Eric: Normally, I’m working behind the scenes, making sure Christopher and His Excellency look good. But tonight, Christopher didn’t make it, so I am your host. So with that, I’m pleased to be joined by His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider.
Your Excellency, would you please lead us in prayer?
His Excellency: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Pater noster, qui es in cælis, sanctificetur nomen tuum.
Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Eric: Thank you, Your Excellency. I’m looking forward to your talk on the sacraments tonight. Please, take it away.
His Excellency: This evening, we will reflect upon a foundational topic in our faith: the general theory regarding the sacraments. The term sacrament has been understood differently by sacred and profane writers.
Among classical, non-Christian writers, the word sacrament was often used to express the obligation taken on by an oath. For example, the oath by which Roman soldiers pledged their military service to the state was called a military sacrament. This seems to have been the most common meaning of the term among secular Latin authors.
But the Latin Fathers of the Church gave the word a different and deeper significance. In their theological writings, the term sacrament was used to signify a sacred reality that is hidden or concealed. The Greek Fathers, expressing a similar concept, used the word mystērion, mystery.
We see this meaning in sacred scripture. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, it is written: “That He might make known to us the mystery (sacramentum) of His will.” To Timothy, Paul writes: “Great is the mystery (sacramentum) of godliness.” And in the Book of Wisdom, it is said: “They knew the secret sacraments of God.” In all these passages, the word sacrament refers to something holy and hidden.
The Latin Doctors of the Church, therefore, found the word highly appropriate to describe those visible signs that communicate grace, reveal it, and in a sense, make it visible to us. The use of the word sacrament, as we understand it today, developed in ecclesiastical language after the time of the early Church Fathers. These earlier writers would often refer to the sacraments using terms like symbol, mystical sign, or sacred sign.
In Catholic theology, the sacraments are defined as means established by Christ for the attainment of righteousness and salvation. Among the many definitions offered by the Church and her theologians, none is more complete than that given by St. Augustine and adopted by the scholastic theologians. He said: “A sacrament is a sign of a sacred thing,” or more precisely, “a visible sign of an invisible grace, instituted for our justification.”
A sacrament is a sign, but not just any sign. It is a sign that produces what it signifies through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sensible objects, that is, things we can see, hear, or touch, fall into two general categories. Some are created to serve purely as signs, like spoken and written language, military standards, images, and various signals. Others exist for their own sake and were not originally intended to signify something else, this includes most natural objects.
The sacraments fall into the first category. They are sacred signs, instituted by Christ, that do not merely symbolize but actually confer the grace they signify.
Thus, with regard to words, take away their power of expressing ideas, and you seem to take away the only reason for their invention. Such things are therefore properly called signs. For, according to St. Augustine, a sign, besides what it presents to the senses, is a medium through which we arrive at the knowledge of something else. From a footstep, for instance, which we see traced on the ground, we instantly infer that someone has passed that way. These, then, are proofs from reason.
A sacrament, therefore, is clearly to be numbered among those things which have been instituted as signs. It makes known to us, by a certain appearance and resemblance, that which God, by His invisible power, accomplishes in our souls.
Let us illustrate what we have said with an example. Baptism, for instance, which is administered by external ablution, is accompanied by certain solemn words. The ablution in baptism is accompanied by these words, which signify that by the power of the Holy Ghost, all stain and defilement of sin is inwardly washed away, and that the soul is enriched and adorned with the admirable gift of heavenly justification while at the same time, the bodily washing, as we shall hereafter explain in its proper place, accomplishes in the soul that which it signifies.
We have proof from Holy Scripture that a sacrament is to be numbered among signs. This is inferred from Scripture’s treatment of circumcision as a sacrament of the Old Law, which was given to Abraham, the father of all believers. The Apostle, in his Epistle to the Romans, says: And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of the faith. In another place, he says: All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in His death. Words which justify the inference that baptism signifies using the words of the same Apostle, that we are buried together with Him by baptism into death.
Nor is it unimportant that the faithful should know that the sacraments are signs. This knowledge will lead us more readily to believe that what the sacraments signify contains an effect that is wholly and supernaturally supplied.
There are a variety of signs. Some signs are called natural signs. These, besides making themselves known to us, also convey a knowledge of something else. An effect. Smoke, for instance, is a natural sign from which we immediately infer the existence of fire. It is called a natural sign because it implies the existence of fire not by arbitrary institution, but from experience. If we see smoke, we are at once convinced of the presence of fire, even though it is hidden.
Then there are signs invented by man. These signs are not natural, but conventional , invented by man to enable them to converse with one another, to convey their hearts to others, and in turn to learn the opinions and receive the advice of other men.
The variety and multiplicity of such signs may be inferred from the fact that some belong to the eyes, many to the ears, and the rest to the other senses. Thus, when we intimate anything to another by such a sensible sign as the raising of a flag, it is obvious that such information is conveyed only through the medium of the eyes.
It is equally obvious that the sound of the trumpet, the lute, or other instruments, which are not only sources of pleasure but frequently signs also of ideas, is addressed to the ear. Through the ear, especially, are conveyed words, which are the best medium of communicating our inmost thoughts.
Then, there are signs instituted by God.
Besides the signs instituted by the will and agreement of man, there are certain other signs appointed by God. These are not all of the same kind.
Some were instituted by God to indicate something or to bring back their recollection. Such were the purifications of the Old Law, the unleavened bread, and many other things which belonged to the ceremonies of Mosaic worship.
But God has appointed other signs which possess this power not only to signify, but also to accomplish what they signify. Among these are manifestly to be numbered the sacraments of the New Law.
These are signs instituted not by men, but by God, which we firmly believe have in themselves the power of producing the sacred effects of which they are the signs.
As regards the definition of a sacrament, by the term “sacred thing” is to be understood the grace of God, which sanctifies the soul and adorns it with the habit of all the divine virtues. Of this grace, the phrase “sacred thing” is rightly considered an appropriate appellation, because by its invisible influence, the soul is consecrated and united to God.
A sacrament is, therefore, a sensible object, which possesses by divine institution the power not only of signifying, but also of accomplishing holiness and righteousness. However, the images of the saints, crosses, and similar objects, while indeed signs of sacred things, cannot be called sacraments.
We see this clearly in the example of Baptism. It is a solemn ablution of the body that not only signifies but also brings about a sacred interior effect, which is accomplished by the operation of the Holy Spirit.
There are other sacred things signified by the sacraments. It is especially fitting that these sacred signs, instituted by God, signify not only one reality, but several at once. All the sacraments signify something of the present, something of the past, and something of the future.
This applies to all the sacraments. For they do not merely declare our sin, sanctity, and justification, but also two other realities most intimately connected with sanctification: first, the Passion of Christ our Redeemer, which is the source of our sanctification; and second, eternal life and heavenly bliss, which are the goal and fulfillment of sanctification.
Thus, each sacrament has a threefold significance:
- It recalls and reminds us of something past.
- It indicates and brings about something present.
- It points forward to something yet to come.
They foretell something future. When the Apostle says, “All who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in His death,” he clearly teaches that Baptism is a sign because it reminds us of the death and Passion of our Lord.
When he continues, “We are buried together with Him by baptism into death, that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life,” he also shows that Baptism signifies the infusion of divine grace into our souls. This grace enables us to live a new life and to fulfill the duties of true piety with ease and joy in the present.
Finally, when the Apostle adds, “If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,” he teaches that Baptism also foreshadows eternal life, which we are to attain through its power and efficacy.
A sacrament may at times signify more than one thing. Besides the different layers of meaning already mentioned, a sacrament often indicates and manifests the presence of multiple spiritual realities at once.
This we readily perceive when we reflect that the Holy Eucharist at once signifies both the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ and the grace which it imparts to the worthy receiver of Holy Communion.
Let us then ask: Why were the sacraments instituted?
The first reason is the feebleness of the human mind. We are so constituted by nature that no one can attain to spiritual or intellectual knowledge except through the medium of sensible objects. In order, therefore, that we might more easily understand what is accomplished by the hidden power of God, the same sovereign Creator of the universe, in His infinite wisdom and tender kindness toward us, has ordained that His power should be manifested to us through the use of certain sensible signs.
As the soul is joined to the body, it was absolutely necessary to employ material and visible things to assist the soul in understanding spiritual realities.
A second reason is this: the human mind often yields a reluctant assent to divine promises. From the beginning of the world, therefore, God was accustomed to indicate, and usually by words, what He intended to do. But at times, when He was about to accomplish something so great that it might seem incredible to man, He confirmed His word by adding other signs, sometimes miraculous ones, so that belief in the promise would be strengthened.
As in the Old Law, the Lord God ordained that every important promise should be confirmed by certain signs, so also in the New Law, Christ our Savior, when He promised the pardon of sin, the gift of divine grace, and the communication of the Holy Spirit instituted certain visible and sensible signs. Through these signs, He might bind Himself, as it were, by pledges, making it impossible to doubt that He would be faithful to His promises.
A third reason for the institution of the sacraments is beautifully expressed in the words of Saint Ambrose: that they may be at hand like the remedies and medicines of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel, to preserve and restore the health of the soul.
For it is through the sacraments, as through a channel, that the efficacy of the Passion of Christ flows into the soul. This efficacy is the grace merited for us upon the altar of the Cross, without which we cannot hope for salvation.
Hence, our most merciful Lord has bequeathed to His Church the sacraments, stamped with the sanction of His word and promise through which, provided we make devout use of these remedies, we firmly believe that the fruit of His Passion is truly communicated to us.
A fourth reason why the institution of the sacraments appears necessary is that they may serve as visible marks and sacred symbols to distinguish the faithful, particularly because, as Saint Augustine observes, no society of men whether professing a true or a false religion, can be united into one body unless it is held together by some bond of sensible signs.
The sacraments of the New Law fulfill both of these roles:
- They distinguish the Christian from the infidel,
- And they unite the faithful by a sacred and visible bond.
Another just cause for the institution of the sacraments is drawn from the words of the Apostle:
“With the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).
In approaching the sacraments, we make a public profession of our faith before men. Thus, when we receive Baptism, we openly profess our belief that, by virtue of its salutary waters in which the body is washed, the soul is spiritually cleansed and reborn.
The sacraments also have great influence not only in inspiring us to exercise our faith, but also in inflaming that charity with which we should love one another. When we recollect that by partaking of these mysteries, sacraments in common, we are knit together in the closest bonds, and unmade members of one body. final consideration which is of greatest importance, for the life of a Christian is that the sacraments repress and subdue the pride of the human heart, and exercise us in the practice of humility, for they obliged us to subject ourselves to sensible elements in obedience to God, from whom they had Before an piously revolted, in order to serve the elements of the world, then they are the cause guns teach you and part of the sacraments. The sensible thing which enters into the definition of a sacrament also constitutes, but one sign is true for every sacrament consists of two things, which are called the element form, which is commonly called the war. This is the doctrine of the Fathers of the Church and the testimony of St. Augustine, on the subject is no the word he says is joined to the element and it becomes a sacrament, but the word sensible thing therefore, the father’s understand that only the matter or element, such as water in baptism, Chrism in conformation and oil in extreme action, all of which fall under the eyes, but also the words which constitute to form and which are addressed to the ear. Both are clearly pointed out by the apostle when he says, Christ loved the church and delivered himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the labor of water in the work of life.
Here, both the matter and form of the sacrament are expressly mentioned. In order to make the meaning of the rite that is being performed easier and clearer, words had to be added to the matter. For all signs, words are evidently the most significant, so that without them, what the matter of the sacraments designates and declares would be utterly obscure. Water, for instance, has the quality of cooling as well as cleansing.
It may be symbolic of either. In baptism, therefore, unless the words were added, it would not be certain but only conjectural which signification God intended. But when the words are added, they immediately make us understand that the sacrament possesses and signifies the power of cleansing. In this, the sacraments of the new law excel those of the old, in that there was no definite form of administering the latter sacraments, and hence they were very uncertain and obscure.
In our sacraments under the new law, on the contrary, the form is so definite that even an occasional deviation from it renders the sacrament invalid. Hence, the form is expressed in the clearest terms, such as excluding the possibility of doubt. Then there are ceremonies used in the administration of the sacraments. To the matter and form are added certain ceremonies. These cannot be omitted without sin, unless in a case of necessity. Yet if at any time they be omitted, the sacrament is not thereby invalidated, since the ceremonies do not pertain to its essence.
It is not without good reason that the administration of the sacraments has been, at all times from the earliest ages of the Church, accompanied by certain solemn rites. There is, in the first place, the greatest propriety in manifesting such religious reverence to the sacred mysteries as to make it appear that holy things must be handled in a holy manner. Secondly, the ceremonies display fully the effects of the sacraments, placing them, as it were, before our eyes to impress more deeply on the minds of the faithful the sanctity of the sacred institutions.
Firstly, they elevate to sublime contemplation the minds of those who behold and observe them, attracting attention and exciting within them faith and charity. Let us look at the number of sacraments. The sacraments of the Catholic Church, being seven in number, are proved from scripture, from the tradition handed down to us, from the fathers, and from the authority of the councils. Why they are more or less in number may be shown, at least with some probability, from the analogy that exists between the natural and the spiritual life. In order to exist, to preserve existence, and to contribute to his own and to the public good.
Seven things seem necessary to man: he has to be born, to grow, to be nurtured, to be cured, to be strengthened, and, as far as regards the public well-being, magistrates invested with authority to govern and to perpetuate himself and his species by legitimate offspring. Now, since it is quite clear that all these things are sufficiently analogous to that life by which the soul lives to God, we discover in them a reason to account for the number of the sacraments. Baptism comes back in, which is the gauge, as it were, to all the other sacraments, and by which we are born again to Christ.
The next is confirmation, by which we grow up in our strength and in the grace of God. For the center, Gaston observes to the apostles who had already received baptism, the Redeemer said, “Hey, you in the city, till you will be endued with power from on high.” The third is the Eucharist, that true bread from heaven which nourishes and sustains our souls to eternal life. According to this verse of the Savior, “My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” The fourth is penance, by which lost health is recovered after we have been wounded by sin. Next is the Extreme Unction, which obliterates the remains of sin and invigorates the powers of the soul. Speaking of the sacraments, Saint Ambrose says, “If he be sins, they shall be forgiven him.” Then follows Holy Orders, by which power is given to exercise perpetually in the church the public administration of the sacraments and to perform all the sacred functions. The last is matrimony, instituted to the end that by means of this sacred and holy union of men and women, children may be procreated and religiously educated for the service of God and for the preservation of the human race.
A comparison among the sacraments shows that though all possess a divine and admirable efficacy, it is worthy of special remark that all are not of equal necessity or of equal dignity. Nor is the signification of all the same. Among them, three are set to be necessary beyond the rest. Also, in all three, this necessity is not of the same kind.
The universal and absolute necessity of baptism is declared by our Savior in these words: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Penance, on the other hand, is necessary only for those who have stained themselves after baptism by any mortal guilt. Without sincere repentance, their ruin is inevitable. Holy Orders is also not necessarily required for each of the faithful, but it is of absolute necessity to the church as a whole.
If we consider the dignity of the sacraments, the Eucharist, for its holiness and the greatness of its mysteries, is far superior to all the other sacraments.
Let us now consider the author of the sacraments. Since human justification comes from God, and since the sacraments are the wonderful instruments of justification, it is evident that one and the same God in Christ must be acknowledged as the author of justification and of the sacraments.
Furthermore, the sacraments contain a power and efficacy which reach the interior soul, and only God has the power to enter into the hearts and minds of man. He alone, through Christ, is manifestly the author of the sacraments. That they are also interiorly dispensed by God, we must hold with firm and certain faith. According to the words of St. John, he declares these truths concerning Christ: he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizes with the Holy Ghost.”
The ministers of the sacraments act in the church, but it is God who is the true author and dispenser of the sacraments. Nevertheless, God wills that they be administered in His church by men, not by angels. This constitutes a sacrament, as the unbroken tradition of the fathers testifies. Matter and form are not more necessary than the ministry of men.
Let us consider the aspect of the unworthiness of the minister and the validity of the sacraments. The ministers of the sacraments represent, in the discharge of their sacred functions, not their own person, but the person of Christ.
Be they good or bad, the sacraments are valid, firm, and confirm the grace they signify, provided the matter and form are always observed in the Church according to the institution of Christ, and provided the minister intends to do what the Church does in their administration. This has at all times been fixed and is a well-established doctrine of the Church, beyond all doubt. St. Augustine, in his disputations against the Donatists, confirms this.
If we seek scriptural proof, let us listen to the words of the Apostle: “I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase.” Therefore, it is God who causes the growth, not the one who plants or waters. From these words, it is clear that just as trees are not injured by the wickedness of those who planted them, so those who are planted in Christ by the ministry of a man sustain no injury from the guilt of that minister.
Judas Iscariot, as the Holy Fathers infer from the Gospel of St. John, administered baptism to many, yet none of those whom Judas baptized are recorded to have been baptized again. To use the memorable words of St. Augustine: Judas Iscariot baptized, yet none after him were rebaptized. John was baptized, and after John, they were rebaptized.
Prior to baptism administered by Judas was the baptism of Christ, but that administered by John the Baptist was the baptism of John. Not that we prefer Judas to John, but that we justly prefer the baptism of Christ, also administered by Judas Iscariot, to that of John the Baptist, even though John was a holy man. Holy things that cannot be repeated should be treated with due reverence. Therefore, the lawfulness of the administration of the sacrament is essential.
Let us now consider the effects of the sacraments. The first effect is justifying grace. The principal effect of the sacraments is, rightly, the grace which the holy Church calls sanctifying grace. The Apostle clearly taught this when he said, Christ loved the Church and delivered himself up for it that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life.
But how so great and admirable an effect is produced by the sacrament? To use the well-known saying of St. Augustine, water cleanses the body and reaches the soul. It may be taken for granted that no sensible thing is of its own nature able to reach the soul.
But we know by the light of faith that in the sacraments exists the power of Almighty God, by which they affect what the natural elements cannot of themselves accomplish. At the baptism of the Redeemer in the Jordan, the heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a dove, to teach us that when we are washed with the sacred font, His grace is infused into our souls.
On the day of Pentecost, when the apostles received the Holy Ghost, by whom they were henceforward inspired with the greatest alacrity and resolution to preach the faith and bravely face dangers for the glory of Christ, there came suddenly a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then appeared to them parted tongues, as it were, of fire. By this, it was understood that in the sacrament of Confirmation, the same Spirit is given us in such strength and power that it enables us resolutely to encounter and resist our incessant enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
For some time in the beginning of the Church, whenever the sacraments were administered by the apostles, the same miraculous effects were witnessed. These effects ceased only when the faith had acquired maturity and strength. So, from what has been said, the sanctifying grace, which is the first effect of the sacraments, is clearly more fully present in the sacraments of the new law, which are truly more exalted than those of the sacraments of the old law. Those ancient sacraments and ceremonies were weak and made of earthly elements, which were effective only in the cleansing of the flesh, but not of the soul.
The sacraments of the new law, on the contrary, derive their power from the sacrifice of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted to God and blesses our consciences from dead works, to serve the living God, thus working in us with the blood of Christ for the grace which they signify.
The second effect is the sacramental character, which, however, is not common to all sacraments but peculiar to three: baptism, confirmation, and holy orders. This is the character that they impress on the soul. When the Apostle says, God has anointed us, who also has sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts, he obscurely describes this character, the property of which is to impress a seal and a mark.
This character is a distinctive impression stamped on the soul, which perpetually endures and cannot be blotted out. St. Augustine says that Christian sacraments accomplish less than the bodily mark impressed on a soldier, for the mark is not stamped on his person anew as often as he resumes military service, which he had relinquished. But the soul is recognized to prove this character has a twofold effect.
First, it qualifies us to receive or perform something sacred. Second, it distinguishes us by some mark, one from another. In the character impressed by baptism, both effects are exemplified. By it, we are qualified to receive the other sacraments, and the Christian is distinguished from those who do not profess the faith, from the unbaptized. The same illustration is afforded by the characters impressed by confirmation and holy orders.
By confirmation, we are armed and readied as soldiers of Christ, publicly to profess and defend His name, to fight against our internal enemy, and against the spiritual powers of wickedness in high places.
And at the same time, we are distinguished from those who, being recently baptized, are as it were newborn infants. Holy Orders confers the power of consecrating and administering the sacraments and also distinguishes those who are invested with this power from the rest of the faithful. The rule of the Catholic Church is therefore to be observed, which teaches that these three sacraments impress a character and are never to be repeated.
Lastly, on how to make instruction of the sacraments profitable: The first is that the faithful understand the proper honor, respect, and veneration due to these divine and celestial gifts. The second is that these sacraments have been established by God of infinite mercy for the common salvation of all. The people should make pious and religious use of them and be so inflamed with the desire of Christian perfection as to deem it a very great loss to be deprived for any time of the salutary use of the sacraments, particularly of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.
The sacraments were instituted by our Lord and Savior, from whom can proceed nothing but what is most perfect. Whoever administers the sacraments does so with the most powerful influence of the Holy Ghost present, who invades the inmost sanctuary of the soul. Next, they possess an admirable and unfailing virtue to cure our spiritual maladies and communicate to us the inexhaustible riches of the passion of our Lord. Also, the whole edifice of Christian piety rests on the most firm foundation of the cornerstone of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Yet, unless it be supported on every side by the preaching of the Divine Word and by the use of the sacraments, it is greatly to be feared that it may, to a great extent, totter and fall to the ground. To our faith meets the divine Word and the sacraments. For us, we are ushered into spiritual life by means of the sacraments. So by the same means, are we nourished, preserved, and grow spiritually.
God bless you. God bless you.
Eric: Thank you, Your Excellency. Can you lead us in prayer and give us your blessing?
His Excellency: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, holy Mother of God and our tender Mother, look upon the distress in which the whole of mankind is living, due to the spread of materialism, godlessness, and the persecution of the Catholic Faith.
In our own day, the Mystical Body of Christ is bleeding from so many wounds, caused within the Church by the unpunished spread of heresies, the justification of sins against the Sixth Commandment, and the seeking of the kingdom of earth rather than the Kingdom of Heaven.
There are horrendous sacrileges against the Most Holy Eucharist, especially through the practice of Communion in the hand, and the Protestant shaping of the celebration of the Holy Mass.
Amidst these trials appeared the light of the consecration of Russia to thy Immaculate Heart by the Pope, in union with the world’s bishops.
In Fatima, thou didst request the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays of the month. Implore Thy Divine Son to grant a special grace to the Pope, that he may approve and promote the practice of the First Saturday Communion of Reparation.
May Almighty God hasten the time when Russia will be converted to Catholic unity, mankind will be granted a time of peace, and the Church will be renewed in the purity of the Catholic Faith, the sacredness of divine worship, and the holiness of Christian life.
O Mediatrix of all graces, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and our sweet Mother, turn thine eyes of mercy towards us, and graciously hear this, our trusting prayer. Amen.
Dominus vobiscum.
Eric: Et cum spiritu tuo.
His Excellency: Et benedictio Dei Omnipotentis: Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti,
descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen.
Eric: Thank you, Your Excellency. This concludes our broadcast.
As you may have noticed, His Excellency’s video quality was much better this time. We put a lot of effort into improving it. Please join us in January for a live Q&A session. You can submit your questions at livefatima.io.
Thank you, everybody, and God bless.
