Sacramentals

A sacramental is a material object blessed by a priest or bishop to signal its association with a sacrament or to aid in one’s reverence or act of worship. Another way of looking at sacramentals is that they are sacred signs bearing a resemblance to the sacraments. As you may recall from the Catholic Catechism, “Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace by which divine life is given to us in Christ.” Rosary beads, scapulars, and miraculous medals are all examples of Catholic sacramentals and a nod to the tangible traditions of our faith.  The key to a sacramental is that it be blessed by a priest or bishop and used to draw us deeper into the life of Christ and his church. Sacramentals include prayer cards, holy water, candles, wedding rings, psalm branches, ashes, holy statues, holy images, holy oils, relics of saints, nativities, advent wreaths, crucifixes, incense, and the like. 

According to article #1677 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church to prepare us to receive the fruit of the sacraments and to sanctify different circumstances of our lives.” According to EWTN, being Catholic “is a way of life in which the body – its senses and spirit – are intermingled.” Many Catholics find setting up a prayer space in their home with a Bible, prayer cards, crucifix, etc. helpful in calling to mind the mysteries of our faith or of having a holy water fount in one’s home or having a statute in one’s backyard of one of the saints. The Catholic Church has long since recognized the human need for both physical and spiritual ways of encountering our faith as we honor God through the work of our hands, crafting religious pieces that when looked upon, touched, or shared, remind us of the faith we believe in and of the God we worship.

For example, wedding rings are a physical memory and reminder of the sacramental graces and covenant that a couple has entered into with one another. Psalm branches remind us of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and call us personally into that event of worship. Holy water is a physical reminder of our Baptism and birth into the life of Christ. Holy statues and images can draw our imagination into the example and life of beloved saints whose virtues we desire to emulate or religious icons such as those depicting scenes from Christ’s life can help us better bring them to life and imagine ourselves there. We our blessed as Catholic to belong to an embodied tradition of faith, meaning one that sees encounters with Jesus and his church as prevalent first and foremost in his Holy Word, our sacred traditions, and in fellow human beings, but also in the beauty of art, literature, music, nature, and the like. We are people made to meet God through the physical world around us, and sacramentals can be a valuable aid in that journey to a true presence and encounter with the Lord who loves us.   

About the Author: 

Avila Rose (Allison Ramirez) is a Catholic author, editor, and teacher. She received her B.A in English with Creative Writing emphasis from Seattle Pacific University in 2019. She recently received her M.A. in Theology with Church History emphasis from Holy Apostles College & Seminary in 2024. She currently serves as the Pastoral Assistant for Faith Formation at St. Barbara Parish, and she is the author of The Divided Kingdom series as well as nonfiction devotional journal, Breathe Deeply: The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary as Invitations to Peace. Allison and her husband, Nathan, reside in Washington State with their pug pup, Leo.

You can connect with Allison through her Substack newsletter at https://authorallisonramirez.substack.com/p/welcome. She can also be found on her website at www.author-allison-ramirez.com or Instagram at authorallisonramirez.