Questions Answered – July 2024

June 28, 2024 by

How Do Sacraments Work?

Question from the Reader: What does sacramental causality mean? My parish priest mentioned this concept in our adult education class on the sacraments and never explained it. Can you help me understand it?

Answer from Fr. Cush: Thank you for your question! This is an example of when we use a theological term and we don’t perhaps take the time to explain the term. Perhaps it is best if I explain it like this: God mediates his truth and life through many means but always through a personal agent.

God assures his people of the efficacy of the means and God is the guarantee of the efficacy. In the sacraments, God guarantees the intrinsic objective efficacy EX OPERE OPERATO (this is a work of the Holy Spirit).

What does ex opere operato mean? “From the work worked.” “From the sacramental sign objectively performed.” It is Christ’s power, not man’s, in the sacraments. Sacramental causality is never ex opere operantis (“from the work of the worker”)! However, the intrinsic efficacy of the sacraments does not mean that they are automatically fruitful for the recipient of the sacrament. The recipient of the sacrament must have nothing in the way of his or her receiving the grace. The sacraments contain the grace which they signify and signify the grace that they contain. (See Pope Leo XIII, Apostolicae curae). The sacraments are never mere signs (Council of Trent, Seventh Session, Decree on the Sacraments, Canon 5).

The Law of the Church always presumes the validity of the sacrament offered in the correct manner. (CIC 1060) With this in mind, then does “ex opere operantis” (the holiness of the minister) not matter? Of course it does in fostering the holiness of the community! A parish will only be as holy as its pastor. Remember, ex opere operato is not magic. The sacraments are the initiative of God. The Lord’s plan is the sacramental economy. Its causality is the work of the Most Blessed Trinity.

Where can we find ex opera operato in Sacred Scripture? In all situations where, through the carrying out of an external sign, an interior grace is communicated to the subject:

  • Jn 3:5: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
  • Acts 2:38: And Peter said to them, “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.
  • 1 Cor 10:16: 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?

Ex opere operato was seen in the Apostolic and post-Apostolic and Patristic age with the practice of infant baptism. What does ex opere operato really mean? When a sacramental sign is correctly carried out, the sacrament takes place validly. The individual holiness of the minister does not invalidate the sacrament. As Augustine says, whether Judas or Peter baptizes, it’s still Christ (Contra litteras Petillani, Book 3, Chapter 55).

There are some important terms to know: Opus operans and opus operatum. This term began in Christology, meaning the good and bad aspects of the Lord’s passion.

William of Auxerre first used the terms ex opere operato and ex opere operantis. Peter Waldo stated the validity of the sacraments depended on the holiness of the minister. Pope Innocent III said the validity of the sacrament is independent of the individual holiness of the priest (Profession of Faith prescribed to the Waldensians). The Council of Constance and Pope Martin V reaffirms this (Inter cunctus). Leo X (Exsurge Domino) also affirms this fact. Luther believed in faith alone and denied intrinsic efficacy of the sacraments. The Protestant Reformers denied sacramental casuality. The Council of Trent reaffirms sacramental causality against the Reformers (Council of Trent, Seventh Session, Decree on Sacraments, canon 8).

So, simply put, a priest ordained by a manifestly sinning bishop is still validly ordained, as are all his sacraments. The same is true for a bishop (a Cardinal, Archbishop, or Bishop). Their sacraments are valid even if they themselves might be in sin.

What Did the Early Church Teach About Mary?

Question: I was speaking to an Evangelical Christian friend who has read the first seven Ecumenical Councils of the Church. She said that none of these early Councils ever really address the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that this is not what any of the first seven ecumenical councils taught. Is that the case? I thought that the early Ecumenical Councils spoke about the role of Mary, our Blessed Mother.

Answer from Fr. Cush: Thanks for your question! We need to actually read the texts of the First Seven Ecumenical Councils, not just read about them! There is much about Our Blessed Mother we can learn in the Council of Ephesus, all of which is universal for the Church, both Catholic and Orthodox, as well as in most Protestant ecclesial communities.

During the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), the key figures at the Council of Ephesus included Cyril of Alexandria, who defended the view of the unity of the divine and human natures in Christ, and Nestorius, who held a view that emphasized a separation of Christ’s divine and human natures.

The main theological question examined was the central theological question was the nature of the union between the divine and human in Jesus Christ. The debate focused on whether to describe Mary as Theotokos (Mother of God), as Cyril argued, or Christotokos (Mother of Christ), as Nestorius preferred.

The Church’s decision was that the Council of Ephesus affirmed the title Theotokos and condemned Nestorius’ views. It declared that Christ is one Divine Person in two natures, fully divine and fully human.

The aftermath of the Council of Ephesus led to a split between the Eastern and Western churches, with some factions rejecting the council’s decisions. This division laid the groundwork for future theological tensions within Christianity.

So, yes, the early Church council defined the role and nature of the Blessed Virgin Mary for all of Christendom’s history. The first seven Ecumenical Councils venerate Our Blessed Mother Mary, and we need to understand this in our dialogue with any separated brethren.

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Rev. John P. Cush, STD About Rev. John P. Cush, STD

Father John P. Cush, STD, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, is the Editor-in-Chief of Homiletic and Pastoral Review. Fr. Cush serves as a full-time Professor of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology, Director of Seminarian Admissions and Recruitment, and Formation Advisor at Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College in New York. Before that, he served in parochial work and in full-time high school teaching in the Diocese of Brooklyn and had served as Academic Dean/Assistant Vice-Rector and Formation Advisor at the Pontifical North American College Rome, Italy.
 
Fr. Cush holds the pontifical doctorate in sacred theology (STD) from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy in the field of fundamental theology, He had also studied dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), Rome, Italy, on the graduate level. Fr. Cush is the author of The How-to-Book of Theology (OSV Press, 2020) and Theology as Prayer: a Primer for Diocesan Priests (with Msgr. Walter Oxley), as well as being a contributor to the festschrift Intellect, Affect, and God (Marquette University Press, 2021). He is also the author of Nothing But You: Reflections on the Priesthood and Priestly Formation through the Lens of Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire, July 2024).