It is a frightening time when we do not have access to the Sacraments. How should we use this time most profitably to obtain grace? What does our Lord want from us?
Click below to read my article at Catholic Insight.
References:
Eph 2:8 (RSVCE) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.
James 2:26 Faith apart from works is dead.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.
John 3:5 Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The Council of Trent. CANON IV. If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous; and that, without them, or without the desire thereof, men obtain of God, through faith alone, the grace of justification;-though all (the sacraments) are not indeed necessary for every individual; let him be anathema.
St. Thomas Aquinas ST III, 73, 3 I answer that,Two things have to be considered in this sacrament, namely, the sacrament itself, and what is contained in it. Now it was stated above (Article 1, Objection 2) that the reality of the sacrament is the unity of the mystical body, without which there can be no salvation; for there is no entering into salvation outside the Church, just as in the time of the deluge there was none outside the Ark, which denotes the Church, according to 1 Peter 3:20-21. And it has been said above (III:68:2), that before receiving a sacrament, the reality of the sacrament can be had through the very desire of receiving the sacrament. Accordingly, before actual reception of this sacrament, a man can obtain salvation through the desire of receiving it, just as he can before Baptism through the desire of Baptism, as stated above (III:68:2).
ST III 84, 7 ad 4....But with regard to His institution of this sacrament [of Penance] it was nowise fitting that He should use it, neither by repenting Himself, in Whom there was no sin, nor by administering the sacrament to others, since, in order to show His mercy and power, He was wont to confer the effect of this sacrament without the sacrament itself, as stated above (Article 5, Reply to Objection 3).
2 Kings 5:10-14 And Eli′sha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Na′aman was angry, and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not Aba′na[a] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
St. Augustine quoted in ST III, 84, 5 For as Augustine says (Tract. lxxii in Joan. [Implicitly in the passage referred to, but explicitly Serm. xv de verb Apost.), "He Who created thee without thee, will not justify thee without thee."
St. Therese, Story of a Soul, 9. For me to become great is impossible. I must bear with myself and my many imperfections; but I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way—very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new. We live in an age of inventions; nowadays the rich need not trouble to climb the stairs, they have lifts instead. Well, I mean to try and find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection...Thine Arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven. To get there I need not grow; on the contrary, I must remain little, I must become still less. O my God, thou hast gone beyond my expectation, and I . . . “I will sing Thy mercies! Thou hast taught me, O Lord, from my youth and till now I have declared Thy wonderful works, and thus unto old age and grey hairs.”[6]
St. Claude de la Colombere prayer ...Let others seek happiness in their wealth and in their talents. Let them trust in the purity of their lives, the severity of their mortifications, in the number of their good works, the enthusiasm of their prayers, as for me, my Rock and my Refuge, my confidence in you fills me with hope. For You, my Divine Protector, alone have settled me in hope."This confidence can never be vain. No one, who has hoped in God, has ever been confounded." I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happiness, for I firmly hope in it and all my hope is in You. "In You, O loving God, have I hoped: let me never be confounded." I know too well that I am weak and changeable. I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall and foundations of my world crack; these things do not alarm me. While I hope in You, I am sheltered from all misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall endure, for I rely upon You to sustain this unfailing hope. Finally, I know that my confidence cannot exceed Your generosity, and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from You...
12. Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the granting of special Indulgences to the faithful in the current pandemic, 20.03.2020
...The Church prays for those who find themselves unable to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and of the Viaticum, entrusting each and every one to divine Mercy by virtue of the communion of saints and granting the faithful a Plenary Indulgence on the point of death, provided that they are duly disposed and have recited a few prayers during their lifetime (in this case the Church makes up for the three usual conditions required). For the attainment of this indulgence the use of the crucifix or the cross is recommended (cf.Enchiridion indulgentiarum, no.12)....