Sacrament Preparation

The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. CCC 1131

 Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders,and Matrimony. The seven sacraments 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. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life. CCC 1210

Our God, who is Love, humbled Himself and became man. For our sake, He was crucified, died, and rose again, defeating death and giving us the hope of eternal life with Him. In His love for us, Jesus Christ instituted the sacraments as efficacious signs of God's grace, meaning that these outward signs bring about the invisible reality of that which they signify.  

Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church recognizes that there are seven sacraments instituted by Christ: Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Eucharist, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick.