A question for Catholics, not to bash Catholics.?

Question

What are sacraments. Someone told me something about sacraments being a part of salvation. I don't know, but I want to know what they are, what they are used for, and what scripture is used to back up the practice. Thanks for all serious answers.

Answer 1

The Sacraments are a means of God delivering Grace to us.

We have seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church.

Baptism - you probably already know what that is
Reconciliation - i.e. confessing our sins to God in the presence of a priest, who counsels us on how to avoid sin in the future, pronounces us absolved by the Blood of the Lamb and gives us a penance to do (usually prayer) to help us get back on track with God and alleviate the effect of our sin on our lives
Holy Eucharist - receiving the True Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ via Communion in fulfillment of the Last Supper (that would be the fourth cup of the Passover feast, if you come from a Jewish background) and John 6.
Confirmation - sort of a "coming of age" rite in which we renew our baptismal vows and make our "adult" confirmation of faith in the Church.
Holy Matrimony - understanding that marriage is a 3-way sacramental covenant between man, woman and God
Holy Orders - in which a person is "married" to the Church in service as a priest (male) or in religious orders (males or females, i.e, monks, brothers, nuns, sisters)
Annointing of the Sick - aka Extreme Unction or Last Rites, which is given to the very ill or dying to prepare them for their final journey out of this life and into the next.

Answer 2

Catholics have 7 sacraments: Baptism, Communion, Penance, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick.

Catholics trace the sacraments back to Christ and His teachings, although, some of the practices go back to Judeo traditions (Baptism and Matrimony, perhaps).

Catholics believe that when they 'receive' these sacraments, they are being blessed by God and are following the teachings of the Church.

Not all Catholics can receive all the sacraments. For example, only men can receive Holy Orders (ordaining of priests). Baptism is only received once. And, the Anointing of the Sick (formally called Last Rites) can be received more than once. This sacrament is performed on those who are seriously ill.

I hope my explanations help. If you want more information, you can probably Google "Catholic Sacraments" or similar terms. You can probably speak with a priest or religious at a Catholic Church near where you live. The staff at the church will be able to help you out as well.

Answer 3

Sacraments are outward signs of inward experiences, there are 7 catholic sacraments:

1. Baptism
2. Confirmation
3. Confession
4. Holy Communion
5. Matrimony
6. Holy Orders
7. Anointing the Sick

Answer 4

The Roman Catholic Church

Many Catholics are taught that a sacrament is: “An outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace.”

Baptism is the initiation rite into the Christian faith and into the Christian church. It is considered a sacrament by everyone who uses the word sacrament.

The Eucharist ( communion) is considered a sacrament by everyone who uses the word sacrament.

Holy orders is the rite of setting people aside as clergy; in other words, ordination. All churches have a rite of this type, but not all of them consider it a sacrament.

All churches have marriage rites, but only Catholics, some Anglicans, and some Orthodox refer to it as a sacrament.

Answer 5

The sacraments of the Church are reality-filled symbols in which Christ nourishes, and eventually immortalizes, His community. There is no NT or OT word that covers what the Church means by 'sacrament', but the realities are discoverable in the Scriptures, especially in the case of the Eucharist and Baptism. The term itself took many centuries to crystalize in its present meaning. For the NT spiritual realities covered by the word "sacrament", see Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance and Forgiveness, Marriage, Annointing, Priest. [I got this directly from the "The New World Dictionary Concordance to the New American Bible.]

If you go to www.catholicanswers.com & www.newadvent.com, you will have many of your questions answered about the sacraments and how the Church gets them from the Bible and Christ. God bless! Keep learning!

Answer 6

Communion of the sacraments. "The fruit of all the sacraments belongs to all the faithful. All the sacraments are sacred links uniting the faithful with one another and binding them to Jesus Christ, and above all Baptism, the gate by which we enter into the Church. The communion of saints must be understood as the communion of the sacraments. . . . The name 'communion' can be applied to all of them, for they unite us to God. . . . But this name is better suited to the Eucharist than to any other, because it is primarily the Eucharist that brings this communion about."

The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.

The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. "The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity."

Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are "the masterworks of God" in the new and everlasting covenant

"The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'"

Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.

Answer 7

There are seven sacraments in the Catholic Church:

The Sacraments of Christian Initiation
+ Baptism: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#art1
+ Confirmation: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt1art2.htm
+ Eucharist: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt1art3.htm

The Sacraments of Healing
+ Reconciliation: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm#art4
+ Anointing of the Sick: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2art5.htm

The Sacraments at the Service of Communion
+ Holy Orders: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt3.htm#art6
+ Matrimony: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt3art7.htm

Different Protestant Churches have different sacraments.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 1121-1666: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/parttwotoc.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 8

The Sacraments are 5

Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Last Rights.

When we receive Baptism is that cleanse away the original sin that was made by Adam & Eve.

Holy Communion is to receive the body of Christ into our body and soul.

Confirmation is to become a soldier of Christ ,to set examples .

Marriage is to be married in the eyes of the Catholic Church and follow all that is it instituted by it.

And the last one is to get blessed by a priest when our time is come to leave this earth ,go away with a clean conscience

Answer 9

I appreciate your sincere interest in the sacraments.

I could give you my own explanation of the seven sacraments:

-Baptism
-Reconciliation
-Eucharist
-Confirmation
-Matrimony
-Holy Orders
-Anointing of the Sick

But this page at Catholic Answers will give you a much more detailed explanation, and do a better job than I ever could.

It will also include Scripture references (as you requested), as well as references from the early Church fathers.

Answer 10

catholic encyclopedia link on sacraments. some good info here.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13295a.htm#III

This might help with the whole grace connection:
http://www.rosary-center.org/ll46n2.htm

"The more we understand the Church’s teaching on divine grace, the more we see how completely dependent we are on God, both for what WE ARE, and for what WE DO. God’s gift of SANCTIFYING GRACE is responsible for all that we are—that is pleasing to Him, and his countless gifts of ACTUAL GRACES are the principal cause for all that we do that is pleasing to him. Would that we could say with St. Paul: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me has not been fruitless.” (1 Cor. 15:10)"

Father Paul A. Duffner, O.P.