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: 洗礼, 確認, の 聖体, 告白, 結婚, Orders, そしてその 病人の塗油.
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, 例えば, 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 (見る ヨハネの福音, 3:5, そしてその 使徒たちの行為, 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 (また, 見る ジョン 3:5; 9:7; 使徒たちの行為, 8:37; ポールさんの Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s 最初の一文字 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (を参照してください マルコの福音 6:13, または ジェームズの手紙 5:14); clay (見る ジョン 9:6); garments (マーク 5:25 また ルーク 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (を参照してください 使徒たちの行為 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, それも, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (を参照してください ルカの福音 1:41, 44, そしてその 使徒たちの行為 5:15, respectively).