Thus, for well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event in their lives; they are given access to the stream of divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the passion, death, the resurrection of Christ, the font from which all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.- Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium (4 December 1963), §61, at The Holy See, www.vatican.va.
This paragraph immediately follows the definition of sacramentals as an imitation of the sacraments. I think this paragraph helps us to understand the meaning of the analogy. The "power" referred to is grace, the very life of God shared with man through the sacraments instituted by Christ.
Without using the (what is in my mind scholastic) language, I think this is getting to the distinction between actual and sanctifying grace.
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