March 20, 2011 – Catechism 774-780

Often people misunderstand the Sacraments of the Church.  They are the Ordinary means of Salvation.  They are the visible signs of God’s invisible Graces.  They bestow God’s Grace on us and establish that connection with God that is established during our lives and when we die will draw us to Heaven.  They are the practices, established by Christ and developed by the Church over the last 2,000 years.  They are not be taken lightly, which I must admit I have in the past, or ignored as some tradition with no effect.  They are not the only way to get to Heaven, the Catholic Church teaches, because God’s power is beyond limitation and He is in control and can save people in ways we don’t understand.  But they are the ORDINARY means to Salvation.  This is the method a person is suppose to use in order to walk the way of Christ in this life.  Some churches have some of the Sacraments, some have all of them in different forms, but it is in the Catholic Church that the 7 Sacraments are given and received in their fullness and have been for the life of the Church.  Does that mean all Catholics that receive the Sacraments are getting into Heaven?  Absolutely not.  Unlike some denominations, there is not theology about once saved, always saved.  A person can receive a true and proper Sacrament and fall from grace and separate themselves from God as quickly as they choose to.  The Sacraments are not some magic spell we receive and automatically become Holy.  They do bestow Grace on us that help us make decisions in line with God’s will, but the chose to allow those Graces to lead us in always in our hands.