Sacraments: Signs of God's grace in our lives
Through the Sacraments, God shares His holiness with us so that we, in turn, can make the world holier.
Are you ready to receive a sacrament?
We recognize that the Sacraments have a visible and invisible reality, a reality open to all the human senses but grasped in its God-given depths with the eyes of faith. When parents hug their children, for example, the visible reality we see is the hug. The invisible reality the hug conveys is love. We cannot "see" the love the hug expresses, though sometimes we can see its nurturing effect in the child.
The visible reality we see in the Sacraments is their outward expression, the form they take, and the way in which they are administered and received. The invisible reality we cannot "see" is God's grace, his gracious initiative in redeeming us through the death and Resurrection of his Son. His initiative is called grace because it is the free and loving gift by which he offers people a share in his life, and shows us his favor and will for our salvation. Our response to the grace of God's initiative is itself a grace or gift from God by which we can imitate Christ in our daily lives.
The saving words and deeds of Jesus Christ are the foundation of what he would communicate in the Sacraments through the ministers of the Church. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church recognizes the existence of Seven Sacraments instituted by the Lord.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
BAPTISM
By Baptism we become members of the Church, the Body of Christ.
CONFIRMATION
In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized person is"sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit" and is strengthened for service to the Body of Christ.
EUCHARIST
"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.'" - John 6:35
SACRAMENTS OF HEALING
PENANCE & RECONCILIATION
Penance is an experience of the gift of God's boundless mercy.
ANOINTING OF THE SICK
Jesus came to heal the whole person, body and soul.
SACRAMENTS OF SERVICE
MATRIMONY
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and union of man and woman and ends with "the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7, 9).
HOLY ORDERS
"Here I am, send me."
(Isaiah 6:8)