Recap of the Sacraments

● Sacrament: A visible sign of God’s invisible grace. An encounter in

person with God, established by Jesus Himself.
We need the sacraments because we are not mere ghosts or spirits,
we have bodies too and we live in the physical world. Our invisible
souls are nourished and given life by God’s grace, and our physical
bodies participate in the experience with the physical form of the
sacraments that Jesus gave us. God in His love for us, gave us
graces that we could see, feel, touch, hear, and experience
physically.

1. Baptism - A Sacrament of Initiation. God’s invisible and merciful

grace which cleanses you of your original sin which everyone
inherits from Adam and Eve. Water is poured over your head
and the priest says “I baptize you in the name of The Father, The
Son, and The Holy Spirit”. Established by Christ many times
throughout the Gospel.
2. Reconciliation - A Sacrament of Healing. God’s loving grace
and infinite mercy expressed by the forgiveness of your sins. We
receive this sacrament by confessing our sins to a priest, and the
priest gives guidance, penance for you, and the prayer of
absolution. It is necessary for us to confess to priests because it
is what Jesus commanded us to do. “And He breathed on [The
Apostles] and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins
you forgive are forgiven, and whose sins you retain are
retained.’”
3. Holy Communion - A Sacrament of Initiation. We receive Jesus
fully and in person through his Body and Blood, in the form of bread
of wine. It is truly Jesus’ body and blood that we are receiving in the
Eucharist. Communion is not a mere metaphor or symbol, it is God in
the flesh, and must be reverenced as such. It is an especially critical
sacrament, for Jesus said “Unless you gnaw the flesh of the Son of
 Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you”. This sacrament
is fully established by Jesus’ Last Supper, where he breaks bread,
gives thanks, and says “Take this all of you, and eat of it. For this is
my body, which will be given up for you” and then the same with the
wine “Take this, all of you, and drink of it, for this is the cup of my
blood. The blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be
poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this
in memory of me”.

4. Confirmation - A Sacrament of Initiation. The Holy Spirit seals your

soul with the graces that began in Baptism and you receive The Gifts
of the Holy Spirit. We receive confirmation when the Bishop lays his
hands over us and anoints us with chrism oil, and says “Be sealed
with the Holy Spirit”. Jesus established this sacrament when he told
the Apostles that he would send “The Spirit of Truth” to them. And
after Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit came to the
Apostles on Pentecost and descended upon them as tongues of fire.
And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and went out on mission and
preached miraculously in whatever language their audience spoke;
and they preached the Gospel with incredible truth, goodness, and
beauty.
5. Holy Matrimony - A Sacrament of Service. God grants us his grace
by binding a man and a woman in love and marriage, which no man
can separate. We receive the sacrament if we find a spouse whom
we love and desire to spend our lives with. Someone who we want to
journey towards God with, as partners through thick and thin, and get
married to each other by God through a priest. Marriage is a
Sacrament that not everyone may be called to. Some may be called
to the single life or the religious life. Jesus established marriage when
he said “Male and Female [God] created them, and the woman shall
leave her father and cling to her husband, and the two shall become
one flesh. Therefore let no man separate what God has put together”
6. Holy Orders - A Sacrament of Service. God gives his grace through
ordination to the priesthood or bishopric. Priesthood is a significant
role of service for specific men within Christ’s church. Another
 optional sacrament which is not for everyone, most may be called to
marry, live a single life, or another type of religious life. Priests and
Bishops serve the Church by administering the different sacraments,
celebrating the sacrifice of the mass, and more. Bishops serve as
successors to the Apostles as leaders and primary servants of the
Catholic Church.
7. Anointing of the Sick - A Sacrament of Healing. God extends his
tremendous mercy and grace through the final rites before death.
God, through the priest forgives your sins, and anoints you before
your death. Established by Jesus by his healing and forgiveness of
the ill and dying.