1. Discovering Jesus In the Sacraments

2. Driver’s Education
It is almost time to begin the process of thinking about getting your driver’s permit.
So we are going to have a little driver’s education challenge.
We are going to have three contestants who are going to guess (Multiple Choice) what each of the following road signs mean.

3. Road Sign #1 1. What does this sign mean? a) Construction zone ahead
b) Hospital ahead
c) Railroad crossing ahead
d) Roundabout ahead

4. Road Sign #2 2. What should you do if you see this sign?
a) Come to a complete stop, proceed when you have the right-of-way
b) Slow down, yield, proceed when you have the right-of-way
c) Come to a complete stop only if there is a vehicle coming from another direction
d) Come to a complete stop, proceed after you flash your headlights

5. Road Sign #3 3. What does this sign represent? a) Stop ahead
b) Traffic light ahead
c) School zone ahead
d) Reduced speed zone ahead

6. Road Sign #4 4. What does this sign mean?
a) Merging traffic coming from the left
b) Right lane closed ahead
c) Merging traffic coming from the right
d) Yield to oncoming traffic

7. Road Sign #5 5. What does this sign represent? a) School zone ahead
b) Construction zone ahead
c) Railroad crossing ahead
d) Rough road ahead

8. The Value of Signs Signs help us to get where we’re going.
Signs help us to know what to do – “All employees must wash their hands.”
Signs can warn us of danger
Signs can help us communicate – Sign language
Signs can also help us see things before they arrive – Leaves changing are a sign of winter’s beginning and the fall.

9. Imagine This Imagine what life would be like without signs.
When you go to a restaurant you would have to try every door to find the rest room.
When you are trying to find a friend’s house you would have to memorize left turns and right turns
When you see a store you’ll have to guess which one it is and what’s inside.
Signs are truly something we take for granted.

10. Signs Point To Something Else
When you see a Stop Sign, you don’t stop on the sign itself.
When you see an exit sign, you don’t walk through the sign to get out.
Instead the sign points to something else.
God gives us Signs on how to get to heaven, we call these Sacraments.

11. What is a Sacrament?
“Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.”

12. More Easily Stated
A Sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.
Each of the sacraments give us sanctifying grace and also gives us a special grace called sacramental grace.
Sacraments always give us grace if we receive them properly

13. The Seven Sacraments What are the Seven Sacraments? Baptism Eucharist
Confirmation
Reconciliation
Marriage
Holy Orders
Anointing of the Sick

14. What are the Signs?
Each of the Sacraments is an efficacious sign of Grace.
The word efficacious, means that the sign itself helps bring it about.
This sign points to the grace that is happening at the same moment (not to the future or past)
What is Grace? It is God’s life within us. It is an encounter with Jesus Christ.

15. The Signs of the Sacraments
The seven sacraments are broken up into three groups.
3 Sacraments of initiation
Baptism – Cleansing of original sin & receiving the Holy Spirit. Through baptism we become adopted sons & daughters of God. Sign: Water & Oil
Eucharist – We celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection, by receiving the body & blood of Jesus we come into communion with Jesus. We become one body and one blood. This means when we die, we too can be raised to eternal life. Sign – Bread & Wine
Confirmation – At Confirmation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. By professing our faith we receive a greater share of the strength and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Sign - Oil

16. The Signs of the Sacraments
2 Sacraments of Healing
Reconciliation/Pennance/Confession – This is where we can receive God’s mercy and forgiveness of our sins. If we make a proper Confession we can leave with 100% surety of the forgiveness of our sins. Sign – Prayer of Absolution and the sign of the cross.
Anointing of the Sick – By anointing us with oil the priest prays for our healing. This prayer is coupled with the forgiveness of sins. Many people are healed of illness through this sacrament, but healing is not guaranteed. This sacrament helps one conform their lives to the will of God whether he heals us or whether we are asked to endure sickness. Sign - Oil

17. The Signs of the Sacraments
2 Sacraments of Vocation
Marriage – The union of one man and one woman as husband and wife. This union is a sacrament because it gives us training for the union with God in Heaven. Sign – Rings, public pronouncement, & kiss
Holy Orders – By the laying on of hands by Bishops a man is made a deacon, priest, or bishop. In this sacrament men devote their lives to the service of God and the dispensation (giving out) of the sacraments. Sign – Laying on of Hands, Oil

18. How Do We Discover Jesus?
In Baptism
We die to sin by being washed clean in water, and rise to new life.
Our time “under water” is like joining Christ in the tomb, and coming up is like rising again.
Eucharist
The bread and wine become Jesus’ Body and Blood.
As promised Jesus becomes one body with us and as the alcohol in the wine goes into our blood, his blood becomes our blood.
We become one with Christ and are intended to do His Divine work here on earth.

19. How Do We Discover Jesus?
Confirmation
As the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus Christ and later on his Apostles at Pentecost, so too does it descend on us.
We must first receive Communion and be one with Christ, so as we encounter Christ we can receive the Holy Spirit as Christ receives the Holy Spirit
Reconciliation
The priest, in the person of Jesus Christ, hears our sins, offers us advice, instructs us to improve, and forgives all of our sins.
We encounter the joy of Christ’s forgiving love!

20. How Do We Discover Jesus?
Marriage
It is in our full self-giving, our laying down our entire lives at the feet of our spouse, that we encounter Christ in the same love that he showed for us.
Marriage is a foreshadowing of a more perfect union of Jesus and his bride, The Church, where we all become one.
Holy Orders
In this Sacrament Christ is present as he was to his Apostle’s, calling them and setting them aside for his holy mission.
Through the grace of this sacrament, deacons, priests, and bishops stand in the person of Jesus Christ for others and the celebration of the sacraments.

21. How Do We Discover Jesus?
Anointing of the Sick
As Christ suffered, on account of sin being in the world, we too suffer with illness and are subject to death.
This sacrament is so that God can bring healing to many, but also to bring glory to the suffering of all mankind as God glorified the suffering of Christ Crucified.
Those who receive Anointing of the Sick receive forgiveness and absolution of their sins.