On February 3 of this year, the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) came out with Gestis Verbisque (“[With] Actions and Words”), a “Note” concerning the requisites for sacramental validity. To put it colloquially, its subject matter is the necessity of not monkeying with the form, matter, and intent of a sacrament, or, as I put it in a doggerel couplet in imitation of Hilaire Belloc: “The lesson is, if you’ve got sense / You will not mess with sacraments!”
A single sentence in paragraph 18 of Gestis Verbisque supplies me with my idea for this Ad Rem: “Matter, form, and intention are intrinsically united. They are integrated into the sacramental action such that intention becomes the unifying principle of the matter and form, making them into a sacred sign by which grace is conferred ex opere operato.” At this point in the text, there is a footnote referencing the Council of Trent’s Decree on the Sacraments.
I would like to give an overview of the important dogma this traditional phrase enshrines, and to contrast it with two related phrases which regard how we benefit from different channels of grace. Aside from being of doctrinal interest, our subject is of immediate practical importance for all Catholics who take their faith — and their eternity — seriously.
In his Catholic Dictionary, Father John Hardon defines ex opere operato thus:
Ex opere operato — A term defined by the Council of Trent to describe how the sacraments confer the grace they signify. Trent condemned the following proposition: “That grace is not conferred ‘ex opere operato‘ by the sacraments of the New Law” (Denzinger 1608). Literally the expression means “from the work performed,” stating that grace is always conferred by a sacrament, in virtue of the rite performed and not as a mere sign that grace has already been given, or that the sacrament stimulates the faith of the recipient and thus occasions the obtaining of grace, or that what determines the grace is the virtue of either the minister or recipient of a sacrament. Provided no obstacle (obex) is placed in the way, every sacrament properly administered confers the grace intended by the sacrament. In a true sense the sacraments are instrumental causes of grace.
The main reason that the Church must be a stickler about using proper form, matter, minister, and intent in the administration of any sacrament is because it is only when these things are present that we actually have a sacrament at all. It is a testimony to the goodness of God that once we have all those things, the effects of the sacrament are guaranteed. By virtue of “the work performed,” which is done by Christ the Priest through His sacramental minister, the sacrament is guaranteed to obtain its effects, regardless of the goodness or wickedness, or even the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of the minister. Only if someone positively puts an obstacle in the way of the sacrament will it not be efficacious. This would be a deliberate act of malice on the part of the sacrament’s minister or recipient. We should be grateful that this is the way sacraments work. If it were otherwise, we would question their validity based on a host of subjective considerations that we have no way to judge, and over which we have no control.
Here is a contrasting term (note the spelling of the final word): ex opere operantis, which Father Hardon defines this way:
Ex opere operantis — A term mainly applied to the good dispositions with which a sacrament is received, to distinguish it from the ex opere operato, which is the built-in efficacy of a sacrament properly conferred. But it may refer to any subjective factor that at least partially determines the amount of grace obtained by a person who performs some act of piety. Thus in the use of sacramentals or in the gaining of indulgences, the blessings received depend largely on the faith and love of God with which a sacramental is employed or an indulgenced prayer or good work is performed.
Whereas ex opere operato means, “by the work performed,” our present term means, “by the work of the performer,” or “by the work of the one working.” When applied to the sacraments, what this phrase means is that, over and above the “built-in efficacy,” there is an additional efficacy based upon the subjective dispositions of the recipient: his charity, devotion, fervor, etc. This is why the decree on frequent communion, approved by Pope Saint Pius X, contains these words: “But whereas the Sacraments of the New Law, though they take effect ex opere operato, nevertheless produce a greater effect in proportion as the dispositions of the recipient are better; therefore, care is to be taken that Holy Communion be preceded by serious preparation, and followed by a suitable thanksgiving according to each one’s strength, circumstances, and duties.” (Congregation of the Holy Council, December 20, 1905) What I emphasized in bold describes the superior ex opere operantis effects of receiving the sacraments with a better disposition.
While two Catholics in the state of grace will receive ex opere operato effects from receiving the Blessed Sacrament with good dispositions, the one with the greater fervor, more charity, etc., will benefit more.
As Father Hardon’s definition goes on to explain, ex opere operantis also applies to all works of piety, including the pious use of sacramentals (the Rosary, holy water, blessed salt, various blessed oils, etc.). These categories have a very broad sweep, including as they do the graces obtained from such things as mental prayer, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, reciting indulgenced prayers, participating in the Church’s public worship, and the use of blessed objects of piety. The greater the love with which we apply ourselves to these things, the more grace we get out of them. Of course, that greater charity itself is a fruit of grace, so never at any point in this entire discussion is it a question of our obtaining grace without the help of God — which is a patent absurdity I mention only because this anti-Catholic caricature is still lodged in the minds of some of our less informed “separated brethren.”
If Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face were still in the Church Militant, and if she and I were practicing the same devotion, work of mercy, or what have you, those means of grace would be more efficacious for her than they would be for me because of the greater fullness of the virtue of charity in her soul. (Humble of me to admit, I know!) This is what ex opere operantis means practically. Note that I had to transplant the Little Flower back into the Church Militant to make this scenario work; after death, all opportunity for conversion and merit ceases, and the Blessed are fixed in their place in glory forever. This, too, is dogma.
Now, there is a third and final phrase I would like to introduce. It is identical to the second, but with one added word: Ex opere operantis Ecclesiae. Here is Father Hardon one last time:
Ex opere operantis Ecclesiae — A phrase used to distinguish the value of liturgical prayer and action, whose supernatural efficacy depends on the Church’s sanctity and not, as in the sacraments, simply on the fact that the sacramental rite is performed.
What applies to each one of us as the one “performing” a pious act applies also to the Church. But whereas we are God’s children beseeching His grace with our merits in hand, the Church is God’s Spouse, whose merits far exceed any one of her children’s. The petitions of Christ’s Mystical Body, which is also His Bride, have a greater influence over the Heavenly Bridegroom than do the petitions of one individual. When the Church blesses pious objects (e.g., a Rosary, a Miraculous Medal), using the bountiful prayers in the Ritual, those prayers have an effect; they are not mere words. Accordingly, when we use these objects with love and devotion, we have not only our own subjective dispositions, but the voice of the Church crying out with us. These instruments, therefore, have a greater efficacy as means of grace. Your recitation of the Rosary has the merit of your ex opere operantis; but, over and above that, when you use a pair of beads blessed by the Church, there is, in addition, the Church’s own sanctity at work — that is ex opere operantis Ecclesiae.
These three concepts all work together. Aside from what theologians call the “essential form” of a sacrament (the bare minimum required for the valid administration of any sacrament), there are, in addition, other words said, other acts performed, and objects used. These, too, are sacramentals. While the priest acts in persona Christi at certain very focused and fixed times, at other times — even when praying the Mass — he is not so acting; but he is acting in persona Ecclesiae, that is, in the person of the Church, whose voice, again, is more readily heard by the Bridegroom by virtue of her being His Bride. If we are devout in our reception of the sacraments and the rites of the Church are observed, then we have the efficacy of all three of these instrumental means of grace at our disposal.
Because of the objective superiority of the traditional rites of the Church as sacramentals, they impart a greater ex opere operantis Ecclesiae effect. The attentive study of the difference between the traditional rites and the new rites should make this obvious.
And speaking of tradition, Gestis Verbisque quotes or cites the Council of Trent six times, and the Council of Florence once. It also cites Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Considering what has come out of Rome lately — e.g., Amoris Laetitia, Traditionis Custodes, Fiducia Supplicans — this anchoring in Catholic tradition is a breath of fresh air.
Let us pray that such sources continue to inspire future magisterial interventions, and that the regime of dangerous novelty comes to an end. At the same time, let us avail ourselves of the abundant means of grace our Good God has put at our disposal.
