What is Prayer?
Prayer is the raising up of mind and heart to God.
How do we raise up our mind and heart to God?
By thinking of God; by adoring, praising and thanking him; and by begging of him all blessings for soul and body.
Do those pray well who, at their prayers, think neither of God nor of what they say?
Those who at their prayers, think neither of God nor of what they say, do not pray well; but they offend God, if their distractions are wilful.
Which is the best of all prayers?
The best of all prayers is the 'Our Father' or the Lord's Prayer.
Who made the Lord's Prayer?
Jesus Christ himself made the Lord's Prayer
Say the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive those who trespass against us; as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
In the Lord's Prayer who is called our Father?
God is called 'our Father'
Why is God called 'Our Father'?
God is called 'our Father' because he is the Father of all Christians, whom he has made his children by Holy Baptism.
Is God also the Father of all mankind?
Yes because he made them all, and loves and preserves them all.
Why do we say 'our Father' and not 'my father'?
Because being all brethren, we are to pray not for ourselves only, but also for all others.
When we say, 'hallowed be thy name' what do we pray for?
We pray that God may be known, loved, and served by all his creatures.
When we say 'thy kingdom come', what do we pray for?
We pray that God may come and reign in the hearts of all by his grace in this world, and bring us all hereafter to his heavenly kingdom.
When we say 'thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven', what do we pray for?
We pray that God may enable us by his grace, to do his will in all things as the Blessed do in heaven.
When we say 'give us this day our daily bread', what do we pray for?
We pray that God may give us daily all that is necessary for soul and body.
When we say 'forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us' what do we pray for?
We pray that God may forgive us our sins, as we forgive others the injuries they do to us.
When we say, 'deliver us from evil', what do we pray for?
We pray that God may free us from all evil, both of soul and body.
Should we ask Angels and Saints to pray for us?
We should ask the Angels and Saints to pray for us, because their prayers have great power with God.
How can we show that the Angels and Saints know what passes on earth?
From the words of Christ: There shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner doing penance'. (Luke 15:10)
What is the chief prayer to the Blessed Virgin which the church uses?
Hail Mary.
Say the Hail Mary.
Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed are you among women; and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Who made the first part of the Hail Mary?
The Angel Gabriel and St. Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, made the first part of the Hail Mary.
Who made the second part of the Hail Mary?
The Church of God, guided by Holy Spirit, made the second part of the Hail Mary.
Why should we frequently say the Hail Mary?
To put us in mind of the Incarnation of the Son of God; and to honour our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God.
Have we another reason for often saying the Hail Mary?
To ask our Blessed Lady to pray for us sinners at all times, but espcially at the hour of death.
Why does the Catholic Church show great devotion to the Blessed Virgin?
Because she is the Immaculate Mother of God.
How is the Blessed Virgin Mother of God?
Because Jesus Christ, her son, who was born of her as man, is not only man, but also truly God.
Is the Blessed Virgin our Mother also?
The Blessed Virgin is our Mother also because being the brethren of Jesus, we are the children of Mary.
What do you mean by the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin?
We mean that by power of God, Mary, at the completion of her life was taken body and soul into everlasting glory to reign as Queen of heaven and earth.
Is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin an article of Faith?
Yes because it has been solemnly defined by the infalliable authority of the church.
Showing posts with label Catechism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catechism. Show all posts
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
The seven capital sins or vices and their contrary virtues.
Seven Capital Sins
1. Pride
2. Covetousness
3. Lust
4. Anger
5. Gluttony
6. Envy
7. Sloth
Contrary Virtues
1. Humility
2. Liberality
3. Chasity
4. Meekness
5. Temperance
6. Brotherly love
7. Diligence
Why they are called capital sins?
They are called capital sins because they are the sources from which all other sins take their rise.
More informations on Capital sins:
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0465.html
http://catholicexchange.com/seven-capital-sins
1. Pride
2. Covetousness
3. Lust
4. Anger
5. Gluttony
6. Envy
7. Sloth
Contrary Virtues
1. Humility
2. Liberality
3. Chasity
4. Meekness
5. Temperance
6. Brotherly love
7. Diligence
Why they are called capital sins?
They are called capital sins because they are the sources from which all other sins take their rise.
More informations on Capital sins:
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0465.html
http://catholicexchange.com/seven-capital-sins
Sunday, June 15, 2014
1.3a God Approaches Us Men
7) Why God have to show himself in order for us to be able to know what he is like?
Man can know by reason that God exists, but not what God is really like. Yet because God would very much like to be known, he has revealed himself.
God did not have to reveal himself to us. But he did it -out of love. Just as in human love one can know something about the beloved person only if he opens his heart to us, so too we know something about God's inmost thoughts only because the eternal and mysterious God has opened himself to us out of love. From creation on, through the patriarchs and the prophets down to the definitive--- REVELATION in his Son Jesus Christ, God has spoken again and again to mankind. In him he has poured out his heart to us and made his inmost being visible for us.
8) How does God reveal himself in the Old Testament?
God shows himself in the Old Testament as God, who created the world out of love and remains faithful to men even when they have fallen away from him into sin.
God makes it possible t experience him into history: With Noah he establishes a covenant to save all living things. He calls Abraham so as to make him "the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen 17:5b) and to bless "all the families of the earth" in him (Gen 12:3b).
The people Israel, sprung from Abraham, becomes his special possession. To Moses he introduces himself by name. His mysterious name ---YHWH, usually transcribed Yahweh, means "I AM WHO I AM" (Ex 3:14). He frees Israel from slavery in Egypt, establishes a covenant with them on Sinai, and through Moses gives them the law. Again and again, God sends prophets to his people to call them to conversion and to the renewal of the covenant.
The prophets proclaim that God will establish a new and everlasting covenant, which will bring about a radical renewal and definitive redemption. This covenant will be open to all human beings.
9) What does God show us about himself when he sends his Son to us?
God shows us in Jesus Christ the full depth of his merciful love.
Through Jesus Christ the invisible God becomes visible. He becomes a man like us. This shows us how far God's love goes: He bears our whole burden. He walks every path with us. He is there in our abandonment, our sufferings, our fear of death. He is there when we can go no farther, so as to open up for us the door leading into life.
10) With Jesus Christ, has everything been said, or does revelation continue even after him?
In Jesus Christ, God himself came to earth. He is God's last Word. By listening to him, all men of all times can know who God is and what is necessary for their salvation.
With Gospel of Jesus Christ, the --- REVELATION of God is perfect and complete. To make it comprehensible to us, the Holy Spirit leads us ever deeper into the truth. God's light breaks so forcefully into the lives of many individuals that they "see the heavens opened" (Acts 7:56). That is how great places of pilgrimage such as Guadalupe in Mexico or Lourdes in France came about. The "private revelations" of visionaries cannot improve on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No one is obliged to believe in them. But they can help us understand the Gospel better. Their authenticity is tested by the --- CHURCH.
Man can know by reason that God exists, but not what God is really like. Yet because God would very much like to be known, he has revealed himself.
God did not have to reveal himself to us. But he did it -out of love. Just as in human love one can know something about the beloved person only if he opens his heart to us, so too we know something about God's inmost thoughts only because the eternal and mysterious God has opened himself to us out of love. From creation on, through the patriarchs and the prophets down to the definitive--- REVELATION in his Son Jesus Christ, God has spoken again and again to mankind. In him he has poured out his heart to us and made his inmost being visible for us.
8) How does God reveal himself in the Old Testament?
God shows himself in the Old Testament as God, who created the world out of love and remains faithful to men even when they have fallen away from him into sin.
God makes it possible t experience him into history: With Noah he establishes a covenant to save all living things. He calls Abraham so as to make him "the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen 17:5b) and to bless "all the families of the earth" in him (Gen 12:3b).
The people Israel, sprung from Abraham, becomes his special possession. To Moses he introduces himself by name. His mysterious name ---YHWH, usually transcribed Yahweh, means "I AM WHO I AM" (Ex 3:14). He frees Israel from slavery in Egypt, establishes a covenant with them on Sinai, and through Moses gives them the law. Again and again, God sends prophets to his people to call them to conversion and to the renewal of the covenant.
The prophets proclaim that God will establish a new and everlasting covenant, which will bring about a radical renewal and definitive redemption. This covenant will be open to all human beings.
9) What does God show us about himself when he sends his Son to us?
God shows us in Jesus Christ the full depth of his merciful love.
Through Jesus Christ the invisible God becomes visible. He becomes a man like us. This shows us how far God's love goes: He bears our whole burden. He walks every path with us. He is there in our abandonment, our sufferings, our fear of death. He is there when we can go no farther, so as to open up for us the door leading into life.
10) With Jesus Christ, has everything been said, or does revelation continue even after him?
In Jesus Christ, God himself came to earth. He is God's last Word. By listening to him, all men of all times can know who God is and what is necessary for their salvation.
With Gospel of Jesus Christ, the --- REVELATION of God is perfect and complete. To make it comprehensible to us, the Holy Spirit leads us ever deeper into the truth. God's light breaks so forcefully into the lives of many individuals that they "see the heavens opened" (Acts 7:56). That is how great places of pilgrimage such as Guadalupe in Mexico or Lourdes in France came about. The "private revelations" of visionaries cannot improve on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No one is obliged to believe in them. But they can help us understand the Gospel better. Their authenticity is tested by the --- CHURCH.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
1.2 Man is Receptive to God
3) Q: Why do we seek God?
God placed in our hearts a longing to seek and find him. St.Augustine says, "you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." We call this longing for God - (Religion).
It is natural for man to seek God. All of our striving for truth and happiness is ultimately a search for the one who supports us absolutely, satisfies us absolutely, and employs us absolutely in his service. A person is not completely himself until he has found God. " Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he realizes it" (ST.Edith Stein)
4) Q: Can we know the existence of God by our reason?
Yes. Human can know God with certainty.
The world cannot have its origin and its destination within itself. In everything that exists, there is more than we see. The order, the beauty, and the development of the world point beyond themselves toward God. Evry man is receptive to what is true, good and beautiful. He hears within himself the voice of conscience, which urges him to what is good and warns him against what is evil. Anyone who follows this path reasonably finds God.
5)Q: Why do people deny that God exists, if they can know him by reason?
To know the invisible God is a great challenge for human kind. Many are scared off by it. Another reason why some do not want to know God is because they would then have to change their life. Anyone who says that the question about God is meaningless because it cannot be answered is making things too easy for himself.
6) Q: Can we grasp God at all in concepts? Is it possible to speak about him meaningfully?
In order to express something about God, we use imperfect images and limited notions. And so everything we say about God is subject to the reservation that our language is not equal to God's greatness. Therefore we must constantly purify and improve our speech about God.
God placed in our hearts a longing to seek and find him. St.Augustine says, "you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." We call this longing for God - (Religion).
It is natural for man to seek God. All of our striving for truth and happiness is ultimately a search for the one who supports us absolutely, satisfies us absolutely, and employs us absolutely in his service. A person is not completely himself until he has found God. " Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he realizes it" (ST.Edith Stein)
4) Q: Can we know the existence of God by our reason?
Yes. Human can know God with certainty.
The world cannot have its origin and its destination within itself. In everything that exists, there is more than we see. The order, the beauty, and the development of the world point beyond themselves toward God. Evry man is receptive to what is true, good and beautiful. He hears within himself the voice of conscience, which urges him to what is good and warns him against what is evil. Anyone who follows this path reasonably finds God.
5)Q: Why do people deny that God exists, if they can know him by reason?
To know the invisible God is a great challenge for human kind. Many are scared off by it. Another reason why some do not want to know God is because they would then have to change their life. Anyone who says that the question about God is meaningless because it cannot be answered is making things too easy for himself.
6) Q: Can we grasp God at all in concepts? Is it possible to speak about him meaningfully?
In order to express something about God, we use imperfect images and limited notions. And so everything we say about God is subject to the reservation that our language is not equal to God's greatness. Therefore we must constantly purify and improve our speech about God.
1.1 Why we are able to believe?
1) Q: For what purpose are we here on earth?
A: We are here on earth in order to know, and to love God, to do good according to his Will, and to go someday to heaven (1-3,358)
To be human being means to come from God and to go to God. Our origin goes back farther than our parents. We come from God, in whom all the happiness of heaven and earth is at home, and we are expected in his everlasting, infinite blessedness. Meanwhile we live on this earth. Sometimes we feel that our Creator is near; often we feel nothing at all. So that we might find the way home, God sent us his Son, who freed us from sin, delivers us from all evil, and leads us erringly into true life. He is "the way, and then truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6).
2) Q: Why did God create us?
A: God created us out of free and unselfish love. (1-3)
When a man loves, his heart overflows. He would like to share his joy with others. He gets this from his Creator. Although God is a mystery, we can still think about him in a human way and say: Out of the "surplus" of his love he created us. He wanted to share his endless joy with us, who are creatures of his love.
Veronica's Reflection:
As a kid as young as 8 years old, I had been looking for answer to the question no.1 ' What is our purpose of life? Why are we on here on earth? What is life? What life is all about? Is it life supposed to be growing up study, work, get married, get kids and so forth? I believe a lot of people are asking the same questions. I cant believe that this is the first answer I got when I open the Catechism book. For all my life looking for the answer, I finally found the answer! We came from God and we are here on earth to serve God. Now I am able to tell my own kids or other kids where did they come from and what is their purpose of life.
From there, I started to find what does it mean to serve God. One may not understand that serving is receiving. I found so much goodness in serving God, our God is very kind and loving. He created us out of love and share His goodness. This is really true. He loves me so much that he always watching over me my whole life, keeping me safe and keep on calling me. Thank God for his faithfulness to me to wait for me for years to know him.
A: We are here on earth in order to know, and to love God, to do good according to his Will, and to go someday to heaven (1-3,358)
To be human being means to come from God and to go to God. Our origin goes back farther than our parents. We come from God, in whom all the happiness of heaven and earth is at home, and we are expected in his everlasting, infinite blessedness. Meanwhile we live on this earth. Sometimes we feel that our Creator is near; often we feel nothing at all. So that we might find the way home, God sent us his Son, who freed us from sin, delivers us from all evil, and leads us erringly into true life. He is "the way, and then truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6).
2) Q: Why did God create us?
A: God created us out of free and unselfish love. (1-3)
When a man loves, his heart overflows. He would like to share his joy with others. He gets this from his Creator. Although God is a mystery, we can still think about him in a human way and say: Out of the "surplus" of his love he created us. He wanted to share his endless joy with us, who are creatures of his love.
Veronica's Reflection:
As a kid as young as 8 years old, I had been looking for answer to the question no.1 ' What is our purpose of life? Why are we on here on earth? What is life? What life is all about? Is it life supposed to be growing up study, work, get married, get kids and so forth? I believe a lot of people are asking the same questions. I cant believe that this is the first answer I got when I open the Catechism book. For all my life looking for the answer, I finally found the answer! We came from God and we are here on earth to serve God. Now I am able to tell my own kids or other kids where did they come from and what is their purpose of life.
From there, I started to find what does it mean to serve God. One may not understand that serving is receiving. I found so much goodness in serving God, our God is very kind and loving. He created us out of love and share His goodness. This is really true. He loves me so much that he always watching over me my whole life, keeping me safe and keep on calling me. Thank God for his faithfulness to me to wait for me for years to know him.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Who created the World?
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the one and invisible principle of creation even though the work of creating the world is particularly attributed to God the Father. The world was created for the glory of God who wished to show forth and communicate his goodness, truth and beauty.
God alone, who is beyond time and space created the world out of nothing and called all things into being. Everything that exists depends on God and continues in being only because God wills it.
Catholic faith is open to findings and hypotheses of sciences. That is why a Christian can accept the theory of evolution as a helpful explanatory model, provided that one does not fall into the heresy of evolutionism, which views man as the random product of biological processes. The world is not product of chance. For us, God is the primary cause of the world.
Therefore, God created the world freely with wisdom and love. The world is not the result of any necessity, or of blind fate, or of chance. God created a world which is ordered and good... and he preserves his creation and sustains it.
God alone, who is beyond time and space created the world out of nothing and called all things into being. Everything that exists depends on God and continues in being only because God wills it.
Catholic faith is open to findings and hypotheses of sciences. That is why a Christian can accept the theory of evolution as a helpful explanatory model, provided that one does not fall into the heresy of evolutionism, which views man as the random product of biological processes. The world is not product of chance. For us, God is the primary cause of the world.
Therefore, God created the world freely with wisdom and love. The world is not the result of any necessity, or of blind fate, or of chance. God created a world which is ordered and good... and he preserves his creation and sustains it.
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