The Sacraments, of which there are seven, are those means by which by Our Lord Jesus Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection has united Himself to His Church, and through His Church, to the Church's members, who constitute His Body. Not all of the Sacraments are for every member of the Church - for instance Holy Orders and the Sacrament of Matrimony are for those called to those states of life - but the Sacraments as a whole constitute the chief means through which the Christian life is lived until Death when we hope to die in a State of Grace, 'fortified by the Sacraments'.
What are these Sacraments?
1. Baptism
It is through the Sacrament of Baptism that a child or an adult becomes a 'new creation' in Christ. Through the Fall of our first parents, Original Sin entered into the World, the effects and stain of which means that mankind needs to be, in the words of Our Saviour, 'born again of water and the spirit'.
Our Lord taught that Baptism was essential for Salvation, telling His followers that 'unless a man is born again of water and the spirit, he shall not inherit eternal life'. Why? Because the rite of Baptism is not mere signs and symbols, but of sacramental nature. It indellibly marks the Soul and brings the Soul into the Divine Life of the Trinity itself. Through Baptism, 'what Christ is by nature, we become by adoption'. God is Father of all creation and all of mankind, but it is through Baptism that we are no longer enemies of God, but adopted
sons and daughters of God. In Her Creed, the Church proclaims its belief in 'one Baptism for the remission of sins'. It is because of our Baptism that we can imitate Christ in crying out 'Abba, Father'. From the beginning of Christ's Ministry on Earth, when St John the Baptist called men and women to repentance and to baptism for the forgiveness of their sins, the Church has taught that it is through our Baptism that we, as Christians, have a relationship with God which, if we 'persevere to the end', will win us our eternal Salvation.
2. The Most Holy Eucharist
The 'source and summit of Christian life', the Holy Eucharist is the way by which God wills that we should be united to Him as He feeds us with His Body and Blood. At every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ is made truly present to the Faithful as the Sacrifice of Calvary is made present on the Altar, in an unbloody manner.
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