1. Greatest of the Sacraments

The Mass is the greatest of the seven sacraments of the Church. What are the sacraments? They are human signs, made up of words and sensible materials, through and in which God acts to convey his presence and saving activity. Sacraments are divine bestowals of salvation, of God's very self, and of his life, which we call grace.

WATER is used in Baptism. We are washed clean of our sins; and becoming members of Christ's Mystical Body, the Church, we are transformed into living temples of the Holy Spirit.

CHRISM OIL is used in Confirmation, sealing us as more full sharers in God's Spirit, empowered to spread the Good News.

OIL is used in Anointing the Sick, and it becomes a spiritual balm for healing and liberation from eternal death.

VOWS between spouses constitute the Marital Covenant bonding persons, allowing each to see Christ in the beloved.

LAYING ON OF HANDS signals the ordination to Holy Orders, identifying the minister with the person of Christ in a most unique way directed toward cultic service.

WORDS OF ABSOLUTION signify the forgiveness of Christ in Confession.

WORDS OF CONSECRATION make present the saving sacrifice of Christ wherein the elements of bread and wine become the risen Body and Blood of Christ, the food of eternal life.

These seven "mysteries," as they were so termed in the early Church, are only such because the Church is the great sacrament of encounter between ourselves and the Lord. Where is Christ? He is where the Church is.

The Mass is the sacrament par excellence because of the way that Christ and his activity are made present. It does not coincide with the usual manner people approach one another. He is not anyone's "beer drinking buddy"; he is the Almighty who seeks to live in human hearts. The saving activity of Christ is not locked into past history. Through the Mass, the saving events of Christ are made present to us right now. What Christ did then, he does today. This is not the Casa Blanca, "Do it again, Sam" kind of repetition, but one of continuous pattern. He prolongs the effects or consequences of his acts for all time and for all people. The saving actions of the living Christ (his suffering, death, and resurrection) are no longer restricted by time and space. In its various rituals and prayers, but especially in the words of consecration, we arrive at Calvary and participate in the Last Supper.