ANNUNCIATION:

In the Gospel of Luke the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce that she would be the Mother of God. Mary responded by giving her fiat, or her “yes”. The Church celebrates this feast every year on March 25th. The Gospel story of the Annunciation can be found in Luke 1:26-38

ASCENSION:

Jesus’ entry into heaven 40 days after His Resurrection.

ASSUMPTION:

The dogma which recognizes Mary’s unique participation in her Son’s Resurrection by which, at the end of her earthly life, she was taken body and soul into Heaven where she is crowned Queen of Heaven and sits at the right hand of her Son, Jesus Christ.

BAPTISM:

The Sacrament which is the birth of the baptized into new life in Christ. In Baptism, Original Sin is forgiven along with all personal sins. By it we become adoptive children of the Father, members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit; it also incorporates us into the Church and makes us sharers in the priesthood of Christ.

CHARITY:

Also called love. The Theological Virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

COMMUNION OF SAINTS:

The unity in Christ of all the redeemed, those souls in Heaven who enjoy the Beatific Vision, those souls in Purgatory enduring purification, and those souls on earth still working out their salvation.

CONSCIENCE:

The gift God gave human beings to be able to use reason in order to judge right from wrong. Our conscience is God’s voice in our hearts. It is important to form our consciences in accord with God’s will.

COVENANT:

A solemn agreement between persons that makes a sacred and permanent family relationship. God has made covenants with His people throughout Salvation History.

EUCHARIST:

The Sacrament in which we receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life and spiritual food for the soul. Not merely a symbol, it is Jesus’ true Flesh and Blood.

EXODUS:

Greek for “way or path for leaving.” In the Old Testament, God called Moses to be His prophet and lead the Israelites, His Chosen People, out of slavery in Egypt to new life in the Promised Land.

FAITH:

A gift from God and a human act by which a person comes to know God and conform their minds, hearts, and wills to Him and the Truth He has revealed.

FALL OF MAN:

When Adam and Eve, due to the temptation and lies of Satan, disobeyed God and rejected His love.

GENESIS:

The first book of the Bible, which describes God’s creation of the world and humanity, and the drama of sin and the hope for salvation.

HELL:

The state of being after death in which those who die unrepentant of mortal sin and refuse the love and mercy of God to the end experience eternal separation from God and the Communion of Saints. The primary punishment in Hell is the eternal separation from God while continually thirsting for Him.

INCARNATION:

The fact that the Son of God assumed human nature and became man in order to accomplish our salvation. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, is both true God and true man.

INTERCESSION:

Prayer for the needs of others.

PARTICULAR JUDGEMENT:

The judgment experienced immediately after death in which the sum total of our life’s choices for or against God are revealed. Based on our own decisions throughout the course of our lives, we will be given entrance to Heaven (or Purgatory) or will be sent to Hell.

ORIGINAL JUSTICE:

The original state of human beings before sin. In the beginning there was no suffering or death, man was at peace with himself, there was harmony between men and women, and there was peace between Adam and Eve and all of creation. Original Justice was lost due to the Original Sin.

LAST SUPPER:

The last meal, at Passover, Jesus ate with His Apostles on the night before He died, during which He instituted the Eucharist. It was at the Last Supper that Christ instituted the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Orders, and that He washed the Apostles’ feet, giving them a New Commandment to love one another.

LITURGY OF THE HOURS:

The public prayer of the Church which sanctifies the whole course of the day and night. It consists of a variety of prayers, Scripture readings (most especially the Psalms) and writings of the saints, divided into “hours,” which are prescribed to be prayed at specific times of day.

MASS:

The liturgical celebration and memorial of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and Resurrection from the dead. At every Mass, the priest changes the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. The Mass is divided into two sections: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

MOSES:

The man God called to be His prophet and to whom He revealed His name. God gave Moses the mission of leading His people out of slavery in Egypt. God delivered the Ten Commandments and the whole of the Law to Moses to teach the Israelites how to love Him and how to love their neighbor.

NEW TESTAMENT:

The 27 books of the Bible written by the sacred authors in apostolic times, which have Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God as their central theme.

PARABLES:

Short stories that convey unfamiliar or complex truths in a simple and easy to understand way by using characters and situations that are familiar, or in a mysterious way hidden in layers of metaphor and symbolism.

PASCHAL MYSTERY

Christ’s work of redemption accomplished by His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Passover by being the definitive Paschal Lamb who died for our salvation.

PENTECOST:

The day when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles and the Church was born. Fifty days after Jesus’ Resurrection (10 days after His Ascension into Heaven), Mary and the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room and were filled with the Holy Spirit, who came in a rush of wind and appeared as tongues of fire over their heads.

ROSARY:

A prayer in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which repeats the “Hail Mary” prayer in “decades” of ten prayers, each preceded by an “Our Father” and concluded by a “Glory Be,” accompanied by meditation on the mysteries of Christ’s life. It is typically prayed using a chain of beads.

TEN COMMANDMENTS:

The ten rules for a moral life given by God to His Chosen People through Moses on Mount Sinai. The first three Commandments teach us how to love God; the last seven teach us how to love our neighbor as ourselves.

THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES:

Gifts infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as His children and of meriting eternal life. They are faith, hope, and charity (or love).