Skip to main content

Teach the Sacraments and Let God’s Light Shine

Teach the Sacraments and Let God’s Light Shine:

As Catholics, we are so blessed to have seven sacraments available to us during our lifetimes! Although some of the sacraments can only be experienced once in a person’s life (e.g. Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony or Holy Orders), the sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation can be received regularly, and the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick whenever there is a need. So what exactly is a sacrament? In simplified terms, a sacrament is an opportunity to receive grace from God. As defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, grace is favor, the free undeserved help God gives us. Through the sacraments, we have amazing opportunities to experience God's gift of grace and allow Him to work through our lives!

When you look at the sacraments, they can be divided into three parts: (1) Sacraments of Initiation into the Church—Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, (2) Sacraments of Healing—Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick, and (3) Sacraments of Serving— Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders. 

Teaching your children about the sacraments and living them is an important part in building the faith foundation of your children. How do your children see you approach Holy Eucharist? Have your children witnessed their parents going to Reconciliation? Have they gone to Reconciliation more than once? How is the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony lived out and witnessed for your children? 

When I was three and battling leukemia in the hospital, my parents had our parish priest come to give me the Anointing of the Sick, although I don't recommend throwing popcorn at the priest that comes to pray and/or anoint you like I did, don’t be afraid to receive this sacrament. Often, I think people think they need to be on their death bed to receive this sacrament and the graces it provides, but that’s not the case. People can receive Anointing of the Sick for emotional, mental, and physical sicknesses throughout their lives.

Today, discuss the beauty of the sacraments with your children. Help them prepare for and then celebrate the ones they receive only once, and bring those that can be received more than once regularly into your family life. As a craft to help your children remember the sacraments, make a collage that depicts all seven sacraments with images. You can also make a circle that lists the sacraments around it to illustrate the sacramental life of the Church and turn the circle into a sorting game to learn the sacraments and their categories. Experience and live the Sacraments you’ve been blessed to receive, and allow the divine graces poured into you to help God’s light in you shine out into the world!

Dear Lord, help me and my family to live out the sacraments we have received. Help us to live out our baptismal vows and faith and love for you in ways that allow your light to shine forth in our lives. Amen.





Additional Resource:

Below is a great video, from Ascension Press, that discusses the sacraments of the church you and your family can watch together.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saint Margaret Mary

Saint Margaret Mary: Feast Day October 16th  “Look upon yourself as a tree planted beside water, which bears its fruit in due season; the more it is shaken by the wind, the deeper it strikes its roots into the ground.” ~ Saint Margaret Mary ~ Faith is a gift—an undeserved and valuable grace granted by the Holy Spirit. Each of us has the capacity to seek The Way, The Truth, and The Life, for this longing has been inscribed within our hearts. Yet, in our free will, we have the choice and ability to ignore and turn from this divine call. Like the image of the tree Saint Margaret Mary describes above, if we seek Jesus and are rooted in our faith, nothing can shake us. Our water is the Church, and Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist, is who makes our roots deep and strong enabling us to withstand the winds of the world and produce good fruit in His name.  Jesus offers us so many opportunities to find Him, and so many ways to live with Him in Heaven. In the 1600s, He appeared to Saint Mar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Baptism of the Lord

Baptism of the Lord: The Last Day of Christmas  “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Since Jesus is God and, therefore, sinless and perfect, he didn’t need to be baptized, but by being baptized, he gave us a sacrament for adoption into his family—a means to become children of God. What makes the Sacrament of Baptism important? (1) Baptism claims us as children of God, forgiving us of our sins, (“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”), it is the first sacrament of initiation into the Church and Her mission, and through Baptism, God gifts us with grace. What exactly is grace? The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it as: “Grace is favor, the free undeserved help that God gives us to respond to His call to become children of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saints Joachim and Anne

Saints Joachim and Anne: Feast Day July 26th Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus had grandparents? When God the Son took on human flesh, he also paced himself within the dynamics of the human family. Although there is no specific reference in the Bible to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s parents by name, the Church celebrates Jesus' maternal grandparents under the names Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. It took a special father and mother to raise, care for, and help prepare the Blessed Virgin Mary for her future vocation and extraordinary relationship with God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and her saintly husband, Saint Joseph; and those special parents were no doubt saints themselves. Speaking of Saint Joseph, his parents would also have been grandparents of the Lord. Celebrating Jesus' grandparents today, reminds us that grandparents are the keepers and transmitters of family history and tradition, and are the patriarchs and matriarchs of families, holding generatio...
Post a Comment
Read more