The Seven Sacraments of Catholics Essay

Confirmation in the Catholic Church Confirmation is a Catholic sacrament of mature Christian commitment and a deepening of baptismal gifts. Like Baptism and Eucharist, it is a Sacrament of Initiation for Catholics and a Sacrament of faith in God's fidelity to us Confirmation is the moment when two things are confirmed. The candidate confirms his/her faith in Christ and takes full responsibility for that faith and for membership of the community of faith, which we call the "church". God, through the Bishop, confirms God's claim on the candidate's life.

Sacramentality, mediation, and communion – three properties of Catholicism that are central to its understanding. Like Catholicism, these three properties are universal and can be found in the writings of Catholic authors dating back thousands of years ago. From the first written Scriptures found in the Bible to the modern day works of writers like Flannery O’Connor, these three properties can be found portrayed in works of both fiction and nonfiction. However, these properties are not always easy to find for the untrained mind or even to differentiate for those who do have a better understanding. Sacramentality is the notion that all of creation potentially bears the presence of God. Essentially, one experiences the invisible God through the visible world. Mediation goes hand in hand with sacramentality. It occurs when God is not only present in creation but also works through it. Instead of something symbolizing or reminding you of God, it actually speaks to you and brings you closer to Him. The last property of the Catholic Church is communion. Communion is God’s way of reaching us through the communities in which we live. All three of these properties have close ties to each other. Flannery O’Connor portrays all three – sacramentality, mediation, and communion – in her book Mystery and Manners.

John Wesley wrote in his Sermon 16 that the means of grace are understood as “outward signs, words, or actions ordained by God… to be the ordinary channels whereby (God) might convey to men preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.” Means are what happen outside of oneself and the grace is what does the work inside of ourselves or another way to say this is to say the ways we receive and experience grace. When we speak of the sacraments we refer to them as outward signs of an inward and spiritual grace. The means of grace in the sacraments, means are the bread and cup of communion and the water of the baptism and the liturgy spoken. These act in an outward and physical way, but the real work is that of the invisible grace we receive.

Salvador Dali’s painting, The Sacrament of the Last Supper (oil on canvas, 65 ¾ x 105 ½ in., c. 1995), has become one of his most iconic paintings from his “late” period. This painting portrays one of the most famous scenes from the Bible, the Last Supper, depicting the twelve disciples eating their final meal with Jesus. This scene has been created many times throughout history by many different artists. However, through Salvador Dali’s use of equal symmetry, the uncommon setting he chose and the interesting perspective and focal points, he was able to recreate a completely unique version of this common biblical scene while adding his twist of surrealism.

The doctrine of seven sacraments is accepted in the Greek Orthodox church, although no supreme authority has ever limited the sacraments to that number. The central sacrament is the Eucharist; the others are baptism, normally by immersion; confirmation, which follows baptism immediately in the form of anointment with chrism; penance; Holy Orders; marriage; and anointment of the sick. The Greek Orthodox church admits married men to the priesthood. Bishops, however, are elected from among celibate or widowed clergy.

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

The Frontispice and Incipit of the Gelasian Sacrament, is the art from the first two pages of the Gelasian Sacrament. While it is impossible to know for certain, since this piece was neither signed nor dated, it is widely accepted that this piece was created by nuns in the nunnery at Chelles. The nunnery at Chelles is famous for having “cultivated the art of writing.” 1 The story of the journey of this codex is unknown. From the nunnery in France, this codex spent time in the library of Queen Christina of Sweden, before heading to the Vatican Library. But other than these three location, the whereabouts of this book through the century are unknown. What is known is this codex was “made for priest not bishops” and was “used in Roman churches in the seventh century.”2 Also, “it has not, however, reached us in its original form, but with modifications and additions made by generation after generation.”3

SacramentsOrthodox Christians believe in seven sacraments which were inaugurated by Jesus Christ to assist in living the Christian life. The seven Sacraments are Baptism, Chrismation, Holy Eucharist, Ordination, Marriage, Confession and Holy Unction.

Throughout the course of organized religion both present and past, ritualistic acts of praise and worship have been practiced as a sign of both love and honor to God. Catholicism refers to these rituals as sacraments. As Christians and members of this faith, the first sacrament received by each member is Baptism. This sacrament has not only been practiced since the beginning of our faith, but has deep meaning and symbolic ties to the start of creation with Adam and Eve. I hope to prove through both illustration and published works how Baptism as a sacrament is both a sign and symbol of humanities desire to become closer to God by cleansing them of original sin through this ritual and rite of passage.

Receiving the Eucharist is one of the most important things we can do as a catholic. Holy Communion is the most important of all the sacraments. It completes the Sacraments of Initiation. The bread and wine we receive at communion is the body and blood of Jesus. It becomes the bread and body of Jesus through Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remain. We participate in the sacrament of communion to commemorate all that Jesus did for us and getting nailed to a cross so we can be free from sin and have eternal life in heaven.

The world has more than one billion Catholics and with the ever growing population, it will only get larger in number. To be a Catholic means to have complete faith in God and his divine grace. Having God's divine grace means to obey it and keep it holy as it was created by God and given to his people. The religion itself is based on this and the people take it very seriously. Catholics believe that all people are of good nature but when one commits a sin it not only hurts that one person but the people and the Church.

The Communion Christians have always regarded the Holy Communion as being one very important element towards achieving discipleship since the very beginning. However, the question in every Christian’s mind is “what are we doing?” it is, therefore, important to discuss what the holy communion means about theology. The Holy Communion has several names given to it. Among them are: the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, Divine Liturgy, and the Mass. Inside the New Testament, there are also varying details given there concerning what entails the Holy Communion on accounts given by Christ himself.[1] The Holy Communion does not compare to Baptism which is another sacrament that is non-repeatable. It is repeatable to some certain degrees as it can be done on a daily basis such as those performed by the Catholic Church. In other instances, it can be conducted on a much infrequent celebration such as the ones that happen in Reformed Churches. Referring to Baptism, there are differences in the practice and its significance, and sometimes the understanding of what it means to be baptized. This has gone ahead to become e a hindrance to churches having a common celebration, but at the same time, there is some spiritual benefit that accrues to the people that partake in it. In the same way, the Eucharist possess the same characteristics. Nature of the Union of Christ and Church The Holy Communion is not just a matter of people ingathering in unity. The purpose of having the communion is so

Christians' Celebrations of Holy Communion There are many different ways in which Christians celebrate Holy Communion, depending on the denomination of Christianity, in which they belong. Holy Communion is one of the seven sacraments found in Christianity. A sacrament is an outward physical act with an inward, deeper meaning, which can be obtained through various, specific rituals. In the case of Holy Communion, which is also known as the Eucharist meal or Mass, Christian worshippers believe that they receive the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, through the act of eating the bread, which symbolises Christ’s body, and by drinking the wine, said to be his blood. This sacrament originates back to

The meaning of the word Catholic is universal. The church is catholic in two senses. The first is that Christ is present in her so she possesses the fullness of Christ and has received from him the fullness of the means of salvation. The second is Christ sent her on a mission to gather all people into the people of God. The church feels connected to all people because all are made in the image and likeness of God. Despite this, the perfect union with God and all people will not take place till the end of time. Churches are completely and fully Catholic when they are in communion with the Church of Rome, meaning they recognize the Pope’s authority as the visible foundation for the unity of all members of the church and church leaders. The Seven Sacraments are also a huge part of what makes the church Catholic as they touch the totality of a persons life and Catholic journey from Baptism in the beginning as a sacrament of initiation to Annointing of the Sick at the

The Catholic Church sees the effects of the sacrament as follows: As the sacrament of Marriage gives grace for the married state, the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick gives grace for the state into which people enter through sickness. Through the sacrament a gift of the Holy Spirit is given, that renews confidence and faith in God and strengthens against temptations to discouragement, despair and anguish at the thought of death and the struggle of death; it prevents the believer from losing Christian hope in God 's justice, truth and salvation. Because one of the effects of the sacrament is to absolve the recipient of any sins not previously absolved through the sacrament of penance, only an ordained priest or bishop