Description
The most solemn, majestic, and beautiful gifts that Jesus Christ gave to the world are His sacraments. He endowed them with unprecedented and unparalleled power—power to change lives, save souls, and share God’s very life. The sacraments are the unusual means by which God directs the course of Each and every human life and all of world history.
The Church celebrates seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, matrimony, holy orders, confession, and anointing of the unwell. Each and every was once established by Jesus for the sake of salvation. When Jesus spoke of the sacraments, He made clear that they were very important: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he can not enter the kingdom of God (Jn 3:5) . . . unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you don’t have any life in you (Jn 6: 53).
In Swear to God, Dr. Scott Hahn explores the richness of Christ’s sacraments—their doctrine, history, symbols, and rituals. Drawing upon the Bible and the Church’s tradition, he shows how God’s covenants—with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—became the driving forces in history. When Jesus came to fulfill these types of covenants, He established a new covenant, with greater power than ever before. Christians are God’s children now. Joined to Christ by baptism, we will already share in the eternal life of the Trinity, a life we are hoping to know fully in heaven. But heaven is with us, even now, in the sacraments.
Catholic
Swear to God
The Promis and Power of the Sacraments
Scott Hahn