Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
PROCEEDINGS OF TENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. "Questioni attuali intorno al Battesimo" Budapest, 4th February 2008 - Michael Carragher: Intention of the Minister as Substantive Element of Baptism
INTENTION OF THE MINISTER AND BAPTISM 213 2. Human act The minister must perform a human act with what that it entails or connotes. An inanimate instrument has no discretion regarding the effect or outcome of a sacrament but an animate one does because he enjoys freedom and awareness. He can decide to do what the Church does. If the minister does not perform a human act there is no sacrament. In the performance of the human act the minister brings together two elements. He determines the purpose of the act by the words which he uses and thereby actuates a sacrament by pronouncing the words and applying the material, e.g. pouring the water and thus washing. The willing cooperation of a subject who has the use of reason is, therefore, an integral part of the sacramental ceremony. Without it, those sacraments which exist only at the time of use, even though they have their essential parts, lack something required for their perfection. It is only when they are perfect as signs received by an individual that there is any possibility of their acting as causes. A person with the use of reason, i.e. either the minister and/or the subject cannot be neutral in regard to the administration or reception of a sacrament. A human being is a free agent and he is moved by God to accept freely the grace given him. So it is required that he freely submit himself to the action of the sacrament. If he has no intention of receiving the sacrament his external acceptance of it is not a true sign of his interior disposition. Consequently the complete sign-action of the administration is not true. The sacrament such as it is performed and applied by the minister is not received by the candidate. It is reduced by the fault of the candidate to an unnatural state. It still signifies the salvific will of God but no longer as concretely effective for this individual subject. If, however, while not properly disposed to receive grace, the subject intends to receive the sacrament, the external submission he makes is a true sign and the sacrament is actually received by him and produces whatever effects do not depend on his state of soul. It is the primary submission of the subject that makes the individual sacrament a practical sign of faith. Whether an intention or act of the will is required in the subject of this sacrament? IV Sent., dist. 6, q. 1, a. 2 sol. 3 states the negative terms.15 In baptism the subject receives two things, the sacrament itself and the effect of the sacrament. But for receiving these two things there is no need for the intervention of any 15 Ad tertiam quaestionem dicendum, quod in baptismo baptizatus duo recipit, scilicet sacramentum, et rem sacramenti; sed ad haec duo recipienda non requiritur aliquid causans ex parte recipientis, sed solum impedimentum removens: quod quidem impedimentum nihil aliud est quam voluntas contraria alteri praedictorum; et ideo in adultis et in habentibus usum rationis, in quibus potest esse contraria voluntas actu vel habitu, requiritur et contritio; sive devotio, ad percipiendam rem sacramenti, et intentio, vel voluntas ad recipiendum sacramentum; in pueris autem absque utroque percipitur et sacramentum et res sacramenti; et similiter est in carentibus usu rationis, nisi contraria voluntas habitu insit, etsi non actu.
