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Sacraments
The life of Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish revolves around the
celebration of the sacraments. The Second Vatican Council describes the
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as the “source and summit of the
Christian Life.” (Lumen Gentium 11). The other sacraments
are oriented toward the Sacrament of the Eucharist. “For in the
blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely
Christ himself, our Pasch.” (Presbyterorum ordinis 5).
Each of the sacraments also gives a special grace if we receive them
with the right dispositions. Therefore, the people of Our Lady Queen of
Poland are encouraged to frequently receive the Sacrament of Confession
in order that they might be well disposed to receive the other
sacraments in a state of grace.
There are seven sacraments:
Traditionally, the Church speaks about the Sacraments of the Living and
the Sacraments of the Dead. Baptism and Penance are called sacraments of
the dead because their chief purpose is to give the supernatural life of
sanctifying grace to souls spiritually dead through sin. Confirmation,
Holy Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony are
called sacraments of the living because their chief purpose is to give
more grace to souls already spiritually alive through sanctifying grace.
He who knowingly receives a sacrament of the living in mortal sin
commits a mortal sin of sacrilege, because he treats a sacred thing with
grave irreverence. (I Corinthians 11:27)
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