The Sacraments
Answers
13 AnswersWhat are the sacraments?
The sacraments are seven encounters with God built right into the life of the Church — physical, sensible actions like washing with water or anointing with oil…
What does baptism do?
Baptism washes away sin, makes a person a child of God, and joins them to Christ and his Church. In a single washing with water and the words of the Trinity,…
What is Confirmation?
Confirmation is the sacrament that completes baptism by pouring out the Holy Spirit more fully on the believer. Through the bishop's anointing with sacred…
What is Holy Orders?
Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission Christ gave his apostles is carried on in the Church through bishops, priests, and deacons. By the…
What is the Anointing of the Sick?
The Anointing of the Sick is the sacrament in which a priest anoints a seriously ill, elderly, or dying person with blessed oil and prays for them. It unites…
What is the Eucharist?
The Eucharist is Jesus Christ himself — his body and blood, truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. It is both the high point of Catholic…
What is the liturgical year?
The liturgical year is the Church's calendar — the yearly cycle of seasons and feasts through which Catholics walk again, step by step, through the whole life…
What is the liturgy?
The liturgy is the Church's official public worship — above all the Mass, but also the other sacraments and the daily prayer of the Church. It is not just…
What is the Mass?
The Mass is the central act of Catholic worship: the gathering where the Church listens to God's word and then celebrates the Eucharist, receiving Jesus Christ…
Why do Catholics baptise babies?
Catholics baptise babies because baptism is a gift from God, not a reward for understanding. Just as parents give a child a name, a home, and their love long…
Why do Catholics confess sins to a priest?
Catholics confess to a priest because Jesus gave his Church the authority to forgive sins in his name, and he chose to do it through people rather than in…
Why do Catholics use rituals, symbols, and sacraments at all?
Catholics use rituals, symbols, and sacraments because human beings are not pure spirits — we are body and soul, and we come to know invisible realities…
Why is Sunday so important for Catholics?
Sunday is the day Jesus rose from the dead, so for Catholics it is the weekly Easter — the heart of the whole week. On it Christians gather for Mass to worship…