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SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
1210Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism,Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of theSick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. the seven sacraments touch all the stages andall the important moments of Christian life: they give birth andincrease, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus acertain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of thespiritual life.
1211Following this analogy, the first chapter will expound the three sacraments ofChristian initiation; the second, the sacraments of healing; and the third, thesacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful. Thisorder, while not the only one possible, does allow one to see that thesacraments form an organic whole in which each particular sacrament has its ownvital place. In this organic whole, the Eucharist occupies a unique place asthe "Sacrament of sacraments": "all the other sacraments areordered to it as to their end."