By Graham Glover –

It’s really quite simple.

Baptism saves.

Absolution saves.

Eucharist saves.

Baptism saves us from the stain of original sin.

Absolution saves us from the sins we daily commit.

Eucharist saves us from those sins as well, literally bringing us into the physical presence of our Savior.

In other words, the Sacraments are salvific. The act of baptism saves an otherwise damned soul. The pronouncement of absolution saves the sinner who has turned their life from God. The reception of the Eucharist makes the unrighteous, righteous.

Yes, indeed, the sacraments save. They save us from our sinful ways. They redeem our lost and condemned souls. The sacraments make us holy. Completely. Totally.

To deny this – to reject the salvific nature of the sacraments, is to deny and reject the One who instituted them. To deny what they truly do, is to deny Christ himself. It is to deny what the Lord God is capable of doing – even if we cannot rationalize it in our minds our make sense of it in our earthly understanding. As the sacraments bring Christ to the faithful, in simple, yet utterly profound ways, we simply accept what He says to be true and rejoice in the graciousness they offer. Or, we reject Him. We reject Christ and His promise that His sacraments do what He says they do.

This shouldn’t be complicated. The Holy Scriptures are clear. Christ is clear. The Church is clear. The sacraments save the sinner.

The sacraments save because it is the Lord in action. God Himself is the doer. They are His commands, given to His Church, for the benefit of His people. They are His gifts for us.

The sacraments are not our doing. They are not our actions. We prove nothing by doing them. We gain nothing without receiving them. They are all God – all for us. They are eternal life.

So rejoice this day. Rejoice in our Lord’s sacraments. Rejoice in these glorious gifts, given for you!