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: 세례, 확인, 그만큼 성체, 고백, 결혼, Orders, 그리고 병자성사.
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, 예를 들어, 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 (보다 요한복음, 3:5, 그리고 사도행전, 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 (다시, 보다 남자 3:5; 9:7; 사도행전, 8:37; Paul’s Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s First Letter 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (참조 마가복음 6:13, or the 야고보의 편지 5:14); clay (보다 남자 9:6); garments (표시 5:25 또는 루크 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (참조 사도행전 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, ~도, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (참조 누가복음 1:41, 44, 그리고 사도행전 5:15, 각기).