The Sacraments

The Latin word sacramentum means a sign of the sacred. Sacraments are signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which Divine life is given. There are seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, and Holy Orders.

The sacraments touch all the stages of Christian life, with a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.

The sacraments are classified as Christian Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist), Sacraments of Healing (Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick), and Sacraments of Commitment (Matrimony and Holy Orders). The Eucharist occupies a unique place as the Sacrament of Sacraments and all the other Sacraments are ordered to it as to their end.