Catholic Facts & General Knowledge

by Cristíona Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:18 am

Catholic Belief

To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world.

Man must know, love and serve God in a supernatural manner in order to gain happiness of heaven.

Man is raised to the supernatural order only by grace, a free gift of God.

We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.

In order to be saved, all persons who have attained the use of reason must believe explicitly that God exist and that he rewards the good and punishes the wicked; in practice they must also believe in the mysteries of the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation.

By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

By the Incarnation is meant that the Son of God, retaining His divine nature, took to Himself a human nature, that is, a body and soul like ours.

The Church is the congregation of all baptized persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the same sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops in communion with him.

We find the chief truths taught by Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church in the Apostles' Creed.

by Cristíona Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:23 am

The Commandments

Besides believing what God has revealed, we must keep His law.

The Ten Commandments of God

I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Remember to keep holy the Lord's day

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

You shall not covet you neighbor's goods.

The Two Great Commandments - that contain the whole law of God are:

You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

To love God, our neighbor, and ourselves, we must keep the commandments of God and of the Church, and perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

by Cristíona Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:26 am

The Chief Commandments or Laws of the Church

To assist at Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation.

To fast and abstain on the days appointed.

To confess our sins at least once a year.

To receive Holy Communion during the Easter time.

To contribute to the support of the Church.

To observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage.

by Cristíona Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:31 am

Sacraments of the Catholic Church

The Seven Sacraments

Baptism

Penance/Reconciliation

Eucharist

Confirmation

Matrimony

Holy Orders

Extremunction or Anointing of the Sick

The history of human salvation is the history of the way God came to men. The first step on this way was the bridging of the gulf separating God and man in the person of the one Mediator Jesus Christ and by his work of redemption. By means of his Church Christ makes his grace available to all. Only in this application of redemption to mankind is the redemptive action of Christ completed. The doctrine of the sacraments is the doctrine of the second part of God's way of salvation to us. It deals with the holy signs which Christ instituted as the vehicles of his grace.

The great mystery of the union in Christ of a human nature with the second Person of the Godhead is that the human actions and sufferings of Christ are divine actions and sufferings. The sacraments are a living continuation of this mystery. There are earthly, external signs here which, of themselves, could never acquire any supernatural significance, but the signs of the sacraments have been made by Christ into vehicles of his grace. They effect in men the grace for which Christ made them the sign.

So there are two fundamental ideas which constantly recur in the Church's teaching, on the sacraments. First there is the Church's concern for these instituted by Christ, their number, and their proper preservation and administration; then the grace which Christ has for all time linked with these signs and which is communicated by them.

The second is the effect of the sacraments. They are the signs of Christ's work; the effectiveness of Christ's continuing work in his Church cannot be dependent on man's inadequacy. A sacrament, administered properly in the way established by Christ and with the proper intention, gives the grace it signifies. It is effective not by reason of the power of intercession of priestly prayer nor on account of the worthiness of the recipient, but solely by the power of Christ. The power of Christ lives in the sacraments. The effect of the sacrament is independent of the sinfulness or unworthiness of the minister. The Church has never tolerated any subjective qualification of the objective effectiveness of the sacraments ex opere operato. This would ultimately be to conceive the way of salvation as being man's way to God and not God's way to man.

The Church Thus Teaches: There are seven sacraments. They were instituted by Christ and given to the Church to administer. They are necessary for salvation. The sacraments are the vehicles of grace which they convey. They are validly administered by the carrying out of the sign with the proper intention. Not all are equally qualified to administer all the sacraments. The validity of the sacrament is independent of the worthiness of the minister. Three sacraments imprint an indelible character.

Sacramentals are instituted by the Church and are effective by virtue of the Church's intercession. Institution and alteration of them is reserved to the Holy See.

by Sponsored content

Catholic Facts & General Knowledge

Catholic Facts & General Knowledge

The Commandments

Commandments of the Church

The Sacraments

Re: Catholic Facts & General Knowledge