The Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.  The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament.  They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. (CCC 1131)

There are seven sacraments:  Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony.  These 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.  (CCC 1213)

Baptism

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 28:19)

Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door, which gives access to the other sacraments.  Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons and daughters of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.  (CCC 1213)

The Sacrament of Baptism is the foundation of, and the initial step into, the Christian life.  It is the first of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church.  Along with the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist, it makes up the sacraments of Christian Initiation.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the word baptism comes from the Greek word baptizein, which means to "plunge" or "immerse" into water.  Through the sacrament of Baptism we are freed from original sin, reborn as a child of God, become members of Christ, and incorporated into the family of the Catholic Church. (CCC 1213)

First Reconciliation

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.  (John 20:23)

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a sacrament of healing because it reconciles us with God through his merciful love and forgiveness of our sins.  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the sacrament of Reconciliation is known by many names (the sacrament of conversion, penance, confession or forgiveness) because it offers all of those things.  It is the sacrament of conversion because it turns us back towards God.  It is the sacrament of Penance because it consecrates our remorse for having sinned.  It is the sacrament of confession because of our disclosure of sin to a priest.  It is the sacrament of forgiveness because of the sacramental absolution God grants through the priest.  (CCC 1422-1424)

"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."  (CCC 1422)

At Our Lady of the Snows, the religious education curriculum prepares children to celebrate First Reconciliation.  Parents are required to attend one meeting in preparation for each sacrament.   Older children who have not celebrated these sacraments are prepared privately. Arrangements for this preparation can be made with the Director of Religious Education.

First Eucharist

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.  (John 6:51)

The Holy Eucharist completes the 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.  (CCC 1322)

Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, the new Passover, as a pledge of his love, as a way of remaining with us forever, as a memorial of his Death and Resurrection, and as the sacrifice of the New Covenant.  Through the Sacrifice of the Precious Body and Blood at Holy Mass, we are made participants in the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, the Passion.  It is the gift we celebrate at each and every Mass through the breaking of the bread.  

At Our Lady of the Snows, the religious education curriculum prepares children to celebrate First Eucharist. Older children who have not celebrated these sacraments are prepared privately.  Arrangements for this preparation can be made with the Director of Religious Education.

Confirmation

In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.  (Ephesians 1:13-14)

The sacrament of Confirmation seals the recipient with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Along with the sacrament of Baptism and Eucharist, it makes up the sacraments of Christian Intitiation.  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".  (CCC 1285)

Matrimony

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word.  (Ephesians 5:25-26)

In St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, he speaks of the love that unites a couple in the sacrament of Marriage as reflecting the love that unites Christ to us, the Church.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the sacrament of Marriage "gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life".  (CCC 1661)  It is only fitting that, since marriage publicly establishes a couple in their life in the Church, that the sacrament be celebrated in a public Church liturgy.

"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".  (CIC, can. 1055 §1; cf. GS 48 §1) (CCC 1322)

The Sacrament of Holy Orders

Jesus continued His tour of all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.  At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is good but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest".  (Matthew 9:35-38)

Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time:  thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry.  It includes three degrees:  episcopate, presbyterate, diaconate.  (CCC 1536)

The sacrament of Holy Orders confers upon men the grace and spiritual power to celebrate the sacraments as ordained ministers of the Catholic Church.  The same sacrament is administered in three degrees, each with a higher sacramental effect for the ordained minister:  first deacon, then priest, and finally bishop.  The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, and is able in turn to administer all seven sacraments, through his succession to the apostles.  The priest shares in the ministry of the bishop and serves at his discretion, administering the sacrament of Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick and, with special permission, Confirmation.  The deacon is ordained for service to the church, and can administer the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage.  Deacons can be married at the time of their ordination. (CCC 1536-1600)

Anointing of the Sick

Is anyone among you sick?  He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.  If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15)

"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 to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ".  (LG 11; cf. Jas 5:14-16; Rom 8:17; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 2:11-12; 1 Pet 4:13). (CCC 1499)

The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament of healing.  Where once it may have been reserved for individuals who were near death and preparing for passing over to eternal life, hence its former name of Last Rites, today it is administered to those who fall seriously ill and are seeking restoration to health through the special grace of this sacrament.  (CCC 1499-1532)

The sacrament may be celebrated in the context of a Mass, or on its own, depending on the needs of the individual who is sick.  If the individual is not able to come to the Church, the sacrament may be celebrated in their home.  Whether celebrated in a Mass, or on its own in church or at the person's home, the individual may be surrounded and supported by other members of the Christian community sharing in the prayer of faith.

If you or someone you know needs to receive the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, please call the Parish Office for assistance.