The Sacraments (St Ephraem the Syrian)

  In your sacraments we welcome you every day and receive you in our bodies. Make us worthy to experience within us the resurrection for which we hope. By the grace of baptism we conceal within our bodies the treasure of your divine life. This treasure increases as we eat at the table of your sacraments. Let us rejoice in your grace. We have within us, Lord, a memorial of you, which we receive at your spiritual table; may we possess the full reality in the life to come.

  Let us appreciate the great beauty that is ours through the spiritual beauty that your immortal will arouses in our mortal nature.

(St Ephraem the Syrian)

Sacraments

"Together with preaching the word, the administration of the sacraments is a bishop's primary duty, to which all his other responsibilities are subordinate. ...

"This pertains not only to celebrating the Eucharist and administering the sacrament of Confirmation, but also to baptising children and those adults who have been prepared.... Nor should we underestimate the importance of personally hearing confessions and visiting the sick to administer the sacrament of Anointing.... Another important duty for a bishop, which he shares with his pastors, is solicitude for the sanctity of marriage; when it is possible, he should celebrate marriages personally."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 70-71)