God reveals himself to us in Jesus Christ, who made himself known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus. When the disciples who had the Emmaus experience met with their companions, they announced that Jesus had been made known to them in "the breaking of the bread." This came to be the ordinary name in the New Testament for the Eucharist. To "know" in biblical language means to have a deep personal relationship.

Christ makes himself known to us in all the sacraments. The New Testament uses the Greek word "mysterion," which means "hidden," to describe God's plan of salvation, which had been hidden and now is revealed in Christ.

As Christianity spread west from Palestine, most converts spoke Greek. But as the faith continued to spread westward, it entered places where Latin was the predominant language. Within a couple of hundred years, the two main linguistic groups in the Church were the "Greeks" and the "Latins."

The Greek Fathers of the Church (early Church writers) adopted "mysterion" as a name for the sacraments because in them we experience the hidden, although real, presence of Christ.

The Latin Father of the Church used the Latin word "sacramentum" to describe the same reality. The scramentum was the oath of allegiance which a Roman soldier took to the emperor. It is from this that we get the English word "sacrament". Here we see a difference of emphasis between Western and Eastern Christianity.

The Eastern theologians center on God. Western theologians emphasize humanity's response to God.

By combining the two points of view, we see that in the sacraments God reaches out to us in love through various signs. For our sharing in the sacraments to be fruitful, we must respond to God with loving faith.

This is one of the reasons that Pope John Paul II has said that the reunion of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches will allow the Church to "breathe again with both lungs."

The seven sacraments are these:

Baptism
Confirmation
Holy Eucharist
Penance
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Matrimony

The Second Vatican Council reminded us that because the sacraments are outward signs of an inward grace, they also instruct us: "They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen and express it." Over the centuries, many of the prayers and actions connected with the sacraments no longer could be understood without involved explanations.

The Jesuit liturgist Joseph Jungman said that the liturgy had become like an ancient castle whose various rooms had to be explained to the visitor.

Therefore the Council, besides reintroducing the language of the people into the Church's worship, initiated a revision of the rites of the sacraments (the words and actions used in administering them) so that their meaning might be clearer to people living in the world today.

Sacraments of Initiation
Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist are the three Sacraments given to adult converts as they become members of the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil.