What do the seven Sacraments actually do?

Answer 1

The Sacraments impart God's Grace to us as they are outward and tangible expressions of intangible Grace. The seven Sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life. There is, thus, a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages and of the spiritual life (CCC 1210*).

The Sacraments are divided into three categories:

Sacraments of Christian Initiation: 1: Baptism - which washes away Original sin and all actual sins. 2: Confirmation - which fills us with the Holy Spirit. 3: Eucharist - in which we receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.

These would be likened to our youth.

Sacraments of Healing: 4: Penance (Reconciliation) - where we tell God that we are sorry for Sinning and receive forgiveness. 5: Anointing of the sick - where we are anointed with oil and receive a laying on of hands asking God to heal us.

These would be like our teens and early adult life.

Sacraments of Mission (service of community/mission of the faithful) 6: Holy Orders - where one is consecrated to the Lord by the laying on of hands to confer God's Grace through the Sacraments. 7: Matrimony - where mutual consent to live together as husband and wife is received.

This would be most of our adult life.

Finally, we have the Last Rites (parts are taken from three of the Sacraments - Penance, Anointing of the Sick, and Eucharist): this can be considered a unity in the Sacraments for the end of Christian life that prepare us for our heavenly homeland and completes our earthly pilgrimage.

This would be our later years of life.

So, one can see the Sacraments do a lot for us. They impart God's Grace when we need it... That is all of the time.