The Sacraments In General

A Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace There are 7 Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist or Communion, Penance or Confession, Extreme Unction or Anointing of the sick, Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony The Sacraments have the power of giving grace from the merits of Jesus Christ The Sacraments have the power of giving grace from the merits of Jesus Christ Some of the sacraments give sanctifying grace and others increase it in our souls The Sacraments that give sanctifying grace are Baptism and Penance or Confession and they are called the Sacraments of the dead Baptism and Penance or Confession are called Sacraments of the dead because they take away sin, which is the death of the soul and give grace which is its life. The Sacraments that increase sanctifying grace in our soul are: Confirmation, Holy Eucharist or Communion, Extreme Unction or Anointing of the sick, Holy Orders, and Holy Matrimony and they are called Sacraments of the living Confirmation, Holy Eucharist or Communion, Extreme Unction or Anointing of the sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony are called Sacraments of the living, because those who receive them worthily are already living the life of grace He who receives the Sacrament of the living in mortal sin commits a sacrilege, which is a great sin, because it is an abuse of sacred thing Besides sanctifying grace the Sacraments give another grace, called sacramental Sacramental grace is special help which God gives, to attain the end for which He instituted each Sacrament. The Sacrament always give grace, if we receive them with the right dispositions We can receive Sacraments more than once, except Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders We cannot receive Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders more than once because they imprint a character in the soul The character which these sacraments imprint the soul is a spiritual mark which lives forever This character remains in the soul even after death: for the honor and glory of those who are saved; for the shame and punishment of those who are lost