the holy mysteries con't

confession:

Christ, the divine healer, is the physician of our souls and bodies. In his love for us, he cares for both our material and immaterial needs, restoring us to our original beauty. On earth, he healed souls by forgiving sins (Matthew 9:1-8) and healed bodies by performing wondrous miracles. He gave sight to the blind (Luke 18), cleansed lepers (Matthew 8), and raised the dead (John 11).

Christ’s ministry of healing continues in his Church through the Holy Mysteries of Confession and Anointing (CCC 1421). He authorized his apostles to forgive sins. “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he has said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21-23). Through the Mystery of Confession, God dispenses his mercy through the mediation of Christ and his apostles. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). By frequent confession, we are reconciled to God and to our neighbor (CCC 1469) and healed of all the hurts that sin has wrought in our lives.

holy anointing:

In becoming man, Christ “took our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Sickness and disease, which progressively destroy the integrity of our bodies and eventually lead to death, is a direct result of the fall. Yet Christ redeemed illness and even death by his healing passion (CCC1499). “We suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). “Rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (I Peter 4:13).

As with his power to forgive sins, Christ has entrusted his healing ministry to the Church. “In my name they will cast out demons; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17, 18). The holy apostle James, the brother of the Lord, wrote, “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).

In the Byzantine Catholic Church, the Holy Mystery of Anointing is offered on Great & Holy Wednesday to all Catholics in good standing, regardless of their personal physical health, since all the faithful need healing in some way – from their sins, passions, anxieties, and psychological problems, as well as physical illnesses.

crowning in marriage:

Marriage was established by God in the beginning (Matthew 19). God made Adam first, and finding no suitable partner for him, he made Eve from his rib to be a help-meet for him (Genesis 2). “For this reason a man will leave behind his father and his mother and will cleave to his wife, and the two will become on flesh” (Genesis 2:24). The marriage covenant – a man and a woman united forever and producing offspring – reflects the image of the triune God, even moreso than the individual human being (Genesis 1).

Our Lord Jesus Christ reiterated the divine and indissoluble nature of the marital union during his earthly ministry. “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:8-9). He also chose to perform his first miracle at the wedding feast of Cana (John 2). He raised marriage to the level of a Holy Mystery by his life, death, and resurrection by which he purchased the Church (Acts 20:28) and united himself to her as his bride.

The consummation of Christ’s union with the Church is a cosmic event, the mystical fulfillment of all history, as seen by the evangelist and theologian John in his apocalypse: “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine lines, bright and pure’ – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’” (Revelation 19:8:6-9). Therefore, Christian marriage is a sign of Christ’s union with the Church (CCC 1661). “This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:32-33).

Marriage is a safe harbor in which sexuality between a man and a woman can be expressed without fornication or excess, ordered toward the procreation and education of children and the mystical union of the spouses with God and each other (CCC 1638-1658).

holy orders:

“There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:5-6).

Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), and it is himself he offers as a sacrifice to God for the sins of the world, fulfilling all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. “We have been sanctified by through the offering of the body of Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Furthermore, all Christians are called to be priests conformed to Jesus Christ. “Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (I Peter 2:5, 9).

After his resurrection, Jesus bestowed on his apostles the authority to act in his name, and poured out the Holy Spirit upon them for that purpose. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:19-22).

After Pentecost, the apostles made clear that they had received a special grace and authority from Christ which they were enabled to pass on to their successors by the laying on of hands. St. Paul passed on his spiritual authority to his disciple St. Timothy. He tells him, “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given by prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you” (I Timothy 4:14), and again he warns him, “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands” (II Timothy 1:6).

This special grace given to the apostles and their successors to stand before the altar, to offer spiritual gifts and sacrifices, to renew the people by the bath of rebirth, and to proclaim the Gospel (Hieratikon – The Ordination of a Presbyter) the Church calls the Holy Mystery of Orders (CCC 1537). In the modern Byzantine Catholic Church, the Holy Orders are Bishop, Presbyter, and Deacon (universal in the Catholic Church) and the minor orders of Subdeacon, Acolyte, Cantor, and Reader. Since Christ chose only men to be his apostles, and the apostles chose only men to succeed them, the Church has no power to bestow Holy Orders upon women (CCC 1577). In the Byzantine Catholic Church, marriage is not an impediment to Holy Orders (CCC 1580).