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.

ALL SOUL’S DAY:

A feast day during which we remember and pray for the holy souls being purified in purgatory.

BAPTISM:

The first Sacrament of Initiation, which makes us members of the Church, forgives sins, and gives 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 three times, in the name of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

BEATITUDES:

The teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount on the meaning and way to true happiness or fulfillment.

BIBLE:

The written record of God’s revelation of Himself contained in the Old and New Testaments. It was composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Word of God.

BREAD OF LIFE DISCOURSE:

The name given to Jesus’ explicit teaching about the Eucharist in John 6:22–58.

CONSUBSTANTIAL:

Of the same substance. This word is used to describe how God the Father and God the Son are both fully God, or of the same divine substance. This teaching was definitively set forth in the Nicene Creed to combat false teachings about Jesus and affirm the Truth of His human and divine natures.

DEPOSIT OF FAITH:

The full content of divine revelation communicated by Christ, contained in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, handed on in the Church from the time of the Apostles, and from which the Magisterium draws all that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed.

ECUMENICAL COUNCIL:

A meeting of all the world’s bishops together in union with the pope.

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.

FAITH:

A theological virtue that is both 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.

GOSPEL:

One of the first four books of the New Testament. They are the heart of the Scriptures and proclaim the Good News of salvation won for us by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are our primary source of knowledge of life of Jesus Christ. The word Gospel means “Good News.”

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.

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.

HOPE:

The Theological Virtue by which we desire the Kingdom of God and eternal life and place our trust in all of God’s promises to us.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:

The dogma that professes that from the beginning of her life, the Virgin Mary was preserved from Original Sin so that she could bear the Son of God within her. Mary was prepared by God to be a holy vessel for our salvation.

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.

ISRAEL:

Hebrew word meaning “He who strives with God.” God changed Jacob’s name to Israel after he wrestled with an angel. God’s Chosen People became known as the People of Israel.

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.

MAGISTERIUM:

The living teaching authority of the Catholic Church whose task it is to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God found in Scripture and Tradition, and to ensure the faithfulness of the Church to the teachings of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals. This authority is exercised by all of the world’s bishops in union with the pope, and by the pope alone when he defines infallibly a doctrine of faith or morals.

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.

OLD TESTAMENT:

The 46 books of the Bible that record the history of salvation from creation through the Old Covenant with Israel in preparation for the appearance of Christ as Savior of the world.

ORIGINAL SIN:

The state of human nature deprived of the original holiness and justice Adam and Eve enjoyed before the Fall.

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).

SIGN OF THE CROSS:

A brief blessing in word and action in which a person marks themselves with a symbolic gesture of the cross. It is made by first touching the forehead with one’s hand, then touching the lower chest or stomach, and then, starting with the left, touching both shoulders. These actions are accompanied by the Trinitarian formula: “In the name of the Father (at the forehead), and of the Son (at the chest or stomach), and of the Holy Spirit (on each shoulder). Amen.” Catholics begin and end times of prayer with this blessing.

APOSTOLIC TRADITION:

The mode of transmission of the Word of God. The Word of God was given to the Apostles by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Apostles in turn handed it on to their successors, the bishops. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the Church has kept the Word of God whole and safe over the centuries so we can know and believe in the whole Faith today. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single deposit – or one gift–of the Word of God. We accept and honor Sacred Tradition equally with Sacred Scripture.

VIRGIN BIRTH:

… Coming Soon …