What Are The Seven Sacraments In The Catholic Church

  In my previous post I talked about confession. This one of the seven sacraments in the catholic church. The seven sacraments are special times when we can experience Gods saving presence. We as Catholics will practice and live out these sacraments through out are whole catholic life. The seven are all signs of grace from God for us.   The seven sacraments are as follows, Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing Of The Sick. 

  Baptism starts out at the beginning of our life with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are Baptized as infants to take away our original sin. Every time we enter the church we dip our fingers in the small bowl and make the sign of the cross. This is to remind us of our baptism. We do not only Baptize infants in the Catholic church. Adults, teenagers and anyone of any age can be baptized. Some individuals do not believe the same as catholics and will argue with us about baptizing infants. Here is a good article from catholic answers on baptizing infants http://www.catholic.com/tracts/infant-baptism .

The baptismal font of Saint Ann's Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia. By Farragutful (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

    The next sacrament is the Eucharist. This also know as holy communion when the bread and wine are transformed in to the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We will partake of this every Sunday at Mass, except at Easter. Once again certain individuals will say that this is only a symbol, but I disagree. When Jesus told the people they need to eat his flesh and drink his blood he meant it. You only need to look at the reaction of the people. They could not accept this and therefore left. If it were only a symbol Jesus would have rebuked them and told them so, but he did not. I would suggest to read John Chapter 6 verse 32 to verse 68.  "53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54Whoever eats^* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.^b 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life.^* 60Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” 61Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? 62What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?^* 63It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh^* is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.^c 65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

 
66As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”^d"

                                                   Holy Eucharist.  By Fabio Pozzebom/ABr [CC-BY-3.0-br (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/br/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

  ^{The next sacrament next sacrament is Reconciliation. This known as Penance or Confession. This when go to the Priest who represents Jesus Christ and has the power to forgive us of our sins. In this we have conversion, confession and celebration. I always liked Mother Angelica’s explanation of filling a glass up with water being the sins and when we go to confession we empty the glass. This is biblical, because Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive and retain sins.}
"Jesus breathed on them and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained'" (Jn. 20,23).

This is the older confessional .  By Vincent de Groot - http://www.videgro.net (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

This is more modern style of a confessional. By Adam Smith (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

  ^{The next sacrament is known as Confirmation. This is done when we are mature adults and is a deepening of our Baptismal commitment. This usually associated with the Holy Spirit. Here is some excellent information about confirmation in the Catholic Church  http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Confirmation.htm}

 ^{This is the time when the church accepts us and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.   The next sacrament is called Marriage. This is where we give a public sign of giving one self totally to the other spouse. This is a time when we will teach our children the proper and Holy way to live our life. Unfortunately today we have men marrying men or women marrying women. This totally goes against Gods plan for his children. For God wanted us to multiply and be fruitful. This can only happen when a man marries a women or a women marries a man. It is a sin to try and do this any other way.} 

 

Wedding Glasses. By Rennett Stowe from USA (Wedding Glasses  Uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

   ^{The next sacrament is called Holy Orders. It is also called Ordination. This is when a man becomes a Priest and is ordained. He will then vow to lead all the people in the Catholic Church the proper way. He will bring all the sacraments to the people. He will also provide the Gospel and provide any other means of holiness to the people.}

The Friars with Bishop Robert Baker. By Br. Bernard Mary, MFVA (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 Roman Catholic Holy Orders. By Miguel Angel Chong (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

  ^{The final sacrament is called Anointing Of The Sick.  This is usually called last rites and is given at the time of our death. It can also be given to an individual when they are very sick and will give the person spiritual and physical strength. Here is an excellent explanation from catholic answers on the anointing of the sick or last rites http://www.catholic.com/tracts/anointing-of-the-sick .} 

By Pietro Antonio Novelli (1729–1804) (Galerie Bassenge) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

  ^{Here is an excellent article written by Pope John Paul the II in October 1982 on the sacraments http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2seven.htm .}  

    I would like to just say Thank You for reading and I hope this is helpful to everyone. God Bless