The Sacraments: An Overview
What the sacraments are, why there are seven, and why each is worth celebrating.
Everything the Church offers converges here. When we speak of grace, communion, and the life of God given to human beings, we are finally speaking of the sacraments: the concrete acts by which Christ touches a person through the Church.
A sacrament is, in the classic definition, an outward sign of an inward grace, instituted by Christ. That is, it is a visible action — washing, anointing, eating, forgiving, joining — that does not merely represent grace but actually conveys it. God, who made us body and soul, deals with us bodily. He does not leave His grace to float as an idea; He attaches it to water and oil and bread so that we can receive it and know we have.
Why seven?
The Church recognizes seven sacraments because they answer to the whole shape of a human life and its supernatural counterpart:
- Some initiate us into the life of grace: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.
- Some heal what sin and suffering damage: Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick.
- Some are at the service of communion, ordering a person's life toward others: Holy Orders and Matrimony.
Together they accompany a Christian from birth to death: born in the font, strengthened in Confirmation, fed in the Eucharist, restored in Confession, healed in Anointing, and — through Orders or Marriage — given a vocation that pours life back out to others.
Why celebrate each one
The sacraments are not obligations to be endured but gifts to be celebrated, because in each one it is Christ Himself who acts. Choose a sacrament below to see what it is and why it is worth receiving with joy.
- Baptism: the sacrament of rebirth, dying and rising with Christ, washed and made a new creation.
- Confirmation: the sacrament of the Holy Spirit, sealing and strengthening the baptized for a mature Christian life.
- The Eucharist: the sacrament of Christ's true presence, the source and summit of the Christian life.
- Reconciliation (Confession): the sacrament of mercy, Christ's forgiveness given personally to the repentant.
- Anointing of the Sick: the sacrament of healing and strength for those facing serious illness, suffering, or death.
- Holy Orders: the sacrament by which bishops, priests, and deacons are ordained to serve Christ and His Church.
- Matrimony: the sacrament by which a man and woman are joined in a covenant that images Christ's love for the Church.