2nd Quarter

SACRAMENTS IN
GENERAL
 Topic

A
 The Meaning of Sacraments

 The Number of Sacraments

 The Necessity of Sacraments

 The Effects of Sacraments

 The Sacraments of Christian

Initiation
 The Sacraments of Healing

 The Sacraments at the Service of

Communion
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The Meaning of the Sacraments
 What is a Sacrament?

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 The Meaning of the Sacraments

Sacraments are among the signs that

convey to us what is spiritual and divine.
Such, however, are no ordinary sacred
signs.

The use of the term sacrament refers

exclusively to the seven great means God
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 Four essential points which help us gain a
better understanding of the nature and
meaning of Sacraments.

It is a SIGN
- It points to something, that is, to the reality it
represents. Although it bears a natural resemblance to the
signified reality, it cannot point to itself. Thus the water
poured on the body in baptism does not mean washing of the
body, but rather, it signifies the washing of the soul.

2. It is a SENSIBLE SIGN
- It is known through the external senses. An
abstract or an image produced by the imagination could not
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be a sacrament.
 Four essential points which help us gain a
better understanding of the nature and
meaning of Sacraments.

3. It is INSTITUTED BY CHRIST
- sacraments are the very words and actions of
Christ. They are means or channels by which God
communicates His grace to us. God is the principal author of
all sacraments. Only God can give grace. Only He can choose
the way to give it to us, that is, by means of the sacraments.

4. It causes the Grace it signifies

- the Church uses the Latin words ex opere operato
(literally, “by the very fact of the actions of being performed)
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to explain that the sacramental signs really bestow the grace
 Activity: Identify the pictures below

1.What do these signs remind you?

2.Why do we have to receive the sacraments?
3.Why did Christ instituted the Sacraments?

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 The Gospels narrate how Jesus performed various miracles like
1. bringing the deaf back to hear,
2. the lame walk,
3. the blind to see, and other wondrous deeds like;
4. raising Lazarus to life

However, oftentimes, we tend to look for signs and miracles that we

desire instead of listening to His words and having faith in Him.
It is our tendency to ask for some signs that lead us to miss seeing
the reality.

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 Sacraments: definitions

SACRAMENTS

- The visible and efficacious signs of

grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the
church.
- the official channels of grace to our
souls.
- each time we receive a sacrament,
our supernatural life is nourished.
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 The sacraments belong to the Church in a double sense:

 They are “by the Church” because

she is the sacrament of Christ’s
action at work in her through the
mission of the Holy Spirit.

 They are “for the Church” because

the sacraments make the Church.
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 Nota Bene:

The Word “Sacrament” derives

from the Latin word Sacramentum,
meaning, “Consecrated;” since
these consecrated the faithful to
Christ.
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 What are the Three Essential Elements of
Sacraments?

Each sacrament requires three essential

elements, without which it is null and void.
Minister Matter Form
He is the person administering the It is the sensible element used for the It is the formula used in the celebration.
Sacrament, for instance, the minister of sacrament. (i.e. in the eucharist, it is the (i.e. in the Eucharist: “This is my Body,
the Eucharist is the priest. bread and wine) This is my blood”

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14
The Number of the Sacraments
 Strength in numbers:

What do you understand

about the statement below:

ACTIVITY
“MAJORITY
WINS,
MINORITY
HURTS”
 We cannot find any list of the seven
sacraments in the Bible, but the
Church has always professed her
belief in the seven sacraments by
using them. There are only seven
sacraments.

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 Why seven?
We may pose the question: “can the Pope add
one more sacrament? Or can he eliminate even
one of them? "the answer is: absolutely not.

Christ instituted just seven sacraments

because "seven were necessary to provide for
the perfection of the individual Christian and
for the government and multiplication of the
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 The first five sacraments correspond to the different needs
of the Christian’s spiritual life:

1.Baptism – birth
2.Confirmation – growth
3.Eucharist – nutrition
4.Penance – cure in sickness
5.Anointing of the Sick - preparation
for the soul’s union with God.
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 The other two correspond to the
needs of Christian society:

6. Holy Orders – the Christian

priesthood
7. Matrimony – the Christian family

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 The seven sacraments are
organized into three groups:
The Sacraments of The Sacraments at the
Christian Initiation Service of Communion

A.Baptism The Sacraments

of Healing
A.Holy
B.Confirma A.Penance Orders
tion B.Matrimo
B.Anointing
C.Holy of the Sick ny
Eucharist
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The sacraments are classified into following categories:
1.The sacraments of the living, because they
can be received only by those who are
in the state of grace.
A. Confirmation
B. Eucharist
C. Holy Orders
D. Matrimony
E. Anointing of the Sick

2. The sacraments of the dead, because they

may be received by those who are spiritually dead
because of mortal sin.
 It is important to understand that the seven
sacraments correspond to the different
stages of life’s development.

1. The supernatural life or our share in the life of God himself is our rebirth
conferred to us in Baptism
2. by virtue of Christ’s death on the cross. Confirmation makes this life grow
and get stronger.
3.It is the Holy Eucharist that sustains the nourishment of this supernatural life.
4. When we commit a venial sin, this life is weakened or even rendered dead if it
is a mortal sin; it is then cured or restored through Penance.
5.when death draws near, the Anointing of the Sick gives special strengthening
to the supernatural life.
6.Christ instituted the sacrament of Holy Orders to feed, rule and govern the
Church.
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7.And as family, the Church grows through the sacrament of Matrimony.
 Remember!

The New Testament does not give us a list of the seven

sacraments. Neither does the early Christian writings or
the early Christian Tradition. However, the really
important fact is that all Christians everywhere in the
world believed that there are sacraments.

The existence of the sacraments, is a dogma of

faith defined by the Councils of Florence and Trent.
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