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Sacraments

In his letter to the Ephesians St. Paul tells us that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ "has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world…he destined us to adoption to himself through Jesus Christ" (1:3&5). We are adopted to him through the sacrament of Baptism and together with the other six sacraments he bestows his spiritual blessings upon us.

In Baptism he gives us a share in his own divine life and lifts us from the merely human to his own divine level. This is a free gift that we could never achieve or merit by our own works or abilities. Freely given, this gift or grace also entails the great responsibility of living as a child of God, holy and blameless in his sight.

To be "holy" in the sight of God means to be set aside from the ordinary ways of living in the world, to embrace the Gospel and live it in a way that is noticeable and an example to those around us. For some people we are the only thing they see of Jesus in this world. To be "blameless" in the sight of God means that we live the Gospel deliberately and with an ever increasing depth of devotion.

The seven sacraments are a way for us to live in Christ. They enable us to grow in our love and relationship with God and one another in joy. We walk in a world of darkness and in the shadow of death, and bear the light of hope and life.