
The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all
the important moments of Christian life:
They give birth and
increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith.
There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of
natural life and the stages of the spiritual life. The
sacraments form an organic whole in which each particular
sacrament has its own vital place. In this organic whole, the
Eucharist occupies a unique place as the "Sacrament of
sacraments:" "All the other sacraments are ordered to it as to
their end."
For more
information on the Sacraments, please
contact the office or check the parish
calendar. |
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Baptism: Holy Baptism is the basis
of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit
(vitae spiritualis ianua),[4] and the door which gives access to
the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and
reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are
incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission:
"Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the
word." |
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Confirmation: Baptism, the
Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute
the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be
safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the
reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the
completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of
Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the
Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy
Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more
strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and
deed." |
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Eucharist: The holy Eucharist
completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to
the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured
more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole
community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist. |
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Reconciliation: Those who
approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy
for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same
time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by
their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer
labors for their conversion. |
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Anointing of the Sick: By the
sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the
whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and
glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And
indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People
of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of
Christ. |
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Matrimony: The matrimonial
covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between
themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature
ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and
education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons
has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a
sacrament. |