The Seven Sacraments

Sacraments are divided into three groups: sacraments of initiation, sacraments of healing, and sacraments of commitment and service. The life of the Church revolves around the sacraments. In them we encounter the Lord Jesus and are enabled to live the life of faith more deeply.

The sacraments of initiation include Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Baptism is the basis for the whole of Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and first step to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed and born anew as children of God and are incorporated into the Church to share in her mission. Confirmation gives us the Holy Spirit to root us more deeply in all that is divine and incorporate us more firmly into christ. It strengthens our bond with the church and her mission to bear witness to the Christian faith in words and deeds. The Eucharist is the heart and culmination of the Church's life. By his sacrifice, Christ pours out the graces of salvation on his Body, which is the Church, his sacrifice of praise to the Father. Receiving this sacrament strengthens our union with the Lord.

As sacraments of healing, Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick recall the frailty of the human condition. The sacrament of Reconciliation provides us with an opportunity to acknowledge the reality of sin, to ask forgiveness, and to begin anew as disciples of Christ. Anointing of the Sick is a source of strength and consolation for those who are ill and those who are caring for them. The experience of celebrating this sacrament in community offers a better appreciation of the social consequences of sin and the need for reconciliation as a whole people. Reconciliation makes visible the mercy of our loving God.

Matrimony and Holy Orders celebrate the calling to family life and to ordained ministry in the Church. These vocations are sanctified in the sacramental rites in which we are called to build the Body of Christ through service.

Baptism

The Roman Cathechism offers this definition: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration by water in the word" (per aquam in verbo). Baptism was instituted to confer upon us the beginnings of the spiritual Life, to transfer us from the state of enemies of God to the state of adoption as sons and daughters of God. This definition combines the physical and metaphysical definitions of baptism. "The sacrament of regeneration" is the metaphysical essence of the sacrament, while the physical essence is expressed by the second part of the definition of the sacrament (i.e. the washing with water (matter), accompanied by the invocation of the Holy Trinity (metaphysical form). Baptism is, therefore, the sacrament by which we are born again of water and the Holy Ghost, that is, by which we receive in a new and spiritual life, the dignity of adoption as sons and daughters of God and heirs of God's kingdom.

Reconciliation/Penance/Confession

The Sacrament of Confession is the manner in which we reconcile ourselves with God after we commit the an act of sin and, having a contrite heart, truly desire to be reunited fully with God.

Eucharist

Holy Eucharist, is the greatest sacrament - the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Jesus Christ—was given to us by Christ so that we may enter into union with Christ Himself and His Love, as when Jesus says "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh blood, abideth in me, and I in him" (John, 6:57) The Eucharist removes our venial sins from our soul, and is a great aid in avoiding the temptation to commit mortal sins. It is because of this that many Saints have said that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (particularly the Eucharist) is "the perfect prayer".

Confirmation

Confirmation imparts 1) an increase of sanctifying grace which makes the recipient a "perfect Christian"; 2) a special sacramental grace consisting in the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost and notably in the strength and courage to confess boldly the name of Christ; 3) an indelible character by reason of which the sacrament cannot be received again by the same person.

Matrimony

Contrary to popular misconception, the priest does NOT confer the sacrament of Holy Matrimony—the priest is merely the ‘witness’ to the man and woman making their vows before God. It is the husband and wife who ‘minister’ the Sacrament to themselves from God. However, the fact that a husband and wife make the sacrament between themselves and God does not mean that they can ‘unmake’ this union, as it is an agreement until the death of one of the parties.

Holy Orders

In the Latin Rite, the current discipline is for only non-married Catholics may be ordained priests; however, converts to the Catholic Faith who are married may later become ordained because the Church recognizes their marriage as valid and does not want to deny them the opportunity to serve the Church as a priest if they had previously joined in marriage in another Church before knowing the fullness of the Catholic Faith.

Extreme Unction

Administered to a person who is dying, it may be given to both Catholics and non-Catholics who truthfully declare (in danger of death) to have a desire to enter into the Catholic Church and profess the Faith that the Catholic Church teaches. hast committed." By the decree of 25 April, 1906, the Holy Office has expressly approved of this form for cases of urgent necessity.

The background for this page
and many others can be found at

Christian Backgrounds

© Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
Promises Kept

Song Playing ~ Amazing Grace