Why are the sacraments necessary for believers?

There are seven sacraments :  the sacraments of Christian initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist; the sacraments of healing—the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick; and the sacraments of service to the community, including Holy Orders and Matrimony. But why are these sacraments necessary for the lives of believers? In this article from Hozana, discover why they are indispensable.


The sacraments enable the transmission of divine life to believers

To taste divine life is to experience or renew a personal encounter with Christ, who desires to be our friend and to share his divine life with us even here on earth. A sacramental life enables us to participate in divine life:

The sacraments are necessary for the sanctification of believers

One way for a baptized person to exercise their priestly office is, in particular, to participate in the Eucharist and the other sacraments, such as Reconciliation. For more details, we invite you to read our article titled “What Does It Mean for a Baptized Person to Be a Priest, Prophet, and King? ”

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) of the Second Vatican Council, in paragraph 59, adds that the sacraments serve to “to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ.” The same paragraph also explains regarding the sacraments: “They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity. It is therefore of the highest importance that the faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs, and should frequent with great eagerness those sacraments which were instituted to nourish the Christian life.”

The sacraments are necessary for salvation

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation” (no. 1129).

In the 16th century, the Council of Trent even condemned the opposite assertion :  “If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous, and that without them, and without the desire thereof, men, through faith alone, obtain of God the grace of justification; though all [the sacraments] he not necessary for every individual; let him be anathema.” (Decree on the Sacraments).

But what then becomes of those who do not receive the sacraments, not out of refusal but out of ignorance? The Second Vatican Council provides some answers in Lumen Gentium, paragraph 16: “Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.”

What the Church means is that it would be inconsistent to knowingly ignore the sacraments, for through these signs, Christ unites us to his death and resurrection. Indeed, as the Catechism reminds us in number 1115, “Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. the mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for 'what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries.'" (St. Leo the Great, Sermon 74, 2). The sacraments are therefore privileged means through which Christ communicates to the members of his Body his Paschal Mystery, which bears the fruits of a new life according to his Spirit.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) of the Second Vatican Council, in paragraph 59, adds that the sacraments serve to “to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ.”  That same paragraph also explains regarding the sacraments: They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity. It is therefore of the highest importance that the faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs, and should frequent with great eagerness those sacraments which were instituted to nourish the Christian life.”

Thus, the sacraments are not merely necessary for salvation as a rule to be observed; rather, by uniting the baptized vitally to Christ, they also help them to fulfill the mission of priest, prophet, and king that they received at their baptism.

Finally, see numbers 1127–1129 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. the Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.” (no. 1127).

“This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation49 that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God."50 From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.” (No. 1128).

“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.51 "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. the Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. the fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4) by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.” (No. 1129).


Bonus: Check out 2 other articles:

With Hozana, let’s deepen our sacramental life!

With Hozana, let’s deepen our sacramental life.

To do so, check out, for example:

  • Links to biographies of saints, which will show you how they drew strength from the sacraments throughout their lives

  • , which will help you deepen your union with Christ

  • This

  • And many other suggestions from .