Sacraments of the Church
The saving words and deeds of Jesus Christ are the foundation of what he would communicate in the Sacraments through the ministers of the Church. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church recognizes the existence of Seven Sacraments instituted by the Lord. They are the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist), the Sacraments of Healing (Penance and the Anointing of the Sick), and the Sacraments at the Service of Communion (Marriage and Holy Orders). Through the Sacraments, God shares his holiness with us so that we, in turn, can make the world holier.
For more information, preparation or instruction on the sacraments; go to the individual sacrament pages.
"No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit." (Jn. 3:5)
"The fruit of... baptismal grace is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin and all personal sins, birth into life by which man becomes... a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church... and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ." (Catechism, 1277, 1279)
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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . . . Just 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. (Jn 6:53-57)
"Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit." (Acts 8:14-19)
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
(Jn. 20:22-23)
"So they went off and preached repentance. They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them." (Mk. 6:12-13)
...But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife], and the two shall become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." (Mk. 10:6-9)
