The Seven Sacraments of the Church
The sacraments of the Church are divided into the sacraments of Christian Initiation, the sacraments of Healing and the sacraments at the service of Communion and Mission. The Sacraments touch all the important moments of Christian Life. All of the sacraments are ordered to the Holy Eucharist “as to their end” (St Thomas Aquianas). 1210 – 1211 CCC.
Sacraments of Initiation
There are three Sacraments of Christian Initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist. They ground the common vocation of all Christ’s disciples, a vocation to holiness and to the mission of evangelising the world. They confer the graces needed for the life according to the Spirit, during this life as pilgrims on the march towards the homeland.
Sacraments of Healing
There are two Sacraments of Healing – the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. Christ, the physician of our Soul and Body, instituted these sacraments because the new life that he gives us in the sacraments of Christian Initiation can be weakened and even lost because of sin. Therefore, Christ willed that his Church should continue his work of healing and salvation by means of these two sacraments (CCC 1420 – 1421, 1426).
Sacraments at the Service of Communion and Mission
These are two sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony. These confer a special grace for a particular mission in the Church to serve and build up the People of God. These sacraments contribute in a special way to Ecclesial communion and the salvation of others.