What Are Sacraments?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 'The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us' (#1131). The word efficacious means 'effective.' This means that according to Catholic teachings, sacraments do what they say they do, because of God's power.
According to the Catholic faith, the sacraments are a gift from God, given through the Church as an outpouring of His love. Through the sacraments, God justifies and sanctifies his people [i.e., he saves them and makes them holy), he meets his people where they are in order to draw them up to him, he pours out his grace, he builds up the Church and he receives worship.
We, as Catholics believe, then, that sacraments point to and are channels of God's grace. They work as an effective means of communication between God and his people.
The seven sacraments instituted by Christ are:
- Baptism
- Confirmation
- Eucharist
- Reconciliation
- Marriage
- Anointing of the Sick
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Holy Orders
A Brief Explanation of each of the Seven Sacraments
In Baptism, God's saving grace, his very presence, enters into the human soul. For Catholics, baptism is the sacrament of salvation and the door to all other sacraments.
Confirmation provides a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which helps the confirmed person witness to Christ and leads a mature Christian life. The rite of confirmation, usually performed by a bishop, involves the anointing with chrism (holy oil), the laying on of hands, and the words 'Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.'
Those who partake in the Eucharist receive the real Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ in what appears to be bread and wine but at the consecration is transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ.
In Reconciliation, which is also called 'confession' or 'penance,' a Catholic confesses his or her sins to a priest in the spirit of true repentance and receives forgiveness. The priest acts as a visible representative of Christ, who forgives sins through Him, when he says the words of absolution: 'I absolve you of your sins in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.'
Marriage, or matrimony, joins a man and a woman together in a life-long covenant of self-giving love. The two spouses give their consent to join together in marriage as the Church defines it. God gives special grace to the couple that they may live out their vow.
Anointing of the Sick offers the comfort of God's grace to those who are ill. The sacrament provides spiritual and sometimes physical healing, according to God's will, but also allows the sick person to join his or her sufferings to Christ and prepare for death. The essential rite of this sacrament involves anointing with the oil of the sick, and prayer.
In Holy Orders, men are ordained as bishops, priests, and deacons through a bishop's laying on of hands and prayer. These men are given the grace to live out their lives in service to the Church and to God's people.