The word Sacrament means sign or symbol. This aspect of sacramentality owes much to St. Augustine and the Augustinian tradition in Western theology. A sacrament is a visible sign, a perceptible symbol of something invisible and sacred.  The invisible or sacred reality, to which the sign bears witness, is grace: God's free gift of his love to all people.  In the Christian Church, these sacraments or signs were not arbitrary, but stem from God's own revelation in Jesus.