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: Daf, Bestätegung, the Eucharistie, Beicht, Hochzäit, Orders, and the Salving vun de Kranken.
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, for example, 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 (gesinn Evangelium vum Johannes, 3:5, and the Akten vun den Apostelen, 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, gesinn John 3:5; 9:7; Akten vun den Apostelen, 8:37; Paul’s Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s First Letter 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (gesinn de Evangelium vum Mark 6:13, or the Bréif vum James 5:14); clay (gesinn John 9:6); garments (Mark 5:25 oder Luke 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (gesinn de Akten vun den Apostelen 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, och, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (gesinn de Evangelium vum Luke 1:41, 44, and the Akten vun den Apostelen 5:15, respectively).