The Catholic Church has seven sacraments that bring the grace of God into our lives and helps us to have a relationship to Him. However, if we don’t utilize the sacraments, they cannot help us in our earthly journey towards heaven.

Out of the seven sacraments, four are typically only received once. Each Catholic can only be baptized and confirmed once. These are part of the initiation into the Catholic family and impart the grace and spirit of God. The other two, marriage and holy orders, are typically received only once, but each may have circumstances that allow for the sacrament to be received again (i.e. after a spouse passes, or as a priest becomes a bishop). That leaves three sacraments that are to be used frequently to help us on our way to eternal life.

Does your refrigerator, freezer and pantry contain food for you to eat? Do you expect the food to give you nutrition and sustain your body while it’s still on its respective shelves? Silly questions, aren’t they? Yet when we neglect to receive the Eucharist, that’s exactly what we are doing with our spiritual life. While some foods can be eaten raw or without any preparation, the Holy Sacrament is made to be received within the context of Mass, as both the Liturgy of the Word and of the Eucharist can prepare us for a worthy reception of the sacrament. Each time we receive the Precious Body of Jesus, we are to 1) welcome Him, 2) be open to the grace He brings, and 3) utilize the intimate moment to convey the deepest sense of our souls to Him. The Mass allows us to orient ourselves to Jesus by hearing the Word of God and giving us the opportunity to reflect on how His Word is speaking in our lives today. In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we are present with Jesus as the priest offers the bread and wine. It is as if we, too, attended the Last Supper. We are called to remember that moment in time and give our assent to believing we are receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus under each of the species of the Holy Sacrament. Without regular reception of the Eucharist, we can spiritually starve our soul and our relationship with God.

Just like having food in the house does not give us the nutrition we need, having cleaning supplies does not mean our house is clean. Maybe you have a Roomba and don’t have to worry about vacuuming, but that device won’t dust and it won’t clean your countertops or your sinks. The spiritual version of cleaning supplies is confession. While frequent reception of Holy Communion will refresh your soul from venial sin, going to confession several times a year is great for spiritual deep cleaning. We are all sinners and are all works in progress. As we reflect on our thoughts, words, and actions and how they can be damaging to our relationship with God as well as those we interact with, the sacrament of Reconciliation gives us the opportunity to go deeper and ask God for help in specific areas that we find troublesome. It’s not enough to just tell the priest what you have done (or didn’t do), but you need to 1) be sorrowful for sins, 2) do the penance prescribed by the priest, and 3) intend never to commit the sins again. While the last one is hard, it’s the whole purpose of the sacrament. By being aware of what we are doing, we can catch ourselves before we get into a situation that is conducive to the sin we are trying to prevent. If gossiping is the sin we need to work on, then being mindful of what you say is important. It may take several trips to confession in order to get to the point where we can avoid the sin. We also need to be mindful that we can always slide back into that habit easily and that it may be something we spend our lifetime being sorry for, doing penance for, and trying our best to avoid situations where we slip back into that vice.

Lastly, just like food and cleaning supplies, medicine cannot help us with a fever or a headache if we don’t take it. The sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is not just for people who are about to die; it’s for anyone with an illness that is seeking the grace of God to help them through it. This could be for a surgery, it could be for an illness that needs treatment — like cancer, or it can be for a long-term disease like depression. There is no limit on the amount of times you can receive the sacrament. As Jesus healed many throughout the Gospels, showing that He is the Savior of the world, this sacrament calls for the healing of the individual, both in spirit and body. While a bodily healing may not reflect the healing we would want, a soul open to Jesus can receive peace and strength for the suffering they are enduring. Catholics are invited to join all their sufferings with the Passion of Christ, especially those for which we seek the sacrament of Anointing. The sacrament may not cure a person from the bodily effects of the illness, but it does give them the spiritual focus to support them through their suffering.

The sacraments are gifts God has given us to use. When we participate in God’s will and seek a closer relationship with Him through the sacraments, we are given a taste of heaven on earth. Let us use these precious gifts with joy and gratitude to God who loves us so much that He bestowed them upon us.