The Seven Sacraments
The sacraments are efficacious signs of
grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine
life is dispensed to us. (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 1131)
Sacraments are signs that
actually convey God's grace. There are seven sacraments.
Baptism,
Confirmation, and the Eucharist are the sacraments of initiation.
Marriage and Holy Orders are vocational sacraments. Anointing of
the Sick and Penance (confession) are sacraments of healing.
|
|
The three sacraments of Baptism,
Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a
sacramental character or
"seal" by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood
and is made a member of the Church according to different states and
functions. This
configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit,
is indelible, it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive
disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and
as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated.
(Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 1121) |
