Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders
If Sanctity is a matter of belief than someone could possibly so much of an atheist that divine spells fails in their presence. But that's a bit off-topic.
|
Sanctity is not a matter of belief.
The Catholic Church distinguishes theologically between sacramentals, such as prayer and blessings, which depend on the faith of the person who performs them, and sacraments, such as baptism, holy communion, or ordination, which do not—God said they would work, and they work. The bread and wine turn into the body and blood of Christ regardless of the mental, moral, or spiritual state of the priest. They are officially, theologically like the folkloric joke that a Saint Christopher medal protects you whether you believe in it or not. Trying to stop this would be like trying to stop a gun from shooting by asserting the belief that it's not loaded, or trying to withstand the bullet by believing in your own invulnerability.