Sacraments
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 certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1210
Baptism
Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water and in the word.” - CCC, 1213
Confirmation
...by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed. - Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium), 11
Image: Duccio di Buininsegna, Pentecost (1308-11)
Image: Duccio di Buininsegna, Pentecost (1308-11)
Eucharist
At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’
- Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium), 47
- Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium), 47
Penance and Reconciliation
Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion.
- Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium), 11
God's Gift of Forgiveness - Exhortation on Reconciliation
- Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium), 11
God's Gift of Forgiveness - Exhortation on Reconciliation
Anointing of the Sick
By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ. - Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium), 11
Holy Orders
Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate. - CCC, 1536
Matrimony
The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. - Code of Canon Law, canon 1055 § 1
For Your Marriage - USCCB Marriage Resource Website
For Your Marriage - USCCB Marriage Resource Website