Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Lent VI

What has been said up to this point indicates not only the source of the sacraments but also their function and their fruit. Their source is Christ the Lord; their function is to prompt, to instruct, and to humble; their fruit is the healing and salvation of humankind. It is also clear that their efficient cause is their divine institution, that their material cause is their representing by a sensible sign, that their formal cause is gratuitous sanctification, and that their final cause is the medicinal healing of humankind. And because a thing's name comes from its form and its end, these signs are called 'sacraments,' as being remedies that sanctify.

[St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Monti, ed. and tr., Franciscan Institute Publications (St. Bonaventure, NY: 2005) p. 214.]