Last week we saw how the gifts of God’s grace come to us through the outward signs of the Sacraments of the Church.  Now we are going to look at this in more detail, and the example we shall take is the Sacrament of Confirmation.  As you know, in the Sacrament of Confirmation Jesus gives to us the Holy Spirit of God.

Let’s compare the way this gift comes to you from Christ our King with the way a present would come to you from the Queen.  If the Queen was going to give you a present, she would not come along to your house and knock on your front door.  It would, of course, come to you through the Post Office.  As you know, the whole organisation of the Post Office belongs to the Queen’s government.  That is why on the red mail vans you see the words Royal Mail, and on our red pillar boxes is the monogram EII – Elizabeth II.  So in Confirmation Our Lord’s gift of grace comes to you through the Church.

Now of course the whole Post Office is not going to come to your door with the present from the Queen.  It will be brought by what we call an official representative of the Post Office, that is, the postal worker who delivers parcels.  So, when you are confirmed, the whole Church of God does not come along, but instead Our Lord’s gift of the Holy Spirit is given to you by one of his official representatives, the bishop.  So the bishop is the minister of the Sacrament.

Now when the postal worker knocks at your door and you open it, although he has the present in his hand you do not actually see it.  You see only the wrapper.  So in Confirmation, you do not see the gift of the Holy Spirit; you see only the outward sign, that is, the laying on of hands by the bishop, by means of which the gift of the Holy Spirit comes to you.  The outward sign is called the matter of the Sacrament.

Let’s suppose the present from the Queen is a beautiful glass ornament.  On the outside of the wrapper will be a label with the word GLASS on it.  So you will know what the present is even though you cannot see it.  So, besides the matter of Confirmation, the laying on of hands, the bishop also says a form of words to show what is the gift that you are receiving in the Sacrament:

“Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit”. (1)

In the Ordination to the Priesthood, the matter is the same as in Confirmation, the laying on of hands; but the form of words is different:

“Send down the Holy Spirit on your servant N (Name)
for the office and work of a priest in your Church”. (2)

The words which go with the matter of a Sacrament are known as the form of the Sacrament.

And so at last we come to the actual present from the Queen which is inside the wrapper.  The gift from Jesus in Confirmation is the Holy Spirit of God.  We call the actual gift in a Sacrament the inward grace of the Sacrament.

Valid Sacraments

In a Sacrament the inward gift of grace is given if the proper minister uses the proper matter and form with the intention of doing what Our Lord wills to be done or of doing what the Church does.

Benefit of a Sacrament

But we must always remember that a Sacrament does us good only if we love Our Lord and are sorry for the sins which we have committed in thought, word and deed.  If a person does not love Jesus and is not sorry for his or her sins, then the Sacrament will be bad for that person.

What makes people’s souls sick and ill is not bothering either about God or about their sins; or, in other words, being without love and without penitence.  And if they receive a Sacrament, such as Holy Communion, in that state it makes them worse then they were before.  Their heart grows hardened towards God so that he no longer means anything to them, and their conscience becomes dulled and unfeeling so that they sin with scarcely an uneasy thought.  So before we can receive any good from a Sacrament, we have first to be sorry for our sins and make up our minds to turn over a new leaf, and then we have to turn to God in trust and love.

SUMMARY

Sacramental Minister, Matter, Form and Grace (in Confirmation)

THE SOVEREIGN		CHRIST THE KING
Post Office/Royal Mail		The Church
Postal worker	Minister	Bishop
Wrapping	Matter	Laying on of hands
Label	Form	Words
Present	Grace	The Holy Spirit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But we must remember that, although we may receive the Sacraments, they do our souls good only if we love Jesus and are sorry for the sins we have committed.

References

1. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006) Common Worship.  Baptism and Confirmation.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cibaptismandconf.pdf  (Accessed 23 August 2010) (Internet).

2. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2007) Common Worship.  The Ordination of Priests, also called Presbyters.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/ordinal/priests.html  (Accessed 23 August 2010) (Internet).