ANOINTING OF THE SICK:

The Sacrament by which the sick and dying receive the grace of Christ to face their suffering with dignity and the strength of the Holy Spirit, and, if it is God’s will, to be healed.

APOSTOLIC SUCCESION

The handing on of apostolic preaching and authority from the Apostles to their successors, the bishops, through the laying on of hands as a permanent office in the Church. The fourth mark of the Church is that the Church is apostolic, which means that the Church is built on the lasting foundation of the Apostles.

BAPTISM:

The first Sacrament we receive. Baptism makes us members of the Church, forgives our sins, and gives us new life in Christ. It is necessary for salvation. The celebration of Baptism involves being immersed in water or having water poured over one’s head in the name of the Holy Trinity.

BEATITUDES:

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave the Beatitudes as the perfection of the Ten Commandments. They teach us how to be truly happy, or reach human perfection and fulfillment, which we ultimately find in Heaven.

BISHOP:

The leader of a particular diocese and a main teacher of the Catholic faith. A bishop also makes the Sacraments available to the people of his diocese. The bishops of the Church are the successors to the Apostles. They guard and protect the teachings of the Church to make sure they are handed on faithfully.

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION:

Also called the Sacrament of Confession or Penance. A Sacrament that gives us a chance to confess our sins when we are truly sorry and receive forgiveness from God through a priest. This Sacrament reunites us with God and His Church when we seek forgiveness for our sins.

CONSCIENCE:

The gift God gave human beings to be able to use reason in order to judge right from wrong. Conscience is God’s voice in our hearts. We have a responsibility to educate ourselves and inform our conscience with prayer and God’s word, about what is truly good. A poorly-formed conscience will lead us to sin.

CREED:

The profession of our Christian faith. The two most common creeds are the Nicene Creed which is said at every Sunday Mass, and the Apostles’ Creed. In the Creed, we profess belief in the Holy Trinity and in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

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. It is spiritual food for the soul. It is not merely a symbol, but is Jesus’ true flesh and blood.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION:

A way of worshiping our Lord in the Eucharist in which the Eucharist is shown in a monstrance and placed on an altar.4). 

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. These gifts are first received in Baptism and increased in Confirmation (CCC, 1303).

GREAT COMMANDMENTS:

Jesus’ teaching that “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” These two commandments are a summary of all Ten Commandments.

HAIL MARY:

A prayer addressed to Mary asking for her intercession. The Hail Mary has Biblical roots as it draws much of its language from the Gospels.

HOLY SPIRIT:

The third Person of the Holy Trinity. He proceeds from the Father and the Son and is worshiped and glorified as fully God. The Holy Spirit fills us with His gifts and guides us to holiness in the Church.

JUSTICE:

A Cardinal Virtue that helps us give God and neighbor their due.

KINGDOM OF GOD:

(Also called the Kingdom of Heaven) God’s reign or rule over all things. The Church is the seed, or beginning, of the Kingdom here on earth. The Kingdom will be fulfilled in Heaven.

MARRIAGE:

The Sacrament that joins one man and one woman in a free, faithful, fruitful, and indissoluble union. It is an integral part of human nature that has been written into the complementarity of the male and female bodies and the human soul from our origins.

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.

MORTAL SIN:

Serious sin that we choose to commit even though we know it is wrong. Mortal sin breaks our friendship with God and completely rejects His love for us. We can restore our friendship with God by turning away from sin and receiving the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.

HOLY ORDERS:

The Sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to His Apostles continues to be carried out in the Church until the end of time. This Sacrament ordains men to the priesthood of the Catholic Church and bestows upon them the power to administer the Sacraments.

PARABLES:

A short story that uses characters or situations that we can relate to in order to teach us a deeper lesson. Parables help to explain something in a way that is easier for us to understand. Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God using parables.

PENANCE:

An outward sign of expressing sorrow for our sins. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest will give an act of penance to make up for our confessed sins, such as a prayer to say.

PURGATORY:

The state of being after death in which those who “die in God’s grace and friendship, but [are] still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven” (CCC 1030). The souls in Purgatory endure great suffering in order to be purified of any unconfessed venial sins and for the reparation of the remaining effects of confessed mortal and venial sins.

ROSARY:

A special prayer in which we reflect on the Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous, and Glorious Mysteries – important events in the lives of Jesus and Mary.  A string of beads of the same name is usually used to aid the prayer.

SACRAMENT:

A sign of God’s grace that gives the grace that it signifies. Jesus founded seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Holy Matrimony.

SACRED CHRISM:

A blessed and perfumed holy oil that is used to anoint a person at their Baptism and Confirmation, and again in the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. In the Old Testament, priests and kings were anointed with holy oil as a sign of their position. It is a sign of being chosen by God and of receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

TEMPERANCE:

A Cardinal Virtue that helps us avoid extremes and find the right balance between too much and too little of the good things in life.

TRANSUBSTANTIATION:

The word used to describe the change of the bread and wine at Mass into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. (CCC, 1413)

VENIAL SIN:

Less serious sin that hurts our relationship with God, but does not destroy it.

THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES:

Virtues infused directly into the human soul by God that help human beings relate to God. They are the foundation of Christian moral activity by animating it and giving it its special character. They inform and give life to all other virtues. They are faith, hope, and love (charity).