The seven sacraments for children

When teaching catechism classes for children, the seven sacraments are presented in much simpler form than they are during adult instructions. Sacramental Theology is basic and easily grasped, and the vocabulary used is simple and familiar. The sacraments are introduced as gifts from a loving God to His children.

Baptism

God created the earth and everything on it. Of all the things God makes on earth, He loves people most of all. When a baby is born, he joins a human family, who will love and care for him. In addition, every child has a heavenly Father who loves him even more than his human parents, and who is anxious to have him join the Christian family. Children join God's family through the sacrament of Baptism.

Holy Eucharist

Jesus, God the Son, loved children very much when He lived on earth. He talked to them and played with them and said that heaven was people who were just like them. When it was time for Jesus to return to heaven, He thought of a way He could stay close to all His friends on earth forever.

On the night before He died, Jesus changed bread into His body and told the Apostles to eat the bread. Then, He changed wine into His blood and told them to drink the wine. This way, Jesus could come into their hearts and be even closer to them than He was to the people with whom He lived while He was on earth.

The bread still looked and tasted like bread, and the wine still looked and tasted like wine, but really it was Jesus! Jesus is God; God cannot lie. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, "This is My body...this is My blood." (Matthew 26). Jesus' words are true.

Then Jesus told the Apostles to do the same thing as He had done, after He had returned to heaven, and they did. Before the Apostles died, they passed the power to change bread and wine into Jesus' body and blood on to other men, who also passed it on. It has come right down through all the years since Jesus' time, to the priests today.

When children are old enough to understand about this holy bread, they may receive Jesus in Holy Communion.

Reconciliation

When you do something to hurt someone, you have to say "I'm sorry." When we do things that are wrong on purpose, it hurts Jesus. We call these hurtful things sins.

Sins are like saying "No!" to God. "I want to do what I want to do, not what You want me to do." When we sin, we have to tell God we're sorry. Because He loves us so much, God always forgives  sins. The priest takes the place of Jesus, and tells us that our sins are taken away.

Confirmation

When babies are baptized, their parents and godparents make many promises for them. They promise that the child will follow Jesus and try to live as a good Catholic Christian all his or her life, but the baby is too little to know what's going on.

However, when these babies reach the ages of twelve or thirteen, they have an opportunity to confirm all the promises for themselves. Now they can understand what the promises mean.

In Confirmation, the Holy Spirit comes to each young adult in a special way to help him or her meet the challenges which lie ahead when they become teenagers and adults. The bishop administers the sacrament of Confirmation.

Marriage

When a woman and a man are ready to live together and raise a family, they go to church, and stand before God, a priest, their family and friends and promise to love each other until they die. God blesses the marriage and gives them strength to keep their promises.

Holy Orders

God calls some young men to be priests. These young men will not marry, but will go to school for many years to study and learn how best to serve God's people. In the Sacrament of Holy Orders they will receive the same power Jesus gave the Apostles: they will be able to say Mass and forgive sins.

The Sacrament of the Sick

When people get very old, or are very sick, there is a sacrament which sometimes helps them get better. If it is time for them to go to heaven, the Sacrament of the Sick prepares them for the journey. It takes away all sins and all punishment due to sin. It is another great gift from a loving heavenly Father who wants to welcome everyone to His beautiful home in heaven.

These are brief outlines of how the sacraments are taught to young children either in Catholic schools, in the home or in parish-based instruction classes. The vocabulary is familiar and the concepts are easy to grasp.

As the children get older, the lessons will expand in depth and complexity, but they will be built on the basics which have been presented in the early years.