The Role of the Recipient and Sacramental Signification

Abstract

THE THOMIST A SPECULATIVE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY EDITORS: THE DoMINICAN FATHERS OF THE PROVINCE OF ST. JosEPH Publishers: The Thomist Press, Washington 17, D. C. VoL. XXI JULY, 1958 No.3 THE ROLE OF THE RECIPIENT AND SACRAMENTAL SIGNIFICATION I INTENTION AND SACRAMENTAL SIGNIFICATION IT is the teaching of the Church that, in the measure that it is possible, the subject must have an intention of receiving a sacrament, under pain of invalid reception. The purpose of this article is to investigate in the light of St. Thomas' teaching the precise ontological connection between this intention and the sacrament. It will be maintained that in virtue of his intention and (in the sacraments othe:r than baptism) his baptismal character the subject intervenes in the sacrament as a material instrumental cause-a mode of causality that is to be found only in the sacraments which are not merely efficient causes but also, and primarily, signs of faith. No such explicit conclusion is to be found in St. Thomas; but it is, as it appears, indicated in his teaching that the char257 ~58 COLMAN O'NEILL acter is a participation in the priesthood of Christ and as such reducible to the category of instrumental power. The Thomistic commentators, with one exception, make little attempt to explain the instrumentality of the baptismal character. The exception is John of St. Thomas who developed so fully the symbolic concept of the sacraments. It is in dependence on the notion that a sacrament is a sign, and therefore in dependence on the first principle of St. Thomas' sacramental theology, that he explains the character. Before developing this line of thought an examination must be made of the explicit teaching of St. Thomas on the part played by the subject in the sacraments. Commentary on the "Sentences" In the preliminary discussion on the sacraments in general no question or article is devoted to analyzing the acts of the subject in :relation to the sacrament. This is a matter that St. Thomas reserves for treatment when he is dealing with those sacraments that are perfected only when they are used. The article on the constitution of the sacraments speaks of " use " and its :relation to the essence of the sacrament; but it is clear from the context that it is question of administration.1 More precise ideas are formulated in the discussion on baptism . Distinguishing two effects of the sacrament, grace and the character, St. Thomas says that, although the second is given whether or not the will of the subject is disposed for the first, even it demands " some desire of :receiving the sacrament ." 2 It is to be noticed that, in conformity with the outlook of the Sentences, it is the connotation of causality that here predominates in the notion of sacrament and it is in this framework that the matter is solved. The same immediate recourse to the demands of causality as a principle of solution is to be 1 IV Sent., d. l, q. 1, a. S, ad 2. • Ibid., d. 4, q. S, a. 2, sol. 1: "Duplex est effectus baptismi. Primus qui est res et sacramentum, sci!., character. Et quia character non imprimitur ad praeparandam voluntatem ut aliquid bene fiat cum non sit habitus sed potentia . . . ideo hunc effectum voluntatis indispositio non impedit, dummodo aliqualis sit voluntas sacramentum recipiendi." THE RECIPIENT AND SACRAMENTAL SIGNIFICATION 259 found in sol. 2 of this article and in the article on the constitution of the sacrament.3 The part played by this desire of receiving the sacrament is formulated explicitly when the question is answered: Whether an intention or act of will is required in the subject of this sacrament: In baptism the subject receives two things, the sacrament itself, and the effect of the sacrament. But for receiving these two things there is no need for the intervention of any causality on the part of the recipient. Nothing more is required than the removal of any obstacles; obstacles, that is to say, which consist in opposition of the will to either of the two things mentioned.4 The same teaching is repeated in positive terms in the following article: The soul...