Many Catholics do not know this very consoling truth; the grace of God reaches us through his sacraments ex opere operato. For many this is a meaningless Latin phrase, but it packs a punch when examined more closely. This little phrase should be unpacked more often, because it contains untold treasures. This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church states in number 1128:

            This is the meaning of the Church’s affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere    operato (literally: ‘by the very fact of the actions being performed’) i.e., by virtue       of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that ‘the      sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the            recipient, but by the power of God.’ From the moment that a sacrament is      celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the             minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

            First, the sacraments always contain the grace needed to save us. The affirmation of the Church made at the Council of Trent defined this back in the 1500s. In all the sacraments, Christ himself acts through his chosen ministers. Priests act in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) whenever they celebrate Mass, confession, or any other sacrament. How else can a mere human being grant salvific grace to another, if it is not the power of God acting through his instruments? Priests themselves are aware of this humbling reality, and they need the prayers and support of the laity to fulfill their ordinary yet truly daunting tasks.

            Secondly (and this is the shocker for many) we receive the grace we need ‘independently of the personal holiness of the minister.’ Given our fallen human nature, this is the only thing that makes sense. How else can God’s grace reach us? He has chosen from the beginning to use weak and fallible instruments to be his prophets, his priests and messengers of salvation. The list is long and spans both Old and New Testaments: King David, Jonah, Peter, Paul and so on. It is a truth of the faith we need to remember when scandals rock the Church, or when we somehow doubt that grace is really taking effect in our lives. We keep on being creatures of sinful habit, and if we don’t see improvement, we are tempted to throw in the towel. We need to trust more in God’s grace than in our sinfulness, because he wants us to receive it so much that he is willing to use sinful, weak, human instruments. The waters of grace pour out just as fresh and clear, even if they have to travel through rusty, old and bent-out pipes. The more we pour out our sinfulness and weakness to God, the more he can work with us and in us, especially through the sacrament of confession. Charles Péguy put it in these poetic terms when he wrote about the virtue of hope:

            You may wonder, you may ask yourself: But how is it

            That this fountain of Hope flows eternally,

            That it gushes eternally, that it springs eternally

            That it flows eternally,

            Eternally young, eternally pure.

            Eternally fresh, eternally flowing.

            Eternally living.

            Where does this child get so much pure water and so much clear water.

            So much gushing, so much surging.

            Does she create it? As she needs it?

            -No, says God, I am the only one who creates.

            -So where does she get all this water.

            For this gushing fountain.

            How is it that this eternal fountain

            Gushes eternally.

            That this eternal spring

            Springs eternally.

            There must be a secret there somewhere.

            Some sort of mystery…

            -My good people, says God, it’s not tricky.

            Her mystery is not tricky.

            And her secret is not complicated.

            If she wanted to make pure springs out of pure water,

            If she wanted to make springs of pure water,

            Then she’d never find enough of it, in (the whole of) my creation.

            Because there’s not a whole lot of it.

            But it’s precisely with the impure water that she makes her springs of pure water.

            And that is the reason she never runs out.[1]

God knows our weakness; he knows our tendency to sin, and he knows this applies to his ordained ministers and consecrated souls, just as it applies to everyone. Yet he is able to create fresh water out of impure water through his grace and power because he wants us to be saved that badly. Many great sinners have become great saints through the miracle of God’s grace, which he pours out as he wills. We have only to consider St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, whom the whole Church celebrates this year.

            The important third point is that ‘the fruits of the sacraments depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.’ Through faith the grace we need comes to us regardless of the holiness of the instrument God chooses. It is up to each one of us, though, to make sure that grace is fruitful in our lives. Now that we realize that our holiness depends more on us than on our priests, how badly do we want it? Do we want it as badly as God wants it, who has done everything possible to make sure we receive his life into our souls? He invites us to drink up and drink deep; his grace is overflowing!