Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification.

"God makes His covenant with Catholic Christians - as He did with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David - using material signs: water and oil, bread and wine, a touch of the hands upon the shoulders, and audible word of blessing." Dr. Scott Hahn

Suggested reading: Swear To God by Dr. Scott Hahn

►Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America

1.  Baptism
Through water and anointing, infants are initiated into a relationship with God the Father, and the whole Christian community at St. Maximilian and at large with parents and Godparents as their primary teachers.

2. Reconciliation (Confession)
The sacrament of Reconciliation is a sacrament in which the priest, as the agent of God, forgives sins committed after Baptism, when the sinner is heartily sorry for them, sincerely confesses them, and is willing to make reparation for them.

3. Eucharist (Communion)
The Catechism of the Cathlic Church points out that the Holy Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a sacrament. As a sacrifice the Holy Eucharist is the Mass. The Mass is that divine action in which Jesus, through the agency of the human priest, changes the bread and wine into His own Body and Blood and continues through time the offering which He made to God on Calvary—the offering of Himself for mankind. The act by which we receive the Holy Eucharist is called Holy Communion.
►Letter regarding the directives for the distribution of the Precious Body and Blood of Christ issued June 2023.

4. Confirmation
While Confirmation is a distinct and complete sacrament in its own right, its purpose is to perfect in us that which was begun in Baptism. We might say—in a sense—that we are baptized in order to be confirmed. The Catechism’s section on Confirmation says that Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Its effects are to:

• Root us more deeply in divine filiation (being children of God)
• Unites us more firmly to Christ
• Increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us
• Strengthens our bond with the Church
• Associates us more closely to the church's mission of bearing witness to Christ
• Helps us and more strictly obliges us to spread and defend the faith by word and deed

5. Marriage
To ensure the right use of the procreative power God founded the institution of marriage: the lifelong and irrevocable union of one man and one woman.  Up to the time of Christ, marriage, although a sacred union, was still only a civil contract between a man and a woman. Jesus, however, took this contract, this exchange of marital consent between man and woman, and made the contract a conveyor of grace. He made marriage a sacrament, the sacrament of Matrimony among Christians.

6. Holy Orders
The sacrament of Holy Orders is the ordination of a man into priesthood. There are two notable ways in which the sacrament of Holy Orders differs from the other sacraments. One is the fact that Holy Orders can be administered only by a bishop. Only a bishop has the power to ordain priests. An ordinary priest cannot pass his power on to another. The second way in which Holy Orders differs from other sacraments is that Holy Orders is not received all at once.

7. Anointing of the Sick (Formerly known as Extreme Unction or Last Rites)
The Anointing of the Sick is a remarkable sign of God’s great love for us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Anointing of the Sick as “the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age.” (Catechism, 1527)