Sacraments

There are seven sacraments that “touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian’s life of faith.” (CCC 1210)

Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist

The sacraments of Christian initiation, Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist are our basic fundamentals granted to us by our Heavenly Father.  These sacraments of divine Christian life bare a similar resemblance to that of a parent guiding a child to adulthood.

“The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life.  The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life.  By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity.”

Pope Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Divinae consortium naturae:  AAS 63 (1971)

Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick

The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members.  This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing:  the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.  (CCC 1421)

Sacraments at the Service:  Holy Orders and Matrimony

Two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so.  They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God.  (CCC 1534)