ADVENT:

The season that begins the liturgical year. It is a time when we reflect on the Incarnation, and prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our King, on Christmas Day. We also prepare for His Second Coming at the end of time. This season is represented by the color violet, or purple, which represents penance and humility.

ANOINTING OF THE SICK:

The Sacrament which gives spiritual healing and strength to a person seriously ill and sometimes also physical recovery.

CAPITAL SINS:

Certain sins that should be especially guarded against because they are likely to lead to other sins. They are: pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony, and sloth. Also known as the seven deadly sins.

CATHOLIC:

Universal. The third mark of the Church is that the Church is catholic, or universal. This means that the Church is for all people in every time and place. Her truths apply to all people throughout time.

CHASTITY:

moral virtue that helps us manage or control our desires for bodily and spiritual pleasure in the way that God intended. Chastity specifically involves self-mastery of sexual feelings. It is also a virtue that helps us choose what is best for others. Jesus Christ is a model of a chaste life.

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.

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.

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.

HEAVEN:

The state of being after death in which “those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ” (CCC 1023). The souls in Heaven enjoy perfect communion and relationship with God, His angels, and all of the saints. In Heaven we will see God face-to-face, as He is. This is called the Beatific Vision.

HOLY COMMUNION:

A title for the Eucharist. When we receive the Eucharist we are united to Jesus Himself. All who receive the Eucharist participate in the one bread and one cup, which makes us one People of God, united to Christ and each other. The Church teaches that we should receive Holy Communion frequently and while in a state of grace.

HUMAN DIGNITY:

The honor and respect due to all human beings, from unborn babies to the elderly, because they are children of God made in His image and likeness.

JUSTIFICATION:

The transformation of the sinner (all of us) from a state of unrighteousness to a state of holiness with God. It is an act done by God that requires our free participation with His grace. We are justified by the Sacrament of Baptism, which makes us children of God. Our justification, or salvation, is won for us by Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and by His Resurrection.

LAST JUDGEMENT:

The judgment experienced on the Last Day in which the light of Christ, who is Truth itself, will illuminate everything. Nothing will remain hidden. We will see not only all of our own individual choices for or against God, but how each one affected everyone else and the whole order of creation. On this, then, we will be judged and welcomed to eternal life with Christ in the New Heavens and the New Earth, or banished into the eternal torment of Hell.

LENT:

The liturgical season in which we focus on the Paschal Mystery by reflecting upon Jesus’ life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and how He redeemed us of our sins. During Lent we do penance and prepare our hearts to receive the salvation won for us by Christ. The color of this season is violet, or purple for penance and humility.

LITURGICAL YEAR:

A calendar that charts the various seasons, remembrances, feasts, and celebrations in the life of the Church over the course of a year. The liturgical year begins with Advent and includes the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Holy Week or Triduum, Easter, and the two larger periods of Ordinary Time.

MARRIAGE:

The Sacramental joining of 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.

MORALITY:

The quality of human actions whereby they are right or wrong in accordance with God’s law.

MORTAL SIN:

Serious sin that we choose to commit even though we know it is wrong. Mortal sin separates us from God and completely rejects His love for us.

PASSIONS, MORAL:

The emotions or dispositions which incline us to good or evil actions, such as love and hate, hope and fear, joy and sadness, and anger (1763).

PENTECOST:

The day when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles and the Church was born. 50 days after Jesus’ Resurrection (10 days after His Ascension into Heaven), Mary and the Apostles had 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.

PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH:

The minimum of what is required of us for Christian living. The precepts are: to attend Mass and to rest from servile work on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, to confess our sins to a priest at least once a year, to receive our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter Season, to observe the days of abstinence and fasting, and to contribute to the support of the Church. These precepts unite our moral, Christian life with the liturgy, which nourishes us.

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.

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION:

Also called the Sacrament of Penance or Confession. 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.

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).

VIRTUE:

A habit of doing what is good. We build virtues through our own efforts and with God’s grace.

CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY:

Jesus taught us that we must love our neighbor by performing Corporal (and Spiritual) Works of Mercy. Corporal means “body.” The corporal works of mercy help us meet a person’s physical needs. They are: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, ransom the captive, and bury the dead.