CCC 1116: Sacraments are “powers that come forth” from the Body of Christ, which is ever living and life giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are “the masterworks of God” in the new and everlasting covenant.
A Sacrament is an outward sign of receiving the grace of God. Instituted by Christ himself, the seven Sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of a Christian’s spiritual life.
The font from which all Sacraments draw their power is the paschal mystery : the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. The Sacraments sanctify the Body of Christ : the Church; giving birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian’s life of faith. (see also Vat II : SC 59 and 61)
We learn about the world through our senses. The Sacramental signs are perceptible to our human senses : sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. We are spoken to, washed, anointed, embraced, and fed. God uses the natural world to reveal His divine purpose.
The Seven Sacraments of the Church and guidelines to be noted are as follows:
Holy Orders
CCC1533-1535:- This sacrament confers a special grace for a particular mission in the Church to serve and build up the People of God. It contributes in a special way to ecclesial communion and to the salvation of others. CCC1536:- It is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time. CCC 1537-1538:- Orders designates an…
Matrimony
CCC 1601-1605:- God who is love and who created man and woman for love has called them to love. By creating man and woman he called them to an intimate communion of life and of love in marriage: “So that they are no longer two, but one flesh” (Matthew 19:6). God said to them in blessing “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). CCC 1659-1660:- The marital union of man and…
Penance and Reconciliation
CCC 1425-1426, 1484:- Since the new life of grace received in Baptism does not abolish the weakness of human nature nor the inclination to sin (that is, concupiscence), Christ instituted this sacrament for the conversion of the baptized who have been separated from him by sin. CCC 1485:- The risen Lord instituted this sacrament on the evening of Easter when he showed himself to his apostles and said to them, “Receive…
Anointing of the Sick
CCC 1503:- The compassion of Jesus toward the sick and his many healings of the infirm were a clear sign that with him had come the Kingdom of God and therefore victory over sin, over suffering, and over death. By his own passion and death he gave new meaning to our suffering which, when united with his own, can become a means of purification and of salvation for us and…
Eucharist
CCC 1322 - The Holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. The Eucharist is the very sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus which he instituted to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until his return in glory. Thus he entrusted to his Church this memorial of his death and Resurrection. It is a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet, in which…
Confirmation
CCC 1290:- The essential rite of Confirmation is the anointing with Sacred Chrism (oil mixed with balsam and consecrated by the bishop), which is done by the laying on of the hand of the minister who pronounces the sacramental words proper to the rite. In the West this anointing is done on the forehead of the baptized with the words, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit”. In…
Baptism
Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),4 and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."5 CCC1215:- This sacrament…
