hearts and give thanks (eucharistein in Greek). Early in the eucharistic
liturgy is the sanctus, the prayer beginning “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
hosts,” through which the congregation joins the angels in their perpetual
worship of God.
In the medieval understanding, the bread and wine are changed into
Christ’s body and blood. The West understands this to happen at the words
of institution; the East at the epiclesis. The early medieval way of putting
this was simply to say that the bread and wine turn into or are changed into
Christ’s body and blood. The Lateran Council (A.D. 1215) calls this change a
“transubstantiation,” which is to say a change of substance. After the change,
the substance of bread and wine no longer remains, but the substance of
Christ’s body and blood is present under the appearance of bread and wine.
The Eucharist, or Communion, is the external sign that conveys the grace of
salvation by conveying to us Christ’s body and blood.
Con¿ rmation is a laying on of hands to con¿ rm (that is, strengthen) the
baptized. Therefore, the sign in this sacrament includes laying on of hands
and anointing with consecrated oil (chrism). There are wide varieties in
how this is practiced in various churches. Originally, this laying on of hands
immediately followed Baptism. In the Western churches, it was postponed
and reserved for the bishop, becoming a rite of passage into adulthood.
The sacrament once known as “Extreme Unction” is now called “Anointing
of the Sick.” In the Middle Ages it was performed only for those thought to
be dying; hence the label “Extreme Unction,” which means literally “¿ nal
anointing.” But in Mark 6:13, the 12 apostles go out at Jesus’s command to
cast out demons and anoint the “sick,” not necessarily the dying.
Marriage is instituted by God both in human nature and as a sacrament
among the baptized. It aims at achieving three goods or purposes. The
procreative good is the begetting and raising of children and educating them
for the worship of God. The good of ¿ delity or “unitive good” involves not
only marital faithfulness but the mutual service and community of husband
and wife. The good of the sacrament is an image of the indissoluble union
of Christ and his bride, the Church, which is why the church does not
allow divorce.