The Sacraments of the Catholic Church
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you.”
What are the Sacraments of the Catholic Church?
You’re probably familiar with the definition from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (CCC 1131). However, many of us see the Sacraments as rites of passage or milestones to achieve. Yet, the sacraments are so much more than that. The sacraments were instituted by Jesus Himself in order to restore us to the divine life. He is present ministering to you in the Sacraments.
The Sacraments are the way in which God pours His graces on us, enabling us to become who we are meant to be, thus giving us the resources we need for our sanctity. This is all possible, because the Sacraments are not merely symbols, but they effect in us what they claim. The Sacraments use physical matter but provide natural and supernatural benefits.
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Sacrament of Baptism
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Sacrament of Confirmation
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Sacrament of Eucharist
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Sacrament of Reconciliation
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Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick
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Sacrament of Matrimony
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Sacrament of Holy Orders
Other Resources
To deepen your knowledge on the Sacraments, check the following online resources.