Summa Theologica

We must needs say that in some way the sacraments of the New Law cause grace.

- Thomas Aquinas. Summa theological, III, q.62, in First Complete American Edition in Three Volumes. Vol. 2. Trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. (New York,NY: Benziger, 1947), #’s. NEED PAGE NUMBERS

This article is important because it helps me to establish the scholastic tradition / church teaching on the effects of the sacraments. This is significant because it establishes the effects of the sacraments of which sacramentals / blessings are an analogy.

Its worth citing Thomas because he distinguishes between the types of causes and articulates what instrumental causality is.