When Saint Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians he said that they should consider him (and the other apostles) “servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1).   When the word mystery was translated from Greek into Latin, it was normally translated as sacramentum; thus the sacraments are the mysteries of Christianity.

A sacrament is what brings the life of God into the life of a human.  As important as faith is (and it is essential), God doesn’t merely want us to believe and trust in Him, rather He wants to live inside of us: “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).  Through faith, hope and love, together with the sacraments, we as Christians not only trust God, but we live in Him and He in us (John 15:1-11, John 6:56, Romans 6:3-4, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, etc.)

Jesus gives his followers 7 sacraments which bring his presence and life into ours, and which draw us into the great mystery of the life of God; these 7 are listed below.