According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions."
...What?!
Simply put, the sacraments are real and effecting ways that the grace of God comes into our lives. Jesus, throughout the course of His earthly ministry, His Passion and Death, and His Resurrection, passed along these signs to the Church through the Apostles. Today, the Church still continues to pass on divine life through the sacraments.
The life of the Catholic Church is celebrated most visibly through her sacraments. There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. They are: