Baptism

Our Baptism tells the story of us being rescued from sin by Jesus, through his death and resurrection. Our parent’s make a choice for us to be baptized which means we are entering into Christian life and unity with Jesus.

Our Baptism ceremony represents our new life with Jesus Christ and it is a way of showing that we love and trust him.

First Holy Communion

The Holy Eucharist completes our journey into Christian life. Because we have been baptized, we have our First Holy Communion ceremony, which allows us to participate with the whole community in the Lord’s whole sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

God has created our world and at Baptism he calls us to be in communion with him. We meet Jesus at mass and he asks us to ‘Do this in memory of me,’ when speaking of the bread and wine at the last supper.

The Eucharist is a meal. On the table of the altar, Jesus feeds us with his body and blood, under the appearances of the bread and wine. Just as food nourishes our bodies, the Eucharist is spiritual food that nourishes our soul. The mass and the Eucharist unite us with each other.

When we celebrate the Eucharist and spend time in Jesus’ presence, our love for him grows.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is one of the seven sacraments in the Catholic Church. In our Baptism, we begin to live as followers of Jesus. We live as his disciples and as his disciples we want to make good choices and do the best we can in our lives. Some of these choices are simple ones, like choosing what we will eat as a snack or choosing what shirt to where to school. Other choices in our lives are not this simple. Sometimes we may find ourselves faced with difficult circumstances, which makes our decision making a lot harder. Sometimes we have to choose between what is right and what is wrong. This is called making a moral decision.

We are sometimes tempted into making a bad decision, this bad decision is called a sin. We must remember that Jesus forgives our sins. We come to Jesus for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

We talk to a priest and we tell him our sins. This is called ‘confession.’ It is important to remember that Jesus wants to forgive our sins. This is why we confess our sins to a priest and he forgives us in Jesus’ name. The grace we have lost is then given back to us.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus comforts us; he strengthens us on our journey. We are now at peace with God, the Church, and the people we may have hurt. Through this sacrament the Church celebrates Jesus’ gift of forgiveness.

Confirmation

Our Confirmation ceremony looks at how we say ‘yes’ to God. Our parents chose for us to be baptized and they mostly make the decision on receiving our First Holy Communion. Our Confirmation is our personal opportunity to make the decision for ourselves in saying ‘yes’ to God.

Confirmation is the sacrament which is enriched by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit strengthens us and obliges us to be witnesses to Christ.

At our Confirmation ceremony, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit whilst reaffirming the choice our parents made for us when we were baptized.