All Things Catholic

“What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless.” – Pope Saint John Paul II The most extraordinary and profound truth is that God’s love for you is beyond anything that you can imagine. As a Catholic Christian, it is essential that you accept and understand this wonderful truth. God loves you regardless of your past or your sins. Jesus died to save all of us from sin and spiritual death; He loves you so very much that if you were the only person in need of salvation, He would lay down His life just for you. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” John 15:13. Without accepting God’s invitation to have a deep and loving relationship with Him,
nothing else that you do will make much sense. First and foremost, you are loved, chosen, and called into communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All that you become depends upon your willingness to accept God’s grace, to enter into a love relationship with Him,
and to be transformed into a more faith filled, knowledgeable, cherished, intimate, and loving member of the body of Christ, the Church.

THE SIX TRUTHS
To be known and believed by all.
1) There is one God, who created, who preserves and governs all things.
2) God is a just Judge, who rewards the good and punishes the wicked.
3) In God there are three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
4) The Second Person, Jesus Christ, became man and died on the cross to save us.
5) The soul of man is immortal.
6) Grace is necessary for salvation.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
1) I am the Lord thy God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me. Thou shalt not make to yourself a graven thing, not the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them nor serve them.
2) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3) Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath – day.
4) Honor thy father and thy mother.
5) Thou shalt not kill.
6) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7) Thou shalt not steal.
8) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

THE EIGHT BEATITUDES
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.
3. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
4. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled.
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
6. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.
7. Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.
8. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

THE SIX PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
1) To attend Mass on Sundays and Holy days of obligation.
2) To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
3) To confess at least once a year.
4) To receive the Most Blessed Sacrament during the Easter time.
5) To contribute to the support of our pastors.
6) Matrimony is a Sacrament between one Man and one Woman. It provides grace to the couple and the Church helps prepare couples for the Sacrament.

THE SIX HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION
1) *January 1 – Mary, Mother of God.
2) Ascension – 40 days after Easter
3) *August 15 – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
4) *November 1 – The feast of All-Saints.
5) December 8 – The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.
6) December 25 – Christmas
*If on a Monday or Saturday – No Obligation in the USA

THE FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES
Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance

THE THREE EMINENT GOOD WORKS or SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Prayer, Fasting, Alms-giving

THE THREE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS.
(Vows taken by most religious in order to more perfectly serve the Church)
Voluntary Poverty, Perpetual Chastity, Obedience

THE CHIEF CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY
1) To feed the hungry
2) To give drink to the thirsty
3) To clothe the naked
4) To ransom the captive
5) To harbor the harborless
6) To visit the sick
7) To bury the dead

THE CHIEF SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY
1) To admonish the sinners
2) To instruct the ignorant
3) To counsel the doubtful
4) To comfort the sorrowful
5) To bear wrongs patiently
6) To forgive injuries
7) To pray for the living and the dead

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord

THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS
1) Baptism
2) Confirmation
3) Holy Eucharist
4) Penance
5) Anointing of the Sick
6) Holy Order

THE TWELVE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, benignity, Goodness, Long-Suffering, Mildness, Faith, Modesty, Continence, Chastity

Love the Fight Not the Fall: Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed. Slowly but surely, we may tire of our defects and their effects. The constant, on-going battle to follow Christ may slowly wear us down. The path to perfection in the virtues is surely full of rewards, but it has its
share of wear-and-tear. But it does not matter if we fall a thousand times, as long as we love the fight and not the fall. It therefore makes no sense to despair, especially when we fight with Christ on our side. The effort of a prolonged battle can please Christ more than an easy and
comfortable victory. Christ reminds us: He will suffer greatly, be rejected and killed, and everyone who wants to be his disciple must take up his cross and follow him.

SIN
From The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1854 Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. The distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture,129 became part of the tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience. 1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.
1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us – that is, charity – necessitates anew initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation.
1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”131

BAPTISMAL VOWS
“I renounce Satan. I renounce all his works. I renounce all his pomps.”
By these words, we renounce all suggestions and snares of the evil one, all deliberate sins, all the follies and vanities of worldly-minded men and women.

THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS AND THEIR OPPOSING VIRTUES
1) Pride – Humility
2) Covetousness – Liberality
3) Lust – Chastity
4) Anger – Meekness
5) Gluttony – Temperance
6) Envy – Brotherly Love
7) Sloth – Diligence

THE FOUR CONDITIONS FOR FORGIVENESS OF SIN
On the part of the Penitent: Contrition, Confession, Satisfaction.
On the part of the Confessor: Absolution

THE SIX SINS AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT
Presumption of God’s mercy, Despair, Resisting the known truth, Envy at another’s spiritual good, Obstinacy in sin, Final Impenitence

THE NINE WAYS OF BEING AN ACCESSORY TO ANOTHER’S SINS
1) By Counsel
2) By Command
3) By Consent
4) By Provocation
5) By Praise or Flattery
6) By Concealment
7) By Taking Part in the sin
8) By Silence
9) By Defending the evil

The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” Notice that two of the 12 Apostles — Matthew and John — also belong to the group of the 4 Evangelists (the men who each wrote one of the four Gospels). The other two Evangelists — Mark and Luke — were students of Simon Peter and Paul, respectively, and were not sent directly by Christ. Paul is often referred to as “Apostle Paul” — specifically the “Apostle to the Gentiles”, — because he, too, was sent by Christ, but he is not one of the original 12 Apostles. All of these men (the 12 Apostles, St. Paul, the Evangelists) can — along with “the seventy disciples” spoken of in Luke 10, the women who followed Christ, and men like Timothy and Apollo — be called “disciples,” which indicates “student.”

THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL
In order of their birth:
Reuben
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Zabulon
Issachar
Dan
Gad
Asher
Naphtali
Joseph (Menasseh and Ephraim)
Benjamin

THE FOURTEEN STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Jesus is Condemned to Die
Jesus is Made to Bear His Cross
Jesus Falls the First Time
Jesus Meets His Mother
Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
Veronica Wipes Jesus’ Face
Jesus Falls the Second Time
Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
Jesus Falls the Third Time
Jesus is Stripped
Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
Jesus Dies on the Cross
Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross
Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

Angels
Archangels
Principalities
Powers
Virtues
Dominions
Thrones
Cherubim
Seraphim

Note:
The Choir of Angels is divided into three triads with specific concerns:

Angels (the word means “Messengers”) are spirits (there was and is debate as to whether they are pure spirit like God or whether they are possess “subtle matter” and are corporeal in a different way from us), created before man, who were given one choice at the beginning of Creation: the Kingdom of God — or the Absence of God, which is the Kingdom of Satan, the first Angel who rebelled.

There are 7 Archangels (Tobias 12:15). We know the names of 3 of them from Scripture:

• Michael (Daniel, Epistle of St. Jude, Apocalypse of St. John), whose name means “Who is like God” and whose Feast is September 29;
• Gabriel (Daniel and Luke), whose name means “Strength of God” and whose Feast is March 24; and
• Raphael (Tobias), whose name means “Medicine of God” and whose Feast is October 24.

The apocryphal Book of Enoch lists the other 4 as:

• Uriel;
• Raguel;
• Sariel; and
• Jeramiel. 

A mnemonic to help you remember the Nine Choirs of Angels:
AN ARmy PRizefighter POker VIrtuoso DOminated THe CHampionship SEries

Note:
God, Who is of the supernatural order, created the natural and preternatural (e.g., the angelic) orders out of nothing (ex nihilo), in time (“in the beginning”), and for His own pleasure. Only God can “create,” and because of this, in the strict sense, it is actually rather blasphemous to refer to man as “creating” anything (“create” and “creation” have come to have everyday meanings, so don’t be ridiculous about that). Man can produce, re-produce, manufacture, form, fashion, fabricate, design, shape, or make — but he cannot bring into existence anything out of nothing. Angels and demons, too, are limited and cannot do the truly miraculous. They are able, however, to take what is created and manipulate it in ways that seem miraculous and are able to influence our perceptions and imaginations.

You can remember the Order of Creation by thinking of the first three days as days which God spent creating forms and frameworks by dividing the elements, and the last three days as the days He spent creating things to fill those forms created by dividing the elements, e.g.:

Day 1 Light		Day 4 specific forms of light in the Sun, Moon, and Stars
Day 2 the Firmament/waters		Day 5 birds to fill the firmament, and fish to fill the waters
Day 3 dry land		Day 6 land animals and man