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: Skírn, Staðfesting, the Evkaristía, Játning, Hjónaband, Orders, and the Smurning sjúkra.
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, til dæmis, 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 (sjáðu Jóhannesarguðspjall, 3:5, and the Postulasagan, 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 (aftur, sjáðu Jón 3:5; 9:7; Postulasagan, 8:37; Páls Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s Fyrsta bréf 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (sjáðu Markúsarguðspjall 6:13, or the Bréf Jakobs 5:14); leir (sjáðu Jón 9:6); garments (Mark 5:25 eða Lúkas 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (sjáðu Postulasagan 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, líka, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (sjáðu Lúkasarguðspjall 1:41, 44, and the Postulasagan 5:15, respectively).