Sacramental Life At Our Lady of Mercy

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES ABOUT THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we learn:

The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharist sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. (#1113)

Sacraments are “powers that come forth” from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are “the masterworks of God” in the new and everlasting covenant. (#1116)

The purpose of the sacrament is to sanctify people, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen and express it. That is why they are called ‘sacraments of faith.’ (#1123)

It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. “Liturgical services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is ‘the sacrament of unity,’ namely, the holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole Body of the Church. They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they touch individual member of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the liturgical service and their actual participation in them.’ For this reason, ‘rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately.” (#1140)

THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

The sacraments of Christian initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist – lay the foundations of every Christian life. The sharing in the divine nature given to people through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of the Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity. (#1212)

(Adults who have never been baptized wishing to be baptized Roman Catholics, adults who have been baptized in a Christian Community other than the Roman Catholic Church, e.g. The Lutheran Church, adults who were baptized Roman Catholic but never celebrated Confirmation and/ or Holy Eucharist click here for further information about celebrating the Sacraments of Christian Initiation (Click here.)

INFANT BAPTISM

Baptism is the sacrament of faith. But faith needs the community of believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. The faith required for baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. (#1253)

Christian parents will recognize that this practice is also in accord with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.

The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole ‘households’ received baptism, infants my have been baptized. (#1251-1252)

(Parents wishing to baptize their children into the Roman Catholic Faith, CLICK HERE.)

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. 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.” (#1285)

(Parents wishing to enroll their children in the formation process in preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, CLICK HERE.)

HOLY EUCHARIST

The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participation with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist. (#1322) NB. In the Roman Rite, the ordinary minister of the Sacrament of Confirmation is a Bishop. Therefore, the practiced order for the reception of the sacraments is Holy Eucharist prior to Confirmation.

(Parents wishing to enroll their children in the formation process in preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament of Eucharist [First Holy Communion], CLICK HERE.)

PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

Through the sacraments of Christian initiation, an individual receives the new life of Christ. Now we carry this life “in earthen vessels,” and it remains “hidden with Christ in God.” We are still in our “earthly tent,” subject to suffering, illness and death. This new life as a child of God can be weakened and even lost by sin. (#1420)

The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. (#1421)

The community of Our Lady of Mercy celebrates the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation each Saturday from 4pm to 5pm. Communal Celebrations of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with individual absolution are held during the Seasons of Advent and Lent.

(Parents wishing to enroll their children in the formation process in preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament Penance and Reconciliation [First Reconciliation], CLICK HERE.)

THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK

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 them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ. (#1499)

Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death. (#1500)

Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him. (#1501)

Any baptized adult, suffering from sickness (physical or mental), accident, or old age may approach one of the parish priests at any time asking for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Family members of homebound sick parishioners may invite any of the parish priests to come and visit the homebound and ask him to administer the sacrament during the pastoral visit. Call the parish office at 201 434 7500.

Viaticum, the Last Sacrament of the Christian (Last Rites)

In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of ‘passing over’ to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of the resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist, is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father. (#1524)

MARRIAGE AND HOLY ORDERS

Baptism, confirmation and eucharist are sacraments of Christian initiation. They ground the common vocation of all Christ’s disciples, a vocation to holiness and to the mission of evangelizing the world. They confer the graces needed for the life according to the spirit during this life as pilgrims on the march towards the homeland. (#1533)

Two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God. (#1534)

Through, these sacraments those already consecrated by Baptism and Confirmation for the common priesthood of all the faithful can receive particular consecrations. Those who receive the sacrament of Holy Orders are consecrated in Christ’s name ‘to feed the Church by the word and grace of God.’ On their part, “Christian spouses are fortified and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and dignity of their state by a special sacrament.’ (#1535)

MARRIAGE

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. (#1601)

Guidelines established by the Archdiocese of Newark strongly recommend that couples wishing to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage approach one of the parish priests one year prior to the proposed celebration of the Sacrament. Call the parish office at 201 434 7500.

NB. In order to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage both the man and the woman must be free to marry in the Roman Catholic Church. That means that neither party has a previous bond of marriage under any form, i.e. before a Justice of the Peace or civil magistrate, in another Church or Synagogue, or within the Roman Catholic Church itself. Should either party have a previous bond of marriage, he or she or they must make this know to the Parish Priest immediately. He will assist you in acquiring information concerning the resolution of this impediment.

HOLY ORDERS
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 (bishop), presbyterate (priest), and diaconate (deacon). (#1536)

Any male, young or not so young, feeling the call of the Holy Spirit to pursue the Call to Priesthood may approach any of the Parish Priests.

Any man of the parish, married or single, 35 years of age or older feeling the call of the Holy Spirit to pursue the Call to the Deaconate may approach any of the Parish Priests.