It is not the sacramental itself that gives grace, but the devotion, the love of God, or sorrow for sin that it inspires.  For example, a person comes into the church and goes around the Stations of the Cross.  The stations are a sacramental.  In looking at one station he sees Our Lord on trial before Pilate; in another he sees Him crowned with thorns; in another, scourged; in another, carrying His Cross; in another, crucified; in another, dead and laid in the tomb.  Before all these pictures he reflects on the sufferings of Our Saviour, and begins to hate sin, that caused them.  Then he thinks, of his own sins, and begins to be sorry for them.  This sorrow, caused by going around the stations, brings him grace that remits venial sins.  When we receive the Sacraments we always get the grace of the Sacraments when we are rightly disposed; but in using the sacramentals, the more devotion we have the more grace we receive.

“Increase devotion.”  If we knelt down before a plain white wall we could not pray with the devotion we would have kneeling before a crucifix.  We see the representation of the nails in the hands and feet, the blood on the side, the thorns on the head; and all these must make us think of Our Lord’s terrible sufferings.  The picture of a friend hanging before us will often make us think of him when we would otherwise forget him.  So also will the pictures of Our Lord and of the saints keep them often in our minds.

293 Q. What is the difference between the Sacraments and the sacramentals?  A. The difference between the Sacraments and the sacramentals is:  first, the Sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ and the sacramentals were instituted by the Church; second, the Sacraments give grace of themselves when we place no obstacle in the way; the sacramentals excite in us pious dispositions, by means of which we may obtain grace.

The Church can increase or diminish the number of the sacramentals, but not the number of the Sacraments.

294 Q. Which is the chief sacramental used in the Church?  A. The chief sacramental used in the Church is the Sign of the Cross.

295 Q. How do we make the Sign of the Cross?  A. We make the Sign of the Cross by putting the right hand to the forehead, then on the breast, and then to the left and right shoulders; saying, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

It is important to make an exact cross, and to say all the words distinctly.  From carelessness and habit some persons do not make the Sign of the Cross, though they often intend to bless themselves.  They put the hand only to the forehead and breast, or forehead and chin, or forehead and shoulders, etc.  Some do not even touch the forehead.  All these, it is true, are some signs and movements of the hand, but they are not the Sign of the Cross.  Therefore, from childhood form the good habit of blessing yourself correctly, and you will continue to do it properly all your life.