The Sacraments

01The moment

Known in the breaking of bread

At the village they beg him: “Stay with us, because it is towards evening and the day is now far spent.”⁷

“And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread and blessed and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened: and they knew him. And he vanished out of their sight.”

Later they tell the others “how they knew him in the breaking of bread.”⁹

Not in a lecture. In bread, blessed, broken and handed to them. Something they could see, and hold, and eat.

That turns out to be how Jesus works. Again and again.

02The pattern

He touched people

When Jesus raised a little girl, he took her by the hand and said, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Damsel (I say to thee) arise.”¹⁰

He did not just think good thoughts at people. He used hands, words, water, bread.

The Church teaches that what Jesus did during his life on earth is the foundation of what he now gives in the sacraments.¹¹ They are signs we can perceive, words and actions suited to human beings like us.¹²

So are they just beautiful symbols? The Church says no, and the reason is surprising.

03The claim

Not magic, and not just symbols

Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments give the grace they signify, because “in them Christ himself is at work.”¹⁴

Here is the surprising part: they do not depend on how holy the priest is. They work by the power of what Christ did, once for all.¹⁵

They are not magic either: what they bear in your life also depends on the heart you bring to them.¹⁵

There are seven. Together they cover a whole life, from the first day to the last.

04The seven

From the first day to the last

The seven sacraments touch every stage and every important moment of a Christian life.²

<b>Three to begin.</b> Baptism, the doorway, which frees us from sin and makes us members of Christ.¹⁶ Confirmation, which completes it with a special strength of the Holy Spirit.^17,18 The Eucharist, Christ’s own Body and Blood, the source and summit of the Christian life.^19,20

<b>Two to heal.</b> Confession, also called Penance or Reconciliation, where we receive God’s pardon and are reconciled with the Church.²¹ The Anointing of the Sick, in which the whole Church entrusts those who are seriously ill to the Lord.²²

<b>Two to serve.</b> Holy Orders, through which the mission Christ gave his apostles continues.²³ Matrimony, the covenant in which a man and a woman form a partnership of their whole life.²⁴

“When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”

Which raises the practical question: if you are starting from zero, where do you come in?

05Where you come in

If you are becoming Catholic

For adults who have never been baptized, the path begins with a time of preparation called the catechumenate, and reaches its high point in one celebration of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.²⁶

If you were already baptized as a Christian, you are not baptized again: “Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.”²⁷

Every parish does this a little differently, and the names vary from country to country. You do not need to work it out alone. Your parish will walk you through it.

Two friends at Emmaus knew him in the breaking of bread. All seven sacraments lead to that same table.