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: Bautismo, Confirmación, el eucaristía, Confesión, Matrimonio, Orders, y el Unción de los Enfermos.
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, Por ejemplo, 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 (ver Evangelio de Juan, 3:5, y el Hechos de los Apóstoles, 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 (de nuevo, ver John 3:5; 9:7; Hechos de los Apóstoles, 8:37; de Pablo Carta a Tito 3:5; or Peter’s Primera letra 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (ver el Evangelio de Marcos 6:13, o el carta de james 5:14); arcilla (ver John 9:6); garments (Marca 5:25 o Lucas 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (ver el Hechos de los Apóstoles 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, también, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (ver el Evangelio de Lucas 1:41, 44, y el Hechos de los Apóstoles 5:15, respectivamente).