Sacraments
Sacramental Formation/
Becoming Catholic
[God] is merciful in pouring out grace, even upon beginners. Mercy irrigates the heart.
So it says in Ecclesiasticus (Sirach):
I said, “I will water my plants,
I will drench my flower beds.”
Then suddenly this stream of mine became a river,
and this river of mine became a sea.
[Sirach 24:31] The garden is the soul, in which Christ, like a gardener, plants the sacraments of the faith, and which he then waters when he makes it fertile with the grace of repentance.”
–St. Anthony of Padua
What are Sacraments?
The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1131)
In other words, Sacraments are given to us by God so that we can receive grace, or his very life in us. Jesus established the Sacraments and entrusted them to the Church so that we would have the consolation of his presence ever with us to sustain us and give us life. Or, even better as St. Anthony poetically wrote it above, the Sacraments are the water or nourishment or critical care by which he tends to us and our needs, like that of a gardener to his plants.
The Sacraments give us life.
Interested in Baptism, Confirmation, or preparation for first Eucharist? In need of Reconciliation or Anointing of the Sick? Interested in Marriage or Holy Orders? Contact bfoley@syrdio.org with any questions.
Preparation for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist is underway,
please contact Fr. Foley to get caught up.