Our Catholic Faith

OUR CATHOLIC FAITH

“This section presents truths about God which can be known by human reason unaided by revelation, the Mysteries of our Catholic Faith, and the Commandments of God and His Church. Mysteries are supernatural truths revealed to us by God which our human minds alone cannot fully understand.  The Mysteries tell us what we know about God, and the Commandments show us how to love Him.

God and His Attributes

GOD is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He alone is independent because He alone exists of Himself. All other things have received existence from Him and thus are dependent upon Him. God is eternal. He has always existed; He has always been and always will be. God is a pure spirit, a sovereign intelligence who has no body and who cannot be perceived by our senses. Present everywhere, He can penetrate our most secret thoughts; all-powerful, He can do all things. He governs all by His love, His mercy, and His justice, and nothing comes about without His command or without His permission. God is infinitely good, infinitely holy, infinitely just; in a word, He is infinitely perfect: He possesses without restriction or measure all perfections.

The Holy Trinity

THERE is only one God, but there are in Him three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. However, these three persons are not three Gods, but only one God. The Son is the Word, or the interior voice of the Father, and begotten by the Father alone; the Holy Spirit is the mutual Love of the Father and the Son, and He proceeds from both. The three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are equal in all things because they have only one nature, the Divine Nature: in this consists the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.

Creatures of God

AMONG the creatures of God, the most perfect are Angels and men. The Angels are pure spirits created to adore God and execute His commands. Many of these Angels revolted against their Creator, Who, in turn, condemned them to hell. These Angels whom we call demons or evil spirits hate God and tempt man on earth to defy the laws of God so as to be condemned to the same tortures that they themselves suffer. The faithful Angels are confirmed in grace and have their abode in heaven for all eternity. We call some Guardian Angels because God has appointed them to keep watch over man on earth. Each one of us has a Guardian Angel.

Adam and Eve

GOD formed man and gave to him a living and immortal soul, created to His own image. From Adam, the first man, and from Eve, whom God gave to Adam as a companion, has sprung the whole human race. God has created us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in heaven. God not only gave our first parents an immortal soul: He elevated them to a supernatural life of grace; He called them to enjoy His eternal happiness. In this first state of original justice, He exempted them from the ravages of sickness, ignorance, concupiscence, and death.

Original Sin

HAVING been tempted by the devil, our first parents disobeyed God. For this reason they lost for themselves and for their posterity that life of grace and holiness. Adam transmitted that same disgrace and degradation to all his descendants, and this is the state of original sin to which we all are born. The gates of heaven were closed to mankind as a result of original sin. Only Mary, in view of the merits of her Divine Son, was exempt from original sin—from the first moment of her conception, i.e., from the moment her soul was created and infused into her body it was free from original sin and filled with sanctifying grace. This privilege is called her Immaculate Conception.

The Promise of a Redeemer

GOD had pity upon man whom He had created with such love; and having subjected man from the time of Adam’s fall to sickness, ignorance, concupiscence and death, He promised a Redeemer who would make reparation for the sin of Adam and Eve and reopen the gates of heaven. The human race never did completely forget this divine promise, although for many centuries before the coming of the Redeemer, it languished in the ways of corruption. The hope for a Redeemer was kept alive among the Hebrew people, through the successive missions which God gave to the Patriarchs, Moses, and the Prophets. These extraordinary men were not raised up for the sole purpose of reminding the Jews of their obligation to the moral law, but also to keep alive their hope and to foretell the character and redeeming works of the future Messiah.

The Coming of the Savior

WHEN the time appointed by the wisdom of God had come, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became Man in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Church celebrates the birth of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. He received the name Jesus, meaning Savior because He came to save the world. Christ, meaning Anointed One, was the name given by the Chosen People of God to their Priests, Kings and Prophets by reason of the holy unction with which they were consecrated. This name is eminently adapted to the Son of God made Man Who was anointed not by means of an exterior and material unction but by the fullness of the divinity which resides in Him.

The Incarnation of Jesus

JESUS Christ is the Son of God, equal and consubstantial with the Father in all things. Jesus Christ is Man because He possesses all that which constitutes human nature: a body, and a soul. This union of Divine nature and human nature in Jesus Christ is called the Mystery of the Incarnation. There are, then, in Jesus Christ, two natures and one Person: the Person of the Son of God, and the nature of God and the nature of man.

Jesus Christ—Our Lord and Savior

JESUS Christ came upon earth to destroy the reign of sin. He fought sin by His example, prophecies, and miracles; but above all He triumphed over sin by the merits of His Passion and death. He delivered Himself up to the malice of His enemies; He allowed Himself to be condemned to cruel punishment and to be crucified. He shed all His Blood while praying for His persecutors: taking the place of the guilty, He suffered and died for them. He made satisfaction for the sins of all human beings: for those who preceded His coming as well as those who followed Him, meriting graces without number and without measure for their sanctification and salvation.

The Redemption

JESUS Christ did not suffer and die as God, for a Divine Nature can neither suffer nor die. He died as Man; but as God, He has given an infinite value to His sufferings and death. He died for all human beings, including those who do not take advantage of His saving merits. The day in which the Church, in a special manner, commemorates the death of Jesus Christ is called Good Friday. This death of the Son of God made Man, offering His very life on the Cross as a sacrifice for the salvation of humankind, is called the Mystery of the Redemption of the human race: a mystery of love in which God has united His mercy and justice, in pardoning sinful human beings in view of the sacrifice and merits of His innocent Son. Immediately after the death of Jesus Christ, His body was placed in a tomb. He then descended into hell, that is, the place of the dead, to free all the souls of the just, the Patriarchs, and Prophets who were detained there awaiting the coming of the Messiah and the Redemption of the world.

The Resurrection

THE third day after His death, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This signal of His mission and of His divinity has confirmed His work, and has given us a solid foundation for our Faith and an infallible assurance of our hope. The Church commemorates this great miracle on Easter Sunday.

The Ascension

FORTY days after His Resurrection, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. The Church commemorates this event on the Feast of the Ascension.

The Primitive Church

JESUS Christ has left upon earth a Church, a holy people and society which unites in one body the children of God all over the world. He Himself gathered together the first members, His disciples, from among whom He chose His twelve Apostles. To them especially, He entrusted His mission to teach all nations, to administer the Sacraments, to offer the sacrifice of His Body and Blood, and to govern the Church. He chose particularly one of them, to whom He gave the name of Peter (the Rock), indicating by this name that He wanted to make him the foundation stone upon which His Church would be built. He appointed Peter Prince of the Apostles, Pastor of Pastors, and designated him to be His Vicar on earth after His Ascension into Heaven. St. Peter, the other Apostles, and the disciples made up the membership of the Church after Jesus ascended into Heaven. The advent of the Holy Spirit fertilized its beginnings and gave the Apostles the gift of prophecy.

The Marks of the True Church

THE chief marks of the Church are four: It is one, holy, catholic or universal, and apostolic. The Church is one because all its members, according to the will of Christ, profess the same faith, have the same Sacrifice and Sacraments, and are united under one and the same visible head, the Pope. The Church is holy through Jesus Christ Who is the source of all holiness: in its doctrine, which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, of which it is the custodian; in its Sacraments, which the Divine Savior has established to sanctify human beings. The Church is catholic, or universal, i.e., it is not destined for one race, but it will be the light and salvation of all peoples of the world. There is not one country where the good tidings of salvation have not been or should not be announced by her. The Church is apostolic, that is, it had its beginning with the Apostles. In commanding His Apostles to go forth and teach all nations, to call them to His Church, and to let them enter through the door of Baptism, Jesus Christ promised to assist them in their ministry until the consummation of the world. This promise embraces all times, not merely apostolic times, nor does Jesus Christ address Himself personally to the Apostles alone but to all those who would succeed them till the end of the world. The Apostles have had as their successors Bishops, whom they consecrated and who in turn consecrated others so that the apostolic ministry has never been interrupted. St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, was the first Bishop of Rome, where he ended his apostolate in glorious martyrdom. His successors in the See of Rome will always preserve the primacy of honor and of jurisdiction which Jesus gave to St. Peter. In virtue of this succession, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, is the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Head of all the Church, the Father of all Christians. To him, in the person of St. Peter, has been given the power to shepherd, to reign, and to rule the universal Church: so that the Pope and all the Bishops in communion with him continually represent on earth the Apostolic college established by our Savior. By the legitimate succession of its pastors, principally of its Roman Pontiffs, from the Apostles down to our own times, and until the end of the world, the Church can and will always be able to trace its origin to the Apostles and from them to Jesus Christ.

One Flock, One Shepherd

THE Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church is the only flock of which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only Shepherd. To hear the teachings of the Church and to submit oneself to its laws is to hear Jesus Christ and to obey Him. To refuse to submit to the decisions and laws of the Church is to refuse to submit to Jesus Christ. He Himself has expressly said to His Apostles: He who hears you, hears Me; and he who rejects you, rejects Me; and he who rejects Me, rejects Him Who sent Me. One cannot separate oneself from the Church without at the same time rejecting Jesus Christ; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. When one willfully remains outside the true Church there is no hope for salvation.

Infallibility of the Church

JESUS Christ has given to His Church the privilege of doctrinal infallibility. The Pope enjoys this infallibility when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when he speaks to all the Church concerning matters of Faith or Morals. He not merely must speak as a private theologian but he must speak with the manifest intention of obligating the universal Church to consent. The general Councils of the Church enjoy the same privilege of infallibility under the same conditions.

The Mystical Body of Christ

THE faithful who make up the Church represent one body, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. In their capacity as members of this Mystical Body, all are called to participate in the merits of its Divine Head; all are united through participation in the same spiritual benefits: faith, the Sacraments, good works, and prayers. This union continues even after death and is called the Communion of Saints, which means the union of the faithful on earth, the blessed in heaven, and the souls in Purgatory, with Christ as their Head. The Saints who are already in heaven pray for us, and we obtain from God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, powerful assistance in order to attain the happiness which they already enjoy. Accordingly, we on earth, who are battling against the enemy of our salvation, can help by our prayers and other good works of mercy those souls who suffer in Purgatory to expiate their faults and discharge their debts to divine justice.

The Last Judgment

AT the end of time, Jesus Christ will again come with great power and majesty to judge all men and to render to each according to each one’s works. This general judgment will be a manifestation and confirmation of the particular judgment to which each one of us must submit immediately after death. But before the last judgment, all men will be resurrected with the same bodies they had during life on earth, so that their bodies will share the same reward or punishment as their souls. God wants also, by this resurrection, to render more complete the triumph of Jesus Christ over death and sin. Impenitent sinners will suffer eternal punishment; the just, on the other hand, will enjoy the vision and possession of God, eternal happiness.

Sanctifying Grace

SANCTIFYING grace is that grace which confers on our souls a new life, that is, a sharing in the life of God. Our reconciliation with God, which the redemption of Christ has merited for us, finds its accomplishment in sanctifying grace. Through this most precious gift we participate in the divine life; we have the right to be called children of God. This grace is the source of all our supernatural merits and bestows upon us the right of eternal glory. Actual Grace OUR Lord has also merited actual graces for us, those interior and supernatural helps given to us according to our needs in doing good and avoiding evil. These helps are of such necessity that without them it is impossible to elicit a good desire or to have a good thought in the order of salvation. Jesus offered Himself for all human beings; His actual graces are given to all but not in the same measure because God is always the master of His gifts. Just as there is no one from whom the most powerful grace can take away free will, so also there is no one who can complain that the insufficiency of grace reduced him to the necessity of falling into sin. We all have the sum total of graces sufficient for the acquisition of everlasting life, for which all of us have been created.

Prayer Is Necessary

PRAYER is a means as efficacious as it is necessary for obtaining help from God. Our blessed Lord has urged us often to have recourse to it, and has given us the model of a perfect prayer—The Lord’s Prayer. To this prayer, the Church usually joins the Angelical Salutation, or the Hail Mary, so as to render homage to the Blessed Virgin. Prayer is necessary for salvation, victory over temptation, the practice of virtue, and perseverance in grace. If the proper things are asked for, and the prayer is made with attention, humility, confidence, sincerity, and perseverance, God will certainly grant our petitions. We do not always obtain what we pray for, either because we have not prayed properly or because God sees that what we are asking would not be for our good.

The Liturgy

EACH year through the Liturgy (especially the Mass), the Church makes present for us the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. In this way, we can encounter our Lord in His Mysteries, give glory to God, and obtain graces for ourselves and the whole world. Outline of the Church Year Advent—Jesus is near. Christmastime—Jesus is with us. Epiphany—Jesus shows His glory. Ordinary Time—Jesus gives lessons for His Church. Lent—Jesus suffers and dies for us. Easter—Jesus triumphs over sin and death. Easter Time—Jesus instructs His Apostles. Ascension—Jesus ascends to His heavenly Father. Pentecost—Jesus sends the Holy Spirit. Ordinary Time—The Spirit carries on the work of Jesus through His Church.

Holy Mass

ON the Cross Jesus offered His Body and Blood to God the Father for us. In the Mass this great act is renewed for our benefit. We offer Jesus to God the Father in adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, and petition. We receive Jesus back from the Father as our Bread for eternal life. We sing hymns to praise God and to show our joy at Mass.

Major Parts of Holy Mass

The Introductory Rites—We speak to God in acts of contrition, praise, and petition. The Liturgy of the Word—We listen to what God says to us in the Readings, the Gospel, and the Homily. The Liturgy of the Eucharist— Presentation and Preparation of the Gifts—With the priest we present the gifts of bread and wine. Eucharistic Prayer—At the consecration this bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Communion Rite—We receive Jesus Who has given Himself in love. The Concluding Rite—We receive God’s blessing and go forth to bring the Good News of Jesus to others by word and example.

The Seven Sacraments

JESUS is present among us today by means of the Sacraments. Through them Jesus acts in His Church and effects the salvation of all human beings. Sacraments are sensible signs, instituted by Christ to give us grace, which makes us children of God and heirs of heaven. Our natural life follows a series of stages: we are born and grow until we become adults and can live on our own. In instituting the Seven Sacraments Jesus gave us helps to be born and grow to adulthood in the supernatural life—to be with us in every phase of life. Baptism—Christ gives us a new life: the life of grace in His Church. We celebrate our birth to faith, as children of God, and we die to sin. Confirmation—Christ strengthens us as Christians and He makes us His soldiers and apostles to defend and spread the faith. Eucharist—We celebrate the Lord’s Passover, the sacrifice of the Cross. Christ feeds us with the Bread of Life, His Body and Blood. Penance—Christ forgives our sins and restores or increases our grace. We celebrate our conversion and reconciliation with God and the Church. Anointing of the Sick—Christ strengthens our soul in the face of sickness and death. We celebrate the Christian hope in life eternal. Holy Orders—Christ consecrates His ministers for the Priestly Service of the People of God. Matrimony—Christ sanctifies the indissoluble union of man and woman in mutual love and support, to have children and to bring them up in the Catholic faith.

The Word of God

GOD revealed himself in time. He intervened in history and communicated to human beings His merciful plans. The Bible (Word of God) is the record of this self-revelation of God which was set forth in a message as well as in events. God spoke and acted— word and event went together. Human beings left to themselves cannot discover all the mysteries of God or His creatures. In His goodness, God has revealed to us many truths which He wants us to know. God’s Revelation is contained in the Bible and in Sacred Tradition.

The Bible

THE Bible is a collection of sacred books, which were composed under the positive influence of the Holy Spirit by men chosen by God, and which have been accepted by the Church as inspired. It is the most authorized, most admirable, and most important book in the world because it is the only “divine book,” the word of God in the language of man. The two main parts of the Bible are the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word “testament” is used here in the sense of “agreement” or “covenant.” The Old Testament is a record of the old agreement between God (Yahweh) and His chosen people, the Hebrews. It describes the remote preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The New Testament is a record of the new agreement made by God with the whole human race through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made Man.

Sacred Tradition

SACRED Tradition is the Word of God given to the Apostles by Christ and the Holy Spirit and handed down to their successors through the Church by means of prayer and Creeds, liturgical practices, and authoritative writings (Popes, bishops, and theologians). Tradition can be defined as the way the Church understands and lives the teachings of Jesus at any particular moment in time. Tradition and Sacred Scripture form one deposit of the Word of God. Thus, Scripture, Tradition, and the Catholic Church combine to bring us God’s revelation. The Catholic Church is the official interpreter of the Bible. As the people of God—both of the Old Covenant in figure and of the New Covenant in reality—she wrote the sacred scriptures .  And as the Church of Christians, she has always treasured them.  She encourages her members to study the Scriptures for she knows that “Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”( Catholic Book of Prayers, Joseph T. O’Keele IMPROMATUR, P. 223)