Page Title

Text Box: A. Bishops can confer the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Q. 1002. How do we know that there is a true priesthood in the Church? A. We know that there is a true priesthood in the Church: 1. Because in the Jewish religion, which was only a figure of the Christian religion, there was a true priesthood established by God; 2. Because Christ conferred on His apostles and not on all the faithful the power to offer Sacrifice, distribute the Holy Eucharist and forgive sins. Q. 1003. But is there need of a special Sacrament of Holy Orders to confer these powers? A. There is need of a special Sacrament of Holy Orders to confer these powers: 1. Because the priesthood which is to continue the work of the apostles must be visible in the Church, and it must therefore be conferred by some visible ceremony or outward sign; 2. Because this outward sign called Holy Orders gives not only power but grace and was instituted by Christ, Holy Orders must be a Sacrament. Q. 1004. Can bishops, priests and other ministers of the Church always exercise the power they have received in Holy Orders? A. Bishops, priests and other ministers of the Church cannot exercise the power they have received in Holy Orders unless authorized and sent to do so by their lawful superiors. The power can never be taken from them, but the right to use it may be withdrawn for causes laid down in the laws of the Church or their Jurisdiction, or for reasons that seem good to those in authority over them. Any use of sacred power without authority is sinful, and all who take part in such ceremonies are guilty of sin. LESSON TWENTY-SIXTH: On Matrimony Q. 1005. What is the Sacrament of

Text Box: Matrimony? A. The Sacrament of Matrimony is the Sacrament which unites a Christian man and woman in lawful marriage. Q. 1006. When are persons lawfully married? A. Persons are lawfully married when they comply with all the laws of God and of the Church relating to marriage. To marry unlawfully is a mortal sin, and it deprives the souls of the grace of the Sacrament. Q. 1007. When was marriage first instituted? A. Marriage was first instituted in the Garden of Eden, when God created Adam and Eve and made them husband and wife, but it was not then a Sacrament, for their union did not confer any special grace. Q. 1008. When was the contract of marriage raised to the dignity of a Sacrament? A. The exact time at which the contract of marriages was raised to the dignity of a Sacrament is not known, but the fact that it was thus raised is certain from passages in the New Testament and from the constant teaching of the Church ever since the time of the apostles. Our Lord did not merely add grace to the contract, but He made the very contract a Sacrament, so that Christians cannot make this contract without receiving the Sacrament. Thus Our Lord changed the concept of a legal contract of marriage between husband and wife into a Sacrament whereby a husband and wife become a new person, the married person. Q. 1009. What is the outward sign in the Sacrament of Matrimony, and in what does the whole essence of the marriage consist? A. The outward sign in the Sacrament of matrimony is the mutual consent of the persons, expressed by words or signs in accordance with the laws of the Church, and the declaration by the priest that they are now a married person. The whole essence of marriage

Text Box: consists in the surrender by the persons of their bodies to each other and in declaring by word or sign that they make this surrender and take each other for husband and wife now and for life and become a married person all the while maintaining their individuality in God. They become a reflection of the Blessed Trinity, in that the Blessed Trinity is composed of three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but being one God, while the married person is composed of a husband, a wife, and God. Q. 1010. What are the chief ends of the Sacrament of Matrimony? A. The chief ends of the Sacrament of matrimony are: 1. To enable the husband and wife to aid each other in securing the salvation of their souls; 2. To propagate or keep up the existence of the human race by bringing children into the world to serve God; 3. To prevent sins against the holy virtue of purity by faithfully obeying the laws of the marriage state. Q. 1011. Can a Christian man and woman be united in lawful marriage in any other way than by the Sacrament of Matrimony? A. A Christian man and woman cannot be united in lawful marriage in any other way than by the Sacrament of Matrimony, because Christ raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. +

Go to page