“A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality.”
-Mother Angelica
Eucharist (Holy Communion)
“The Eucharist is the bread that gives strength… It is at once the most eloquent proof of His love and the most powerful means of fostering His love in us.”
Saint Damien of Molokai
The Eucharist is the real presence of Jesus Christ—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—offered to us as the living bread from heaven. In this sacred sacrament, we are united with Christ and one another, strengthened by His grace to live as His disciples.
“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:56)
“As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1391).
“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)
Confirmation
“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…”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church #1285)
For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
The Sacrament of Confirmation is one of the three sacraments of initiation into the Catholic Church (together with Baptism and Holy Communion). This special anointing given by the bishop or priest has the effect of increasing, deepening, and strengthening the sanctifying grace of God given to us at our baptism; while baptism removes from our souls the stain of original sin, Confirmation pours into our souls the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit – just like the Apostles received at Pentecost, we are sent forth as witnesses of Christ in the world.
