Sacramentals are very powerful items that can be used to help us with our faith.
These 8 Powerful Sacramentals for you to use and boost for your spiritual life. As the Concise Catholic Dictionary states that sacramentals are:
Certain pious practices or objects blessed by the Church. The blessing is attached that these may serve to increase the devotion of the faithful. Scapulars, holy water, etc, are widely used sacramentals.
As sacramentals are beneficial to all of the faithful, I would like to leave you with a list of various sacramentals that are at your disposal.
1. Holy Water
Water in which salt has been mixed and which is exorcised or blessed by a priest. The holy water is a means of grace, a sacramental to promote the spiritual welfare of the faithful; it is one of the most frequently used sacramentals in Church and home.
When we bless ourselves with holy water, we are reminded of our baptismal vows. Holy water is also effective at keeping evil away from the home, assuming the family lives a holy life.
2. Medal
Disk or piece of metal on which has been impressed an emblem or picture representing a particular devotion or object of veneration. Medals are sacramentals of the Church.
As a couple of examples of medals, I will use the Holy Family and Guardian Angel medals as examples. The Holy Family is the image that each Catholic family strives to achieve. They are the role models for each family. Each and every person has a Guardian Angel, and it is important to remember how they watch over us. Additionally, at the moment of marriage, a husband and wife are given an extra Guardian Angel to watch over their marriage and their family.
3. Rosary
The chain and numerous beads which form a chaplet or endless chain for reciting prayers in a given sequence. The name applied to the prayer consisting of fifteen decades of “Hail Marys,” each decade having an “Our Father” preceding and a “Glory be to the Father” following. This chaplet usually has in addition three small beads for the “Hail Marys” and one bead for the “Our Father” which precede the prayer and to this short chain there is generally attached a crucifix. Mysteries are contemplated during the saying of each decade, which mysteries are the five joyful, the five sorrowful, and the five glorious.
4. Scapulars
- A dresslike garment covering the shoulders and descending front and back, usually open at the sides, worn as an external part over the habit of certain monks.
- The most common scapulars of today are made of two small squares of woolen cloth about two inches wide which are joined by two strings so that one small square may rest upon the back and the other on the breast when placed over one’s head; there are eighteen small scapulars now used among Catholics and they may be of various colors.
5. Scapular Medal
A small medallion of metal with a representation of our Lord and His Sacred Heart on one side and that of the Blessed Virgin on the other which is permitted to be worn instead of the small cloth scapular.
6. Blessed Salt
Common salt which is exorcised and blessed and used in administering Baptism and in the blessing of holy water.
7. Crucifixes
A representation of the cross of crucifixion together with the figure of Christ. The crucifix differs from the cross in that it has affixed to it the body or corpus or a representation of Christ.
8. Candles
A cylindrical wax stick or taper with a wick in the center used for illumination. Candles used in the church for liturgical purposes are of pure wax for the greater part and white in color except in Masses for the dead when they may be of yellow wax. The rubrics prescribe the usage of a specified number to be lighted during various ceremonies.
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