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: Doop, Bevestiging, de Eucharistie, Bekentenis, Huwelijk, Orders, and the Zalving van de zieken.
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, Bijvoorbeeld, 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 (zien Evangelie van Johannes, 3:5, and the Handelingen van de 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, zien John 3:5; 9:7; Handelingen van de Apostelen, 8:37; van Paul Letter to Titus 3:5; or Peter’s First Letter 3:20 – 21); as well as oil (see the Evangelie van Marcus 6:13, of de Brief van Jacobus 5:14); clay (zien John 9:6); garments (Markering 5:25 or Lukas 8:43); and even handkerchiefs (see the Handelingen van de Apostelen 19:11-12).
God’s grace is transmitted through other sensible things, te, such as Mary’s voice and Peter’s shadow (see the Evangelie van Lucas 1:41, 44, and the Handelingen van de Apostelen 5:15, respectively).