What do you receive with the 7 sacraments?

Answer 1

Roman Catholic AnswerThe classic definition of a sacrament is "A sensible sign, instituted by Jesus Christ, by which invisible grace and inward sanctification are communicated to the soul." So, obviously, the answer is grace. In a certain sense, you receive God, especially the Holy Spirit, in the sacraments, and in the Eucharist, you, of course, are receiving Our Blessed Lord, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. AnswerA sacrament is an outward, visible sign of God's inward, spiritual grace given to us. In other words it is a way in which we, as humans, have a tangible symbol of God's goodness towards us. In the same way that Jesus used simple parables to illustrate the deep love of God in a way that others could understand, the Church uses sacraments to illustrate God's goodness in symbols that we can see.

In the Roman Catholic Church there are seven official sacraments (baptism, confirmation, holy communion/mass, matrimony, holy orders, penance, extreme unction),

As examples, Baptism is the receipt of God's grace through a rebirth into his kingdom. The symbolic washing with water represents the cleansing of an old life and the start of a new; it symbolises rebirth; it symbolises God's refreshment. The signing of the cross at baptism represents the belonging to Christ after baptism, and the lighted candle the acceptance of Jesus as the light of the world. So we receive God's grace through action and symbol that we can understand.

At the Eucharist, the recipent receives God's grace through the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine, and also in sharing that spiritual meal with Christ's body - the Church. This outward sign is again a symbol of God's grace towards us.

So with the sacraments we receive God's grace - in an outward and visible way that makes it easier to understand than otherwise.