GOD IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH, IN THE SACRAMENTS AND BEYOND

MODULE 2: ASSESSMENT
Express your answer in a minimum of five sentences. Answer below five sentences will not
be credited. Put your answer on a short bond paper.
1. From your readings, differentiate sacraments from sacramentals. (10 pts.)
- Sacramentals aren't the same as sacraments. Sacraments are directly instituted by Christ,
whereas sacramentals are instituted by the Church. This means they lack the same sort of saving
grace as the seven sacraments. They instead communicate grace through the "work and prayers
of the Church" (ex opere operantis Ecclesiae) and "by the labor of the doer" (ex opere operantis).
This implies that God's favor is more contingent on the disposition of the person executing the
deed. The thing that is different between the Sacraments and the Sacramentals is as follows: first,
the Sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ, whereas the Sacramentals were instituted by the
Church; second, the Sacraments give grace of themselves when no obstacles are in the way;
whereas the Sacramentals excite in us pious dispositions, through which we may obtain grace.