According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work; it is He who baptizes, He who acts in His sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies." 

Through the sacraments, Jesus remains with His people, strengthening, healing, feeding and forgiving them as they face life’s challenges.

The Sacraments

The liturgical life of the Catholic Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confession, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders and the Anointing of the Sick.

The purpose of the sacraments is to make people holy, to build up the body of Christ, and finally, to give worship to God; but being signs, they also have a teaching function. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and object, they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called "sacraments of faith." The sacraments impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them disposes the faithful most effectively to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God rightly, and to practice charity.

Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are "the masterworks of God" in the new and everlasting covenant. 

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1127, 1113 & 1116