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: Βάπτισμα, Επιβεβαίωση, the ευχαριστία, Ομολογία, Γάμος, Orders, and the Χρίσμα Ασθενών.
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, για παράδειγμα, 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 (βλέπω Ευαγγέλιο του Ιωάννη, 3:5, and the Πράξεις των Αποστόλων, 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, βλέπω Γιάννης 3:5; 9:7; Πράξεις των Αποστόλων, 8:37; Paul’s Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s First Letter 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (see the Ευαγγέλιο του Μάρκου 6:13, or the Επιστολή του Τζέιμς 5:14); clay (βλέπω Γιάννης 9:6); garments (Σημάδι 5:25 ή Λουκ 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (see the Πράξεις των Αποστόλων 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, πολύ, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (see the Ευαγγέλιο του Λουκά 1:41, 44, and the Πράξεις των Αποστόλων 5:15, respectively).