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168 • Part II. The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated
prayer life of the Church, while the term
Sacrament
refers to a particular
celebration of Christ’s salvific work.
THE SACRAMENTS
The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around
the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments.
—CCC, no. 1113
As we come to understand the Sacraments, it is important to recognize
that the Sacraments have a visible and invisible reality, a reality open to
all the human senses but grasped in its God-given depths with the eyes
of faith. When parents hug their children, for example, the visible reality
we see is the hug. The invisible reality the hug conveys is love. We can-
not “see” the love the hug expresses, though sometimes we can see its
nurturing effect in the child.
The visible reality we see in the Sacraments is their outward expres-
sion, the form they take, and the way in which they are administered
and received. The invisible reality we cannot “see” is God’s grace, his
gracious initiative in redeeming us through the death and Resurrection
of his Son. His initiative is called
grace
because it is the free and loving
gift by which he offers people a share in his life, and shows us his favor
and will for our salvation. Our response to the grace of God’s initiative
is itself a grace or gift from God by which we can imitate Christ in our
daily lives.
The saving words and deeds of Jesus Christ are the foundation of
what he would communicate in the Sacraments through the ministers
of the Church. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church recognizes the
existence of Seven Sacraments instituted by the Lord. They are grouped
together in the following way:
• Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation, as
it is called in the Eastern Churches), and Eucharist
• Sacraments of Healing: Penance and Reconciliation and Anointing
of the Sick