As the name implies, the Sacraments are sacred rites instituted in the Church by Jesus. Properly speaking, there are seven Sacraments in the Catholic faith: 洗禮, 確認, the 聖體, 懺悔, 婚姻, Orders, and the 病人嘅恩膏.
Through the Sacraments believers receive God’s grace through material things like water, bread, wine and oil.
The Sacraments may be understood as outward signs that convey the grace they signify. Water, for example, signifies cleanliness and life. By the grace of God, the waters of Baptism actually cleanse the soul of sin and fill it with divine life (看 約翰福音, 3:5, and the 使徒行傳, 2:38). The Sacraments are patterned after the Incarnation, in which God, a spiritual being, took on human flesh–and the invisible one became visible.
The idea of grace being transferred through material things is a Biblical concept.
In the New Testament alone, we see water used in this way (again, 看 John 3:5; 9:7; 使徒行傳, 8:37; Paul’s Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s First Letter 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (see the 馬可福音 6:13, or the 詹姆斯嘅信 5:14); clay (看 John 9:6); garments (馬克 5:25 或 盧克 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (see the 使徒行傳 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, too, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (see the 路加福音 1:41, 44, and the 使徒行傳 5:15, respectively).