He alone can appoint the channels by which that grace is conveyed to our souls. Since, therefore, as a fact, He has appointed those channels—and no others—which we call Sacraments, by those only can we ordinarily obtain that special grace. Hence it follows that no power on earth can change what was ordained by Jesus Christ in the outward forms of the Sacraments, without destroying them entirely; for if any change is made in what He ordained, it is no longer the same form to which grace is annexed, and consequently ceases to be a Sacrament.
The Passion of Christ is the rich and exhaustless source from which the grace of every Sacrament is derived; for each grace was purchased for us at the price of our Divine Redeemer's Blood.
There are seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Eucharist, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
Special Instructions on each Sacrament will be found in their proper places. Of these Sacraments, some give sanctifying grace, and others increase it in our souls. Those that give sanctifying grace are Baptism and Penance; they are called Sacraments of the Dead, because they take away sin, which is the death of the soul, and give grace, which is its life. Those that increase sanctifying grace in the soul are Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony; these are called Sacraments of the Living, because those who receive them worthily are already living the life of grace. They should be received, therefore, in a state of grace; any one receiving the Sacraments of the Living in mortal sin incurs the additional guilt of Sacrilege. The Sacraments of Bap-