Sacramentals and Blessings: A Quick and Easy Guide

How objects and actions can be blessed and draw us closer to God.

A pocket shrine, a holy medal, and a St. Benedict crucifix.

Every now and then I plan to do a catechetical post, explaining some element of the faith. This is from a lesson I teach explaining sacramentals to new Catholics.

Sacramentals--all the stuff and thing-ness of Catholicism--are at once an obstacle and an opportunity for evangelizing. They're an obstacle, because people see superstition in our statues, gestures, and holy objects. They're an opportunity, because humans are tactile, sensory creatures, and a faith grounded in the incarnation has something profound to say about the way we use the material world to access the sacred. Here are some questions and answer to help explain sacramentals to people who only encounter holy water and medals in movies.

What is the difference between a sacrament and a sacramental?

A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible grace. Jesus instituted seven of them, and they are gifts from Him to His Church. They convey grace.

A sacramental is a sign of the power of the sacraments. Think of it as a material prayer. According to Vatican II, sacramentals are

sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church's intercession.” They are objects, prayers, and actions that dispose people to receive grace. They provide “access to the stream of divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the passion, death, the resurrection of Christ, the font from which all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God. (Sacrosanctum concilium, 61)

Sacraments bear grace because they are the actions of Christ himself.

Sacramentals participate in the prayer of the Church and prepare us to cooperate with grace.

How do they work?