
33 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1:SCh 10,96.
34 LG 20.
35 LG 21; cf. Acts 1:8; 24; Jn 20:22-23; 1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6-7.
36 LG 21 § 2.
37 LG 21.
38 CD 2 § 2.
39 LG 22.
40 Cf. LG 22.
41 Pius XII, Fidei donum: AAS 49 (1957) 237; cf. LG 23; CD 4; 36; 37; AG 5; 6; 38.
42 Cf. SC 41; LG 26.
43 LG 28; cf. Jn 10:36.
44 PO 2 § 2.
45 PO 2.
46 LG 28 cf. Heb 5:1-10; 7:24; 9:11-28; Innocent I, Epist. ad Decentium:PL 20,554A; St. Gregory of
Nazianzus, Oratio 2,22:PG 35,432B.
47 PO 10; OT 20; cf. Acts 1:8.
48 OT 20.
49 LG 28; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
50 Cf. PO 2.
51 LG 28 § 2.
52 PO 8.
53 LG 29; cf. CD 15.
54 Cf. St. Hippolytus, Trad. ap. 8:SCh 11,58-62.
55 Cf. LG 41; AA 16.
56 Cf. Mk 10:45; Lk 22:27; St. Polycarp, Ad Phil. 5,2:SCh 10,182.
57 Cf. LG 29; SC 35 § 4; AG 16.
58 LG 29 § 2.
59 AG 16 § 6.
60 Cf. Pius XII, apostolic constitution, Sacramentum Ordinis: DS 3858.
61 Cf. Roman Missal, Preface of the Apostles I.
62 Cf. LG 21; Eph 4:11.
63 LG 21 § 2.
64 LG 20.
65 Cf. DS 794 and Cf. DS 802; CIC, can. 1012; CCEO, can. 744; 747.
66 CIC, can. 1024.
67 Cf. Mk 3:14-19; Lk 6:12-16; 1 Tim 3:1-13; 2 Tim 1:6; Titus 1:5-9; St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor. 42,4;
44,3:PG 1,292-293; 300.
68 Cf. John Paul II, MD 26-27; CDF, declaration, Inter insigniores: AAS 69 (1977) 98-116.
69 Cf. Heb 5:4.
70 Mt 19:12.
71 1 Cor 7:32.
72 Cf. PO 16.
73 Cf. PO 16.
74 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1767; LG 21; 28; 29; PO 2.
75 Cf. CIC, cann. 290-293; 1336 § 1 3o, 5o, 1338 § 2; Council of Trent: DS 1774.
76 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1612; DS 1154.
77 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 5,15:PL 35,1422.
78 Cf. Roman Pontifical, Ordination of Bishops 26, Prayer of Consecration; cf. 13; 16.
79 Roman Pontifical, Ordination of Bishops 26, Prayer of Consecration; cf. St. Hippolytus, Trad. ap.
3:SCh ll,44-46.
80 Byzantine Liturgy, Euchologion.
81 LG 29.
82 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 2,71,74,73:PG 35,480-481.
83 St. John Vianney, quoted in B. Nodet, Jean-Marie Vianney, Curé d' Ars, 100.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER THREE
THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION

ARTICLE 7
THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a
partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the
procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by
Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."84

I. MARRIAGE IN GOD'S PLAN
1602 Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God
and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb."85 Scripture speaks throughout of
marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its
various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal
"in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.86

Marriage in the order of creation
1603 "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been
established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author
of marriage."87 The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came
from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it
may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual
attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics.
Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity,88 some
sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. "The well-being of the individual
person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal
and family life."89
1604 God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of
every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love.90 Since
God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing
love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God
blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation:
"And God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue
it.'"91
1605 Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that
the man should be alone."92 The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given
to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from whom comes our help.93 "Therefore a
man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."94 The Lord
himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of
the Creator had been "in the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh."95
Marriage under the regime of sin
1606 Every man experiences evil around him and within himself. This experience makes itself felt in the
relationships between man and woman. Their union has always been threatened by discord, a spirit of
domination, infidelity, jealousy, and conflicts that can escalate into hatred and separation. This
disorder can manifest itself more or less acutely, and can be more or less overcome according to the
circumstances of cultures, eras, and individuals, but it does seem to have a universal character.
1607 According to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of man and
woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. As a break with God, the first sin had for
its first consequence the rupture of the original communion between man and woman. Their relations
were distorted by mutual recriminations;96 their mutual attraction, the Creator's own gift, changed into
a relationship of domination and lust;97 and the beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful,
multiply, and subdue the earth was burdened by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work.98
1608 Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously disturbed. To heal the wounds of
sin, man and woman need the help of the grace that God in his infinite mercy never refuses them.99
Without his help man and woman cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them
"in the beginning."

Marriage under the pedagogy of the Law
1609 In his mercy God has not forsaken sinful man. The punishments consequent upon sin, "pain in
childbearing" and toil "in the sweat of your brow,"100 also embody remedies that limit the damaging
effects of sin. After the fall, marriage helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of one's own
pleasure, and to open oneself to the other, to mutual aid and to self-giving.
1610 Moral conscience concerning the unity and indissolubility of marriage developed under the
pedagogy of the old law. In the Old Testament the polygamy of patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly
rejected. Nevertheless, the law given to Moses aims at protecting the wife from arbitrary domination
by the husband, even though according to the Lord's words it still carries traces of man's "hardness of
heart" which was the reason Moses permitted men to divorce their wives.101
1611 Seeing God's covenant with Israel in the image of exclusive and faithful married love, the
prophets prepared the Chosen People's conscience for a deepened understanding of the unity and
indissolubility of marriage.102 The books of Ruth and Tobit bear moving witness to an elevated sense of
marriage and to the fidelity and tenderness of spouses. Tradition has always seen in the Song of
Solomon a unique expression of human love, insofar as it is a reflection of God's love - a love "strong as
death" that "many waters cannot quench."103

Marriage in the Lord
1612 The nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way for the new and
everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by becoming incarnate and giving his life, has united to
himself in a certain way all mankind saved by him, thus preparing for "the wedding-feast of the
Lamb."104
1613 On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's request - during a
wedding feast.105 The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. She
sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth
marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence.
1614 In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman
as the Creator willed it from the beginning permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a
concession to the hardness of hearts.106 The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God
himself has determined it "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder."107
1615 This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some
perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on
spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses.108 By coming to
restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live
marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves,
and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to "receive" the original meaning of marriage and
live it with the help of Christ.109 This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of
all Christian life.
1616 This is what the Apostle Paul makes clear when he says: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her," adding at once: "'For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become
one. This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church."110
1617 The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already
Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath.111
which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious
sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates
grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant..112

Virginity for the sake of the Kingdom
1618 Christ is the center of all Christian life. The bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds,
familial or social.113 From the very beginning of the Church there have been men and women who have
renounced the great good of marriage to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, to be intent on the things
of the Lord, to seek to please him, and to go out to meet the Bridegroom who is coming.114 Christ
himself has invited certain persons to follow him in this way of life, of which he remains the model:
"For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been
made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the
sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."115
1619 Virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is an unfolding of baptismal grace, a powerful sign
of the supremacy of the bond with Christ and of the ardent expectation of his return, a sign which also
recalls that marriage is a reality of this present age which is passing away.116
1620 Both the sacrament of Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God come from the Lord
himself. It is he who gives them meaning and grants them the grace which is indispensable for living
them out in conformity with his will.117 Esteem of virginity for the sake of the kingdom118 and the
Christian understanding of marriage are inseparable, and they reinforce each other:
Whoever denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes
virginity more admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison with evil
would not be truly good. The most excellent good is something even better than what is
admitted to be good.119

II. THE CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE
1621 In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two Catholic faithful normally takes place
during Holy Mass, because of the connection of all the sacraments with the Paschal mystery of
Christ.120 In the Eucharist the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New Covenant in which
Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his beloved bride for whom he gave himself up.121 It is
therefore fitting that the spouses should seal their consent to give themselves to each other through
the offering of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made present in the
Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that, communicating in the same Body and the
same Blood of Christ, they may form but "one body" in Christ.122
1622 "Inasmuch as it is a sacramental action of sanctification, the liturgical celebration of marriage . . .
must be, per se, valid, worthy, and fruitful."123 It is therefore appropriate for the bride and groom to
prepare themselves for the celebration of their marriage by receiving the sacrament of penance.
1623 According to Latin tradition, the spouses as ministers of Christ's grace mutually confer upon each
other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church. In the tradition of
the Eastern Churches, the priests (bishops or presbyters) are witnesses to the mutual consent given by
the spouses,124 but for the validity of the sacrament their blessing is also necessary.125
1624 The various liturgies abound in prayers of blessing and epiclesis asking God's grace and blessing
on the new couple, especially the bride. In the epiclesis of this sacrament the spouses receive the Holy
Spirit as the communion of love of Christ and the Church.126 The Holy Spirit is the seal of their
covenant, the ever available source of their love and the strength to renew their fidelity.

III. MATRIMONIAL CONSENT
1625 The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized man and woman, free to contract marriage,
who freely express their consent; "to be free" means:
- not being under constraint;
- not impeded by any natural or ecclesiastical law.
1626 The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element
that "makes the marriage."127 If consent is lacking there is no marriage.
1627 The consent consists in a "human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each
other": "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband."128 This consent that binds the
spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two "becoming one flesh."129
1628 The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave
external fear.130 No human power can substitute for this consent.131 If this freedom is lacking the
marriage is invalid.
1629 For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an
examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a
marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed.132 In this case the contracting parties are free to marry,
provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged.133
1630 The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the
spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. The presence of the Church's
minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality.
1631 This is the reason why the Church normally requires that the faithful contract marriage according
to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons converge to explain this requirement:134
- Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate that it should be celebrated in the
public liturgy of the Church;
- Marriage introduces one into an ecclesial order, and creates rights and duties in the Church between
the spouses and towards their children;
- Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to
have witnesses);
- The public character of the consent protects the "I do" once given and helps the spouses remain
faithful to it.
1632 So that the "I do" of the spouses may be a free and responsible act and so that the marriage
covenant may have solid and lasting human and Christian foundations, preparation for marriage is of
prime importance.
The example and teaching given by parents and families remain the special form of this preparation.
The role of pastors and of the Christian community as the "family of God" is indispensable for the
transmission of the human and Christian values of marriage and family,135 and much more so in our era
when many young people experience broken homes which no longer sufficiently assure this initiation:
It is imperative to give suitable and timely instruction to young people, above all in the heart of
their own families, about the dignity of married love, its role and its exercise, so that, having
learned the value of chastity, they will be able at a suitable age to engage in honorable
courtship and enter upon a marriage of their own.136

Mixed marriages and disparity of cult
1633 In many countries the situation of a mixed marriage (marriage between a Catholic and a baptized
non-Catholic) often arises. It requires particular attention on the part of couples and their pastors. A
case of marriage with disparity of cult (between a Catholic and a non-baptized person) requires even
greater circumspection.
1634 Difference of confession between the spouses does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle
for marriage, when they succeed in placing in common what they have received from their respective
communities, and learn from each other the way in which each lives in fidelity to Christ. But the
difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated. They arise from the fact that the
separation of Christians has not yet been overcome. The spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of
Christian disunity even in the heart of their own home. Disparity of cult can further aggravate these
difficulties. Differences about faith and the very notion of marriage, but also different religious
mentalities, can become sources of tension in marriage, especially as regards the education of children.
The temptation to religious indifference can then arise.
1635 According to the law in force in the Latin Church, a mixed marriage needs for liceity the express
permission of ecclesiastical authority.137 In case of disparity of cult an express dispensation from this
impediment is required for the validity of the marriage.138 This permission or dispensation presupposes
that both parties know and do not exclude the essential ends and properties of marriage; and
furthermore that the Catholic party confirms the obligations, which have been made known to the
non-Catholic party, of preserving his or her own faith and ensuring the baptism and education of the
children in the Catholic Church.139
1636 Through ecumenical dialogue Christian communities in many regions have been able to put into
effect a common pastoral practice for mixed marriages. Its task is to help such couples live out their
particular situation in the light of faith, overcome the tensions between the couple's obligations to
each other and towards their ecclesial communities, and encourage the flowering of what is common
to them in faith and respect for what separates them.
1637 In marriages with disparity of cult the Catholic spouse has a particular task: "For the unbelieving
husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her
husband."140 It is a great joy for the Christian spouse and for the Church if this "consecration" should
lead to the free conversion of the other spouse to the Christian faith.141 Sincere married love, the
humble and patient practice of the family virtues, and perseverance in prayer can prepare the nonbelieving
spouse to accept the grace of conversion.

IV. THE EFFECTS OF THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
1638 "From a valid marriage arises a bond between the spouses which by its very nature is perpetual
and exclusive; furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and, as it were,
consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament."142

The marriage bond
1639 The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God
himself.143 From their covenant arises "an institution, confirmed by the divine law, . . . even in the eyes
of society."144 The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with man:
"Authentic married love is caught up into divine love."145
1640 Thus the marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage
concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which
results from the free human act of the spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality,
henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant guaranteed by God's fidelity. The Church does not
have the power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom.146

The grace of the sacrament of Matrimony
1641 "By reason of their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts
in the People of God."147 This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the
couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they "help one another to attain
holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children."148
1642 Christ is the source of this grace. "Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of
love and fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through
the sacrament of Matrimony."149 Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their
crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one
another's burdens, to "be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ,"150 and to love one
another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life he gives
them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb:
How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the Church, strengthened by an
offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by angels, and ratified by the Father? . . . How
wonderful the bond between two believers, now one in hope, one in desire, one in discipline,
one in the same service! They are both children of one Father and servants of the same Master,
undivided in spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh. Where the flesh is one, one also is the
spirit.151

V. THE GOODS AND REQUIREMENTS OF CONJUGAL LOVE
1643 "Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter - appeal of the
body and instinct, power of feeling and affectivity, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply
personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it demands
indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility. In a word it is a
question of the normal characteristics of all natural conjugal love, but with a new significance which
not only purifies and strengthens them, but raises them to the extent of making them the expression
of specifically Christian values."152

The unity and indissolubility of marriage
1644 The love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses'
community of persons, which embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh."153
They "are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage
promise of total mutual self-giving."154 This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed
by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of
the common faith and by the Eucharist received together.
1645 "The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal
dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection."155 Polygamy is
contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive.156

* The fidelity of conjugal love
1646 By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. This is the
consequence of the gift of themselves which they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it
cannot be an arrangement "until further notice." The "intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of
two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an
unbreakable union between them."157
1647 The deepest reason is found in the fidelity of God to his covenant, in that of Christ to his Church.
Through the sacrament of Matrimony the spouses are enabled to represent this fidelity and witness to
it. Through the sacrament, the indissolubility of marriage receives a new and deeper meaning.
1648 It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being. This makes
it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definitive and
irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that
by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses to God's faithful love. Spouses who with God's grace
give this witness, often in very difficult conditions, deserve the gratitude and support of the ecclesial
community.158
1649 Yet there are some situations in which living together becomes practically impossible for a variety
of reasons. In such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living
apart. The spouses do not cease to be husband and wife before God and so are not free to contract a
new union. In this difficult situation, the best solution would be, if possible, reconciliation. The
Christian community is called to help these persons live out their situation in a Christian manner and in
fidelity to their marriage bond which remains indissoluble.159
1650 Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and
contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and
marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery"160 the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the
first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that
objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long
as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities.
Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for
having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in
complete continence.
1651 Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to bring up
their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive
solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can
and must participate as baptized persons:
They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to
persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to
bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and
thus implore, day by day, God's grace.161

* The openness to fertility
1652 "By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and
education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory."162
Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents
themselves. God himself said: "It is not good that man should be alone," and "from the
beginning [he] made them male and female"; wishing to associate them in a special way in his
own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: "Be fruitful and multiply."
Hence, true married love and the whole structure of family life which results from it, without
diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate
valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his
family from day to day.163
1653 The fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral, spiritual, and supernatural life
that parents hand on to their children by education. Parents are the principal and first educators of
their children.164 In this sense the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of
life.165
1654 Spouses to whom God has not granted children can nevertheless have a conjugal life full of
meaning, in both human and Christian terms. Their marriage can radiate a fruitfulness of charity, of
hospitality, and of sacrifice.

VI. THE DOMESTIC CHURCH
1655 Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The
Church is nothing other than "the family of God." From the beginning, the core of the Church was often
constituted by those who had become believers "together with all [their] household."166 When they
were converted, they desired that "their whole household" should also be saved.167 These families who
became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.
1656 In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary
importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an
ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica.168 It is in the bosom of the family that
parents are "by word and example . . . the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They
should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any
religious vocation."169
1657 It is here that the father of the family, the mother, children, and all members of the family
exercise the priesthood of the baptized in a privileged way "by the reception of the sacraments, prayer
and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, and self-denial and active charity."170 Thus the home is the
first school of Christian life and "a school for human enrichment."171 Here one learns endurance and
the joy of work, fraternal love, generous - even repeated - forgiveness, and above all divine worship in
prayer and the offering of one's life.
1658 We must also remember the great number of single persons who, because of the particular
circumstances in which they have to live - often not of their choosing - are especially close to Jesus'
heart and therefore deserve the special affection and active solicitude of the Church, especially of
pastors. Many remain without a human family often due to conditions of poverty. Some live their
situation in the spirit of the Beatitudes, serving God and neighbor in exemplary fashion. The doors of
homes, the "domestic churches," and of the great family which is the Church must be open to all of
them. "No one is without a family in this world: the Church is a home and family for everyone,
especially those who 'labor and are heavy laden.'"172

IN BRIEF
1659 St. Paul said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . . This is a great mystery,
and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:25, 32).
1660 The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate
communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator.
By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of
children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. CIC,
can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1).
1661 The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the
grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the
sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and
sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799).
1662 Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give
themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and
fruitful love.
1663 Since marriage establishes the couple in a public state of life in the Church, it is fitting that its
celebration be public, in the framework of a liturgical celebration, before the priest (or a witness
authorized by the Church), the witnesses, and the assembly of the faithful.
1664 Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is
incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal
of fertility turns married life away from its "supreme gift," the child (GS 50 § 1).
1665 The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of
God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic
communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith.
1666 The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this
reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a
school of human virtues and of Christian charity.
84 CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1.
85 Rev 19:7, 9; cf. Gen 1:26-27.
86 1 Cor 7:39; cf. Eph 5:31-32.
87 GS 48 § 1.
88 Cf. GS 47 § 2.
89 GS 47 § 1.
90 Cf. Gen 1:27; 1 Jn 4:8, 16.
91 Gen 1:28; cf. 1:31.
92 Gen 2:18.
93 Cf. Gen 2:18-25.
94 Gen 2:24.
95 Mt 19:6.
96 Cf. Gen 3:12.
97 Cf. Gen 2:22; 3:16b.
98 Cf. Gen 1:28; 3:16-19.
99 Cf. Gen 3:21.
100 Gen 3:16, 19.
101 Cf. Mt 19:8; Deut 24:1.
102 Cf. Hos 1-3; Isa 54; 62; Jer 2-3; 31; Ezek 16; 23; Mal 2:13-17.
103 Song 8:6-7.
104 Rev 19:7,9; cf. GS 22.
105 Cf. Jn 2:1-11.
106 Cf. Mt 19:8.
107 Mt 19:6.
108 Cf. Mk 8:34; Mt 11:29-30.
109 Cf. Mt 19:11.
110 Eph 5:25-26,31-32; Cf. Gen 2:24.
111 Cf. Eph 5:26-27.
112 Cf. DS 1800; CIC, Can. 1055 § 2.
113 Cf. Lk 14:26; Mk 10:28-31.
114 Cf. Rev 14:4; 1 Cor 7:32; Mt 2:56.
115 Mt 19:12.
116 Cf. Mk 12:25; 1 Cor 7:31.
117 Cf. Mt 19:3-12.
118 Cf. LG 42; PC 12; OT 10.
119 St. John Chrysostom, De virg. 10,1:PG 48,540; Cf. John Paul II, FC 16.
120 Cf. SC 61.
121 Cf. LG 6.
122 Cf. 1 Cor 10:17.
123 FC 67.
124 Cf. CCEO, can. 817.
125 Cf. CCEO, can. 828. 126 Cf. Eph 5:32.
127 CIC, can. 1057 § 1.
128 GS 48 § 1; OCM 45; cf. CIC, can. 1057 § 2.
129 Gen 2:24; cf. Mt 10:8; Eph 5:31.
130 Cf. CIC, can. 1103.
131 Cf. CIC, can. 1057 § 1.
132 Cf. CIC, cann. 1095-1107.
133 Cf. CIC, can. 1071.
134 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1813-1816; CIC, can. 1108.
135 Cf. CIC, can. 1063.
136 GS 49 § 3.
137 Cf. CIC, can. 1124.
138 Cf. CIC, can. 1086.
139 Cf. CIC, can. 1125.
140 1 Cor 7:14.
141 Cf. 1 Cor 7:16.
142 Cf. CIC, can. 1134.
143 Cf. Mk 10:9.
144 GS 48 § 1.
145 GS 48 § 2.
146 Cf. CIC, can. 1141.
147 LG 11 § 2.
148 LG 11 § 2; cf. LG 41.
149 GS 48 § 2.
150 Eph 5:21; cf. Gal 6:2.
151 Tertullian, Ad uxorem. 2,8,6-7:PL 1,1412-1413; cf. FC 13.
152 FC 13.
153 Mt 19:6; cf. Gen 2:24.
154 FC 19.
155 GS 49 § 2.
156 Cf. FC 19.
157 GS 48 § 1.
158 Cf. FC 20.
159 Cf. FC 83; CIC, cann. 1151-1155.
160 Mk 10:11-12.
161 FC 84.
162 GS 48 § 1; 50.
163 GS 50 § 1; cf. Gen 2:18; Mt 19:4; Gen 1:28.
164 Cf. GE 3.
165 Cf. FC 28.
166 Cf. Acts 18:8.
167 Cf. Acts 16:31; Acts 11:14.
168 LG 11; cf. FC 21.
169 LG 11.
170 LG 10.
171 GS 52 § 1.
172 FC 85; cf. Mt 11:28.
PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER FOUR
OTHER LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS

ARTICLE 1
SACRAMENTALS
1667 "Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a
resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are
obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect
of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy."173

The characteristics of sacramentals
1668 Sacramentals are instituted for the sanctification of certain ministries of the Church, certain
states of life, a great variety of circumstances in Christian life, and the use of many things helpful to
man. In accordance with bishops' pastoral decisions, they can also respond to the needs, culture, and
special history of the Christian people of a particular region or time. They always include a prayer,
often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the
sprinkling of holy water (which recalls Baptism).
1669 Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a
"blessing," and to bless.174 Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing
concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained
ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons).175
1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by
the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. "For welldisposed
members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost
every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion,
Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power.
There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the
sanctification of men and the praise of God."176

Various forms of sacramentals
1671 Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing
praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father "with every
spiritual blessing."177 This is why the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually
while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ.
1672 Certain blessings have a lasting importance because they consecrate persons to God, or reserve
objects and places for liturgical use. Among those blessings which are intended for persons - not to be
confused with sacramental ordination - are the blessing of the abbot or abbess of a monastery, the
consecration of virgins and widows, the rite of religious profession and the blessing of certain
ministries of the Church (readers, acolytes, catechists, etc.). The dedication or blessing of a church or
an altar, the blessing of holy oils, vessels, and vestments, bells, etc., can be mentioned as examples of
blessings that concern objects.
1673 When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or
object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called
exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of
exorcizing.178 In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn
exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the
bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church.
Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through
the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a
very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is
performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an
illness.179

Popular piety
1674 Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of
piety and popular devotions among the faithful. The religious sense of the Christian people has always
found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as the
veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious
dances, the rosary, medals,180 etc.
1675 These expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the Church, but do not replace it. They
"should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy,
are in some way derived from it and lead the people to it, since in fact the liturgy by its very nature is
far superior to any of them."181
1676 Pastoral discernment is needed to sustain and support popular piety and, if necessary, to purify
and correct the religious sense which underlies these devotions so that the faithful may advance in
knowledge of the mystery of Christ.182 Their exercise is subject to the care and judgment of the bishops
and to the general norms of the Church.
At its core the piety of the people is a storehouse of values that offers answers of Christian
wisdom to the great questions of life. The Catholic wisdom of the people is capable of
fashioning a vital synthesis. . . . It creatively combines the divine and the human, Christ and
Mary, spirit and body, communion and institution, person and community, faith and homeland,
intelligence and emotion. This wisdom is a Christian humanism that radically affirms the dignity
of every person as a child of God, establishes a basic fraternity, teaches people to encounter
nature and understand work, provides reasons for joy and humor even in the midst of a very
hard life. For the people this wisdom is also a principle of discernment and an evangelical
instinct through which they spontaneously sense when the Gospel is served in the Church and
when it is emptied of its content and stifled by other interests.181

IN BRIEF
1677 Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare men to receive the fruit of
the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life.
1678 Among the sacramentals blessings occupy an important place. They include both praise of God
for his works and gifts, and the Church's intercession for men that they may be able to use God's gifts
according to the spirit of the Gospel.
1679 In addition to the liturgy, Christian life is nourished by various forms of popular piety, rooted in
the different cultures. While carefully clarifying them in the light of faith, the Church fosters the forms
of popular piety that express an evangelical instinct and a human wisdom and that enrich Christian life.
173 SC 60; Cf. CIC, can. 1166; CCEO, can. 867.
174 Cf. Gen 12:2; Lk 6:28; Rom 12:14; 1 Pet 3:9.
175 Cf. SC 79; CIC, can. 1168; De Ben 16,18.
176 SC 61.
177 Eph 1:3.
178 Cf. Mk 1:25-26; 3:15; 6:7, 13; 16:17.
179 Cf. CIC, can. 1172.
180 Cf. Council of Nicaea II: DS 601; 603; Council of Trent: DS 1822.
181 SC 13 § 3.
182 Cf. John Paul II, CT 54.
183 CELAM, Third General Conference (Puebla, 1979), Final Document § 448 (tr. NCCB, 1979); cf. Paul
VI, EN 48.

PART TWO
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER FOUR
OTHER LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS

ARTICLE 2
CHRISTIAN FUNERALS
1680 All the sacraments, and principally those of Christian initiation, have as their goal the last
Passover of the child of God which, through death, leads him into the life of the Kingdom. Then what
he confessed in faith and hope will be fulfilled: "I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of
the world to come."184

I. THE CHRISTIAN'S LAST PASSOVER
1681 The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal mystery of the death and
resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope. The Christian who dies in Christ Jesus is "away
from the body and at home with the Lord."185
1682 For the Christian the day of death inaugurates, at the end of his sacramental life, the fulfillment
of his new birth begun at Baptism, the definitive "conformity" to "the image of the Son" conferred by
the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and participation in the feast of the Kingdom which was anticipated in
the Eucharist- even if final purifications are still necessary for him in order to be clothed with the
nuptial garment.
1683 The Church who, as Mother, has borne the Christian sacramentally in her womb during his
earthly pilgrimage, accompanies him at his journey's end, in order to surrender him "into the Father's
hands." She offers to the Father, in Christ, the child of his grace, and she commits to the earth, in hope,
the seed of the body that will rise in glory.186 This offering is fully celebrated in the Eucharistic sacrifice;
the blessings before and after Mass are sacramentals.

II. THE CELEBRATION OF FUNERALS
1684 The Christian funeral is a liturgical celebration of the Church. The ministry of the Church in this
instance aims at expressing efficacious communion with the deceased, at the participation in that
communion of the community gathered for the funeral, and at the proclamation of eternal life to the
community.
1685 The different funeral rites express the Paschal character of Christian death and are in keeping
with the situations and traditions of each region, even as to the color of the liturgical vestments
worn.187
1686 The Order of Christian Funerals (Ordo exsequiarum) of the Roman liturgy gives three types of
funeral celebrations, corresponding to the three places in which they are conducted (the home, the
church, and the cemetery), and according to the importance attached to them by the family, local
customs, the culture, and popular piety. This order of celebration is common to all the liturgical
traditions and comprises four principal elements:
1687 The greeting of the community. A greeting of faith begins the celebration. Relatives and friends of
the deceased are welcomed with a word of "consolation" (in the New Testament sense of the Holy
Spirit's power in hope).188 The community assembling in prayer also awaits the "words of eternal life."
The death of a member of the community (or the anniversary of a death, or the seventh or thirtieth
day after death) is an event that should lead beyond the perspectives of "this world" and should draw
the faithful into the true perspective of faith in the risen Christ.
1688 The liturgy of the Word during funerals demands very careful preparation because the assembly
present for the funeral may include some faithful who rarely attend the liturgy, and friends of the
deceased who are not Christians. The homily in particular must "avoid the literary genre of funeral
eulogy"189 and illumine the mystery of Christian death in the light of the risen Christ.
1689 The Eucharistic Sacrifice. When the celebration takes place in church the Eucharist is the heart of
the Paschal reality of Christian death.190 In the Eucharist, the Church expresses her efficacious
communion with the departed: offering to the Father in the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of the death and
resurrection of Christ, she asks to purify his child of his sins and their consequences, and to admit him
to the Paschal fullness of the table of the Kingdom.191 It is by the Eucharist thus celebrated that the
community of the faithful, especially the family of the deceased, learn to live in communion with the
one who "has fallen asleep in the Lord," by communicating in the Body of Christ of which he is a living
member and, then, by praying for him and with him.
1690 A farewell to the deceased is his final "commendation to God" by the Church. It is "the last
farewell by which the Christian community greets one of its members before his body is brought to its
tomb."192 The Byzantine tradition expresses this by the kiss of farewell to the deceased:
By this final greeting "we sing for his departure from this life and separation from us, but also
because there is a communion and a reunion. For even dead, we are not at all separated from
one another, because we all run the same course and we will find one another again in the
same place. We shall never be separated, for we live for Christ, and now we are united with
Christ as we go toward him . . . we shall all be together in Christ."193
184 Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
185 2 Cor 5:8.
186 Cf. 1 Cor 15:42-44.
187 Cf. SC 81.
188 Cf. 1 Thess 4:18.
189 OCF 41.
190 Cf. OCF 41.
191 Cf. 57.
192 OCF 10.
193 St. Simeon of Thessalonica, De ordine sepulturæ. 336:PG 155,684.

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