Ex opere operato
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ex opere operato is a Latin theological expression meaning literally "from the work having worked" and with the specific meaning "by the very fact of the action's being performed" (i.e. "because the work worked"). It refers to the idea that the sacraments really workâthat is, they actually confer grace when the sacramental sign is validly effected, not as the result of the good standing of the celebrant, or activity on the part of the recipient, but by the power and promise of God.
According to the Roman Catholic Church, to receive the fruits of the sacraments requires one to be properly disposed. This means reception of grace via the sacraments is not automatic. There must be, at least in the case of an adult, a predispositional receptivity to receive the grace which is always available in a validly effected sacrament.
The ex opere operato nature of the Catholic sacraments affirms that while a proper disposition is a necessary precondition to receiving grace in those sacraments, it is not the cause of the grace. What God offers in the sacraments, Catholics argue, is purely a free gift. Not even a person's own dispositions, as good as they may be, produce God's supernatural life in that person.
