Importance Of The Roman Catholic Rituals: The Seven Sacraments

1939 Words4 Pages

John Duhig
Professor Davis
REL 205
5 December 2014
Catholic Rituals: The Seven Sacraments Many things in our culture today deal with rituals of the people that lived before us. There are many parallels between World Religions, one of them being the rituals of worship. One Religion that is specifically known for its rituals is the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church has many different rituals that its followers use to practice their faith. Without these rituals of faith the religion would have no unity of worship and be in shambles. Within the Roman Catholic Church, there are many rituals that vary in terms of importance, frequency and world-wide standardization. The standardized rituals deemed most essential make up what …show more content…

The candidate is usually wearing white. The color white represents purity; the candidate’s soul is becoming pure in order to let God in. Oils are a very common thing used in the sacraments. The oil catechumen is placed on the candidates, parents, and godparents heads (jesuschristsavior.net). The candidate is the head is then submerged under water. While this is done the priest or deacon says “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (jesuschristsavior.net). To conclude the ceremony the candidate is anointed with the sacred chrism (catholic.org). The second sacrament is the Holy Eucharist. Catholics also call this Communion. This Sacrament, just like baptism, was seen several times in the bible and was given to Catholics directly from Jesus. The ritual practice of the Eucharist comes from Christ at the last supper. According to the book of Matthew, “And while they were at supper, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to His disciples and said, "Take you and eat, this is my Body." And taking the chalice He gave thanks and gave it to them saying, "Drink you all of this. For this is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto remission of …show more content…

Roman Catholics believe that through the sacrament of confession the Lord will forgive the sins that they have committed. The Priest acts as an intercessor for Christ; he hears the sins that the Catholic has committed then with the power he receives from Jesus is able to forgive the sins (catholic.org). This works when the Priest gives absolution to the repenting soul, the Catholic must truly be sorry for the sins he has committed otherwise Christ will not forgive them (jesuschristsavior.net). The Priest then makes the sign of the cross with the candidate saying, “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (jesuschristsavior.net). The Priest will then give a penance to the candidate. The Penance is usually some type of prayer, fasting, or nice act to another person to truly show that you feel sorrow for the sins committed

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