- #GC331 How is this grace applied to us in baptism? In it we are clothed with Jesus Christ, and receive His Spirit, provided that we do not make ourselves unworthy of the promises given to us in it.
- #GC332 What is the proper use of baptism on our part? It consists in faith and in repentance. That is, assurance that we have our spiritual purity in Christ, and in feeling within us, and declaring to our neighbours by our works, that His Spirit dwells i...
- #GC333 If this is required, how is it that we baptize infants? It is not said that faith and repentance should always precede the reception of the sacrament, but they are only required from those who are capable of them. It is sufficient, then, if infants produce...
- #GC334 Can you show that there is nothing inconsistent in this? Circumcision was also a sacrament of repentance, as Moses and the prophets declare (Deu 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4); and was a sacrament of faith, as St. Paul says (Rom 4:11, 12). And yet God has not exclud...
- #GC335 But can you show that they are now admitted to baptism for the same reason as in the case of circumcision? Yes, for the promises which God anciently gave to His people of Israel are now extended to the whole world.
- #GC336 But does it follow from this that we are to use the sign also? That becomes evident when everything is considered. Jesus Christ has not made us partakers of His grace, which formerly had been bestowed on the people of Israel, in order to diminish it in us, or mak...
- #GC337 Do you reckon that if we denied baptism to little infants, the grace of God would then be diminished by the coming of Christ? Yes; for the sign of the bounty and mercy of God toward our children, which they had in ancient times, would be wanting in our case, the very sign which ministers so greatly to our consolation, and to...
- #GC338 You mean then that since God in ancient times declared Himself to be the Saviour of little infants, and wanted to have this promise sealed on their bodies by an external sacrament, it is right that confirmation of it should not be less after the advent of Christ, since the same promise remains and indeed is more clearly attested by the Word and ratified in action? Yes. And besides, since it is quite evident that the power and the substance of baptism pertain to little children, to deny them the sign, which is inferior to the substance, would be to do them injur...
- #GC339 On what conditions should we baptize little children? As a sign and testimony that they are heirs of God's blessing promised to the seed of the faithful, that when they come of age they are to acknowledge the truth of their baptism, in order to derive be...
- #GC340 Let us speak of the Supper. And, first, what is its signification? Our Lord instituted it to assure us that by the communication of His body and blood, our souls are nourished, in the hope of eternal life.
- #GC341 But why does the Lord represent His body by the bread and His blood by the wine? To signify that as it is the particular virtue of bread to nourish our bodies, to refresh and sustain us in this mortal life, so it pertains to His body to act toward our souls, i.e., in nourishing an...
- #GC342 Do you mean that we must truly communicate in the body and blood of the Lord? I understand so. But since the whole affiance of our salvation rests in the obedience which He has rendered to God, His Father, in order that it may be imputed to us as if it were ours, we must posses...
- #GC343 But did He not give Himself to us when He exposed Himself to death, to reconcile us to God His Father, and deliver us from damnation? That is true; but it is not enough for us unless we receive Him, in order that we may feel in ourselves the fruit and the efficacy of His death and passion.
- #GC344 Is not the way to receive Him by faith? Yes. Not only in believing that He died and rose again, in order to deliver us from eternal death, and acquire life for us, but also that He dwells in us, and conjoined with us in a union as the Head...
- #GC345 Does this communion take place apart from the Supper alone? Yes, indeed, we have it through the Gospel, as St. Paul declares (1Co 1:9): in that the Lord Jesus Christ promises us in it, that we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone (Eph 5:30), that He is...
- #GC346 What is the blessing that we have in the sacrament, and what more does it minister to us? This communion is more abundantly confirmed in us, ratified as it were, for although Jesus Christ is truly communicated to us both by baptism and by the Gospel, nevertheless this only in part, and not...
- #GC347 What then fully do we have through the sign of the bread? That the body of the Lord Jesus which was once offered to reconcile us to God, is now given to us, to certify to us that we have part in this reconciliation.
- #GC348 What do we have in the sign of the wine? That the Lord Jesus, who once shed His blood in payment and satisfaction for our offences, gives it to us to drink, that we may have no doubt at all of receiving its fruit.
- #GC349 According to your replies, the Supper takes us back to the death and passion of Jesus Christ, that we may communicate in its virtue? Yes, for then the unique and perpetual sacrifice was offered for our redemption. Therefore there remains for us nought but to enjoy it.
- #GC350 The Supper, then, was not instituted in order to offer up the body of Jesus the Son to the Father? No, for this office pertains to none but Him alone, since He is the eternal Priest (Heb 5:5). But He commands us only to receive His body, not to offer it (Mat 26:26).
- #GC351 Why is there a double sign? Our Lord has appointed it for the sake of our weakness, in order to teach us that He is not only food to our souls, but drink also, so that we may seek our nourishment wholly and entirely in Him, and...
- #GC352 Should all men equally use the second sign, that is the chalice? Yes, this is according to the commandment of Jesus Christ, against which nothing is to be attempted.
- #GC353 Do we have in the Supper simply the testimony of the things already mentioned, or are they truly given to us in it? See that Jesus Christ is the Truth, there can be no doubt that the promises which He made at the Supper, are actually fulfilled in it, and that what He figures in it is made true. Thus in accordance w...
- #GC354 But how can this be, when the body of Jesus Christ is in heaven, and we are pilgrims on this earth? By the incomprehensible power of His Spirit, who conjoins things separated by distance.
- #GC355 You do not think, then, either that the body is enclosed in the bread, or the blood in the chalice? No. On the contrary, in order to have the reality of the sacraments, we must lift up our hearts on high to heaven, where Jesus Christ is in the glory of His Father, from whence we expect Him in our re...
- #GC356 You understand, then, that there are two things in this sacrament, material bread and wine, which we see by the eye, handle by the hands, and perceive by the taste, and Jesus Christ by whom our souls are inwardly nourished? Yes, but in such a way that we have in it also a testimony and a kind of pledge for the resurrection of our bodies, in that they are made partakers in the sign of life.
- #GC357 What is the right use of this sacrament? That which St. Paul declares, namely that a man examine himself before he approach to it (1Co 11:28).
- #GC358 In what is he to examine himself? Whether he is a true member of Jesus Christ.
- #GC359 By what sign can he know this? If he has a true faith and repentance, if he loves his neighbour in true charity, and is not tainted by hatred or rancour or discord.
- #GC360 But is it necessary to have perfect faith and charity? Both should be entire and unfeigned, but to have such a perfection, from which nothing is wanting, will not be found among men. Moreover the Supper would have been instituted in vain if no one could r...
Showing 331 - 360 of 373