THE SACRAMENTS: The Faith Celebrated
We celebrate the Christian mystery in the Liturgy and the Sacraments. Through the Sacraments the Holy Spirit makes available to us the mysteries of God’s revelation in Christ. The saving gifts of Christ’s ministry are encountered in the Liturgy and are available to us. This is evident in the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist), the Sacraments of Healing (Reconciliation 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.
Various aspects of THE SACRAMENTS, as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) can be explored below.
The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ (CCC 1076-1209)
Last Introduction to the Celebration of the Liturgy in the Sacraments During his earthly ministry, Jesus preached and taught with authority and performed powerful healings and miracles through which he forgave sins and healed the wounds of sin. In the Sacraments of the Church, Christ now continues ...
Baptism: Becoming a Christian (CCC 1210-1284)
Baptism is the First of the Sacraments of Initiation From the first moments of Christianity, new members were received into the Christian community through sacramental rites of initiation. The catechumenate, developed by early Christians during the first four centuries of the Church’s existence, ...
Confirmation: Consecrated for Mission (CCC 1285-1321)
Confirmation is the Second Sacrament of Initiation The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is the living presence of God in our lives promised by Jesus. The Holy Spirit strengthens our Christian witness so we may become the living reflections of Christ in the world. And so the Church ...
The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Christian Life (CCC 1322-1419)
The Holy Eucharist completes Christian Initiation The Sacrament of the Eucharist, the ‘summary of our faith’, completes sacramental initiation. We believe that the Eucharist is the ‘source and summit of the Christian life’ in that the Eucharist continues God’s saving actions in Jesus Christ in ...
Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation: God Is Rich in Mercy (CCC 1420-1498)
In this Sacrament of Healing we are Reconciled to God and the Church Through the Sacraments of Christian Initiation, we receive the new life of Christ. But the weakness of our human nature and our inclination to sin continues to remain and affect our lives. The Church offers us the Sacraments of ...
Anointing the Sick and the Dying (CCC 1499–1532)
The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is the Second of the Sacraments of Healing In his earthly ministry Jesus healed the whole person, body, mind, spirit and soul. In the Gospels, we see Jesus healing the sick and forgiving sins. At times Jesus touched the ill and healed their sickness; at other ...
Holy Orders (CCC 1536–1600)
The Sacrament of Holy Orders is at the service of the Communion of the Church To serve God, the Church and the faithful through the ministerial priesthood is a vocation, an invitation from the Lord that is a powerful countercultural witness of faith in Jesus Christ. Through the Sacraments of Service ...
The Sacrament of Marriage (CCC 1601–1666)
Marriage is a Sacrament at the Service of Communion Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and the original unity of man and woman. In the last book of the Bible, we read of the ‘wedding feast of the Lamb’ (Rv 19:7, 9). The image of marriage is often used in scripture to speak of God’s covenant ...
Sacramentals and Popular Devotions (CCC 1667–1679)
Forms of Popular Piety Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church that mediate spiritual effects such as blessings, protection and peace through the Church. They bear resemblance to the sacraments and signify effects, particularly spiritual effects, obtained through the mediation of the ...
First Week of Advent (Year B)
In Advent, Christians relive a dual impulse of the spirit: on the one hand, they raise their eyes towards the final destination of their pilgrimage through history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other, remembering with emotion his birth in Bethlehem, they kneel before the ...
Second Week of Advent (Year B)
A message full of hope resounds in the liturgy of Advent, inviting us to raise our gaze to the ultimate horizon but at the same time to recognise the signs of the God-with-us in the present. In the Second Sunday of Advent, he Word of God acquires the moving tones of the so-called “Second ...
Third Week of Advent (Year B)
What does “the Lord is at hand” mean? In what sense must we understand this “closeness” of God? The Church, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, already at that time understood increasingly better that God’s “closeness” is not a question of space and time but ...
Fourth Week of Advent (Year B)
The Gospel of the 4th Sunday of Advent proposes to us the account of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), the mystery to which we return every day in reciting the Angelus. The prayer makes us relive the decisive moment at which God knocked at Mary’s heart and, having received her “Yes”, ...