All created things have both substance and accidents. The accidents or properties of these created things are constantly changing. In regard to angelic and human persons, strictly speaking, physical properties pertain not only to the body, but also to the soul (intellect and will).  Therefore, there are material physical properties and spiritual physical properties. Angels, which are pure spirits, have spiritual physical properties as they possess an intellect and will. Human persons, which have body-soul composites, have both material and spiritual physical properties.

We never distinguish between substance and properties in God; however, Christ as man had and has both a Body and a Soul. Christ has accidents because of His human nature, but without change of His Person or divine nature. Thus, when we speak of the physical properties (or accidents) of Christ’s human nature in the Eucharist, we mean not only the quantitative properties of Christ’s human body, but we also mean the properties or qualities of Christ’s immaterial soul. Thus, Christ’s soul has a mind, and His mind has thoughts. Therefore, the mind of Christ and the thoughts in the mind of Christ are physical properties of Christ’s soul. These are present in the Holy Eucharist. So too, Christ’s soul has a will. This will also has its physical properties, like desire, volition, and love. What needs to be kept in mind is that the adjective “physical” refers to what is natural. The physical properties of Christ’s human nature are both material and spiritual. (For Advanced Course 20-37, 20-38, 20-41. For Basic Course 12-7.)

See also, Properties or Accidents.

Note the distinction between the words can and may. 
“Can” means “is able to,” or “has the power to.” In the courses, it often refers to the validity of the Sacraments. 
“May” means “is permissible,” “allowed,” or “is lawful,” and refers to whether an act is licit or illicit.

The lay faithful and, specifically, catechists, should become familiar with Canon Law because Canon Law guides the Church and protects the rights of the faithful. It spells out how the Church is to conduct itself. In this Course, you will use Canon Law in all of the lessons on the Sacraments.

In the Western Church, Canon Law is known as the Code of Canon Law; in Latin it is Codex Iuris Canonici. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, Canon Law is known as the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches; in Latin it is Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium.

The Second Vatican Council reaffirmed the centuries old requirement of celibacy for priests and Bishops in the Latin Rite. In its document, On the Ministry and Life of Priests, the Second Vatican Council declares that celibacy should be embraced and esteemed as a gift. The Council states that, “Perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven…is held by the Church to be of great value in a special manner for the priestly life.” While decreeing that celibacy is mandatory for priests in the Latin Rite, it declares that “It recommends ecclesiastical celibacy…in the Eastern Churches” (III, 16).

Historically, the practice of clerical celibacy in the Eastern Rite (the Eastern Catholic Churches in union with Rome) differed from the Latin Rite, mainly in the admission of married men to Sacred Orders. The Eastern Rite permitted married men to be ordained up to the episcopacy. Even though the Eastern Rite allow married men to be ordained priests, this does not apply to the episcopate. Celibacy for Bishops is a requirement in the Eastern Churches that are in communion with the Holy See.

In the Western Church, secular or diocesan priests make a promise of celibacy to the Bishop at the time of their ordination to the diaconate. (Diocesan priests are called “secular” because they are considered to be living in the world.) At the time of their ordination to the priesthood they make promises of obedience to the Bishop and commitments to pray daily the Divine Office and lead holy lives. The promises made by diocesan priests are serious and binding under pain of sin.

Priests in Religious Orders, Institutes, Congregations or Communities make vows of chastity, along with vows of poverty and obedience. These vows are made to God through their major superiors. The vows (or final promises made without vows) are also binding under pain of sin.

In Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical, The Celibacy of the Priest, promulgated on 24 June 1967, he rejects the notion that ending celibacy would increase priestly vocations. He trusts the Lord will provide the graces needed for priests to live celibate lives. He states, “We are not easily led to believe that the abolition of ecclesiastical celibacy would considerably increase the number of priestly vocations: the contemporary experience of those Churches and ecclesial communities which allow their ministers to marry seems to prove the contrary. The causes of the decrease in vocations to the priesthood are to be found elsewhere—for example, in the fact that individuals and families have lost their sense of God and of all that is holy, their esteem for the Church as the Institution of Salvation through faith and the Sacraments. The problem must be examined at its real source (49). Moreover, the Church cannot and should not fail to realize that the choice of celibacy—provided that it is made with human and Christian prudence and responsibility—is governed by grace which, far from destroying or doing violences to nature, elevates it and imparts to it supernatural powers and vigor. God, who has created and redeemed man, knows what He can ask of him and gives him everything necessary to be able to do what his Creator and Redeemer asks of him. St. Augustine, who had fully and painfully experienced in himself the nature of man, exclaimed: “Grant what You command, and command what You will” (51). (For Advanced Course, lesson 23.)

Since the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, the Church permits the concelebration of the Holy Mass under certain conditions. For instance, priests are permitted to concelebrate with the Bishop on the occasion of the Chrism Mass for which the priests of the Diocese are urged to be present as a sign of their communion with the Bishop in the priestly care of all the faithful.

Before the post-conciliar reforms, concelebration was permitted only in Ordination Masses of a Priest or Bishop, and the concelebration was limited to those ordained a priest or Bishop during the Holy Mass. For example, when an Ordination Mass of a Priest is celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, it is concelebrated by the principal Bishop who is ordaining and those whom he has just ordained. 

As the legislation implementing the wider permission makes clear, the norm is the individual offering of the Holy Mass individually by the priest. Concelebration is permitted only on certain occasions, as long as it does not in any way violate the good of the faithful, for instance, who would be denied the possibility of assisting at the Holy Mass. Each concelebrating priest is permitted to accept an offering for the concelebrated Holy Mass. He is obliged to apply the intention to the concelebrated Holy Mass, according to the norms of the Church’s discipline. The fact that, in a concelebrated Holy Mass, many intentions are applied – as is opposed to the discipline regarding the individual celebration of the Holy Mass in which only one intention can be applied – does not mean that many Holy Masses are being celebrated simultaneously or in the same action. A concelebrated Holy Mass is only ONE Holy Mass offered by the concelebrating priest or priests together with the principal celebrant.

When the conditions permitting concelebration are verified, it remains the decision of the individual priest whether to concelebrate or not. A priest is never obliged to concelebrate. (For Advanced Course 20-13 & 20-114.)
(See Sacrosanctum Concilium nos. 57-58; 1983 Code of Canon Law can. 902; General Instruction of the Roman Missal nos. 199-251, from the Third Typical Edition)

Member Question: I am working on the Advanced Course – In Lesson Eleven on the Last Judgement there was a true/false question #9 “The human soul is fully conscious when it leaves the body. True.” I did not find this in any of the readings. Can someone point me to where this is in Church teaching? I am looking for specific Magisterial teaching that addresses this.

My reason is both professional (e.g. the course) and personal. I am a nurse and I have been observing the over sedation of people at the end of life. People used to die, many with full cognition. Now nurses hover over them with Ativan and morphine and keep patients sedated at the end of life to “ease their suffering.” Jesus told St. Faustina that he comes to people three time at their death. If they reject him, he comes again. If they reject him, he comes again. If they reject Him the third time, he allows them to go to their self-imposed disposition. My question is: Does over medicating a patient at end of life interfere with their final choice for Christ? I know it can interfere with salutatory repentance. Is there a Magisterial document on this?

Answer:
Parce, Domine, parce populo Tuo.

We must not confuse human consciousness with the state of the soul. Human consciousness has to do with our relationship with the world around us, while the soul is in direct relationship with God. Thus, even though a person may be unconscious for whatever reason, including for the reason of the administration of strong pain killers, the soul continues to relate to God. In fact, there are regularly accounts of persons who have awakened from an unconscious state and have recounted experiences of the soul, independent of human consciousness. In any case, at the moment of death, the relationship of the soul with God reaches a definitive moment called the particular judgment.  The particular judgment, as the action of God with respect to the individual human soul at the moment of death, is taught in the Holy Scriptures, for example, in Lk 16, 19-31, Phil 1, 21-23, 2 Cor 5, 6-9, and Heb 9, 27, and in the Magisterium. It presupposes the full consciousness of the soul as it leaves the body at death.

The sense of the statement, “The human soul is fully conscious when it leaves the body” is found in no. 1022 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately, —or immediate and everlasting damnation.”

In the Catechism of the Council of Trent, we read:

“The first [judgment] takes place when each one of us departs this life; for then he is instantly placed before the judgment-seat of God, where all that he has ever done or spoken or thought during life shall be subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. This is called the particular judgment” (Catechism of the Council of Trent for Parish Priests Issued by Order of Pope Pius V, tr. John A. McHugh and Charles J. Callan (New York: Joseph F. Wagner, 1923), p. 81).

Pope Benedict XII dogmatically defined the truth of the particular judgment in his Constitution Benedictus Deus of January 29, 1336.

The concerns about the patient remaining conscious at the moment of death seem to refer to the importance of the preparation for death by repentance for sins committed and the sacramental confession of sins committed or, if that is not possible, an act of perfect contrition. The grace of repentance or conversion is given by God throughout life, and also in the last moments of life. This does not mean, as some have taught, that, for every man, at the last moment, through a special illumination, the place and freedom of choosing between God and the world is given, even if, without doubt, this could happen for a particular individual. The grace of repentance or conversion is communicated to the soul and demands, on the part of the soul, the assent of faith and consequent conversion. The Council of Trent declared:

“When God touches man’s heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God’s grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God’s sight” (Council of Trent, Session VI, January 13, 1547, quoted in no. 1993 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

In caring for the dying, the Christian should be praying always that the soul receives from God the grace of conversion leading to repentance for sins and justification. Conversion and repentance takes place in the soul and is not dependent on the person being conscious.  It will be helpful to study again nos. 1430-1433 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the spiritual practice of assisting others in their last moments, found in Lesson Fifteen of the Basic Catholic Catechism Course.

However, the moment of death, that is, the moment of the separation of the soul from the body, is definitive; “death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ” (no. 1021 Catechism of the Catholic Church); the trial period is over, the human will is now set either for or against God, and the soul will be in Purgatory, Heaven or Hell.

May God bless you, your family, and all your labors, especially your labors on behalf of the Marian Catechist Apostolate, and may Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saints Joseph and Francis of Assisi, guide and protect you.

Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and in the Purest Heart of Saint Joseph,

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.
April 6, 2019 (For Advanced Course 11-9.)

Basic Catholic Catechism Course, Lesson 15 Spiritual Practices (p. 201)

Assist others in their last moments.
We can assist a person who is dying by:

• calling his parish priest or another available priest to administer the Last Sacraments of Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Holy Eucharist, and to impart the Apostolic Pardon with its attached indulgence.

Apostolic Pardon (prayed by the priest)

“Through the holy mysteries of our redemption, may almighty God release you from all punishments in this life and in the life to come. May He open to you the gates of paradise and welcome you to everlasting joy. Amen.” (Rites of Anointing and Viaticum 195).

• being present at his side to offer comfort;
• praying the Holy Rosary or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy with or for the person to ward off Satan’s final and most severe attacks;
• praying aspirations or litanies with or for him;

Aspirations (a moment’s prayer):

• God be merciful to me, a sinner.
• My God, I love Thee above all things.
• My Jesus, mercy.
• Jesus, I trust in You.
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me.
• Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you, save souls.
• Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
• Saint Joseph, model and patron of those who love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.
• helping him to recite Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love;

Act of Faith

My God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that Thy divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which Thy Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Act of Hope

My God, relying on Thy almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain the pardon of my sins, the assistance of Thy grace, and life everlasting through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.

Act of Love (Charity)

My God, I love Thee above all things with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

• reminding and reassuring him of God’s mercy, love and forgiveness;
• offering him a rosary, crucifix or cross to hold in order to engender sentiments of tender love and gratitude to the Lord, our crucified Savior;
• [if the person has been enrolled in the Brown Scapular, make sure he is wearing one;]
• [bless him with holy water, as well as his surroundings;]
• encouraging him to offer his suffering, in union with the suffering of Christ, for himself, other particular persons, living or dead, or for the whole Church;
• if a priest is unavailable, helping the dying person to seek a plenary indulgence by assisting him to make an act of perfect contrition with the intention of gaining final remission of all his sins and all temporal punishment due to sins;

An act of perfect contrition is an “act of love motivated by love of God for His own sake . . . . we are called to help the dying to make an act of perfect contrition, reminding them of God’s mercy and assuring them of His forgiveness provided they make such an act, especially if no priest is available to give them absolution” (p. 162).

• Speaking quietly and gently, asking him to direct his thoughts to what you are saying and to pray with you, then repeating slowly and distinctly the Act of Contrition, even if he seems not to hear or to understand.

Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

The expression “dimissorial letters” means “documentary authorization.” Dimissorial letters are used for candidates who are seeking ordination to the priesthood; they are used for members of Religious Institutes or candidates who do not belong to the Diocese of the Bishop who is to ordain them. For example, the Major Superior of a Clerical Religious Institute of Pontifical Right is competent to grant such authorization for a candidate who is perpetually or definitively a member of the Religious Institute. Absolutely speaking, however, the ordination of a religious without these dimissorial letters would still be valid, although gravely illicit.

Canon Law has two provisions referring to the ordination of the man who is not directly subject to the ordaining Bishop (canon 1052, §§2, 3). In order for a Bishop to proceed with the ordination of one who is not his own subject, it is sufficient that the dimissorial letters refer to the fact that:

• the documents listed in canon 1050 have been furnished;
• the inquiry has been conducted in accord with the norm of law;
• the suitability of the candidate has been proved.
• If the candidate is a member of a Religious Institute or a Society of Apostolic Life, the dimissorial letters must also certify that he has definitively become a member and that he is a subject of the superior who grants the letters (canon 1052, §2).

Despite all the above considerations, if the Bishop has certain reasons for doubting the suitability of the candidate for ordination, he is not to ordain him (canon 1052, §3).

There is a very practical reason for these canonical directives. Where the candidate for ordination does not belong to the Diocese of the Bishop who is to ordain him, the Bishop depends almost entirely on the judgment of those who recommend him. Yet, he must be convinced that the man should be ordained. (For Advanced Course, lesson 23.)

The Eastern Churches are those that are rooted in the foundation of the Churches that existed eastof the Catholic Church of Rome in the beginning of Christianity. “Eastern Church” is a term that, in a broad sense, describes those Churches that originated in Asia Minor, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe, Africa and Southern Asia; that is, in areas regarded then as east of Rome, even though subsequently existing in places not east of Rome. They have customs and liturgical traditions distinct from that of the Western (or Latin) Catholic Church. The Western Church includes those Churches whose liturgical traditions and customs are derived principally from Rome.

The Eastern Churches can be broadly divided into three distinct communions: Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox.

• The Eastern Catholic Churches are those Churches which are in union with Rome (for example: Antiochian: Maronite, Chaldean, etc.; Byzantine: Melkite, Ukrainian, etc.; Alexandrian: Coptic, Ethiopian/Abyssinian).

Like the Western Catholic Church, they are fully Catholic, they subscribe to the same doctrines and recognize the same Vicar of Christ but have their own Canon Law (known as the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches) and their own customs for ceremonies, liturgical worship and administration of the Sacraments. The Eastern Catholic Churches, also known as the Oriental Churches (but not to be confused with the Oriental Orthodox Church), are referred to as the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church.

All the Churches in union with Rome, East as well as West, are called the Universal Church or Roman Catholic Church. Eastern Rite Catholics, in confessing their unity in the one Church via obedience to the Vicar of Christ in Rome are genuine “Roman Catholics,” but are not obliged to call themselves “Roman” Catholic if they reserve the term “Roman Catholics” to designate those in the Western Church.

Those in schismatic Churches in the East, upon their return to unity with the Universal Church commonly call themselves “United.” United in the East is more or less the equivalent to Roman Catholic in the West.

• The Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of independent national churches who accept the first seven Ecumenical Councilsand who separated from the Catholic Church during the eleventh century. They have seven valid Sacraments and share the same faith as the Western Church but do not accept the authority of the Pope. They are not in communion with the Oriental Orthodox Church.

• The Oriental Orthodox Church is a communion of independent Churches who accept the first three Ecumenical Councils (the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the Council of Ephesus in 431), but refused to accept the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and went into schism in the fifth century. They include the Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian, and Syriac Orthodox Churches.

All of the Eastern Churches have seven valid Sacraments and apostolic succession, and are thus Churches in the true sense of the term. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church were all, at first, in union with the Pope and the Catholic Church, but they currently deny the authority of the Holy See and, therefore, are in schism.  (For Advanced Course lessons 19 & 23.)
(Also see definition for Western or Latin Catholic Church.)  

The Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church, founded by Christ. Christ revealed all the truths that we need to believe in order to be saved and He divinely authorized the Catholic Church to preserve and teach them until the end of time. These truths are revealed in the treasures of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, called the deposit of faith, and also called Divine Revelation. The Church must explain their meaning to the world, defend them against the corruption of error and apply their teaching to the lives of the faithful. One way that Holy Mother Church does this is when She defines dogmas and doctrines. Through them She explains the truths contained in the deposit of faith. Catholics MUST believe all dogmas and infallible doctrines, as will be explained below. Christ guarantees that, if we follow the Catholic Church as He established it, then we will know Him and all the truths which are necessary for our salvation. 

Dogmas

Dogmas represent the highest level of revealed truth as taught by the Catholic Church. Dogmas are infallible teachings, meaning they are protected from error by the Holy Spirit.

Definition of Dogmas

In the strict sense of the term, dogmas are teachings presented to the faithful for unconditional assent of faith, whose content and formulation are both definitively determined and neither can ever be altered. Each italicized word in this definition for dogmas is important and worth further examination.

• Unconditional assent of faith means that these truths are divinely revealed and must be firmly believed and accepted with the obedience of faith. In other words, we must unconditionally and wholeheartedly believe and accept the meaning of how the Church explains the truth; this includes the words used and even the sequence of the words used to explain it. The sequence matters because this correct order can make the truth easier to understand. Catholics that obstinately doubt or deny dogmas fall under the penalty of heresy, which is a serious mortal sin and also a crime against the Church. This puts them outside of the Church; they are excommunicated by their actions (cf. canons 750-751, 1364). Excommunicated persons are not eligible to receive the Sacraments or a Catholic burial until they repent and are reconciled with the Church. Ignorance of these truths is no defense because all Catholics are required to learn what the Church teaches, believe it and live by it.
• Content is the meaning of what God has revealed, either explicitly or implicitly, in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
• Formulation is the terminology or exact wording and the exact order of the words used in the definition to explain the revelation, truth or mystery of faith.
• Definitively determined means the Church has used its authority and decided with absolute final certainty or certitude what this truth from God rightly means. The Church has removed it from debate and has made this final decision. Definitively determined truths are infallible.
• Neither can ever be altered means that the exact wording and the exact meaning of the truth are permanently fixed and cannot be changed.

In dogmas, consequently, the meaning and the terminology of a teaching are absolutely final and the Catholic faithful MUST firmly believe them.

All dogmas that are defined or to be defined are based on what is found in the deposit of faith. For most dogmas the Church likes to have Scriptural grounds (even if only implicit), and Sacred Tradition for the definition. In addition, the Apostles and their successors may not define a truth unless it is found in the deposit of faith.

A variety of terms are used to refer to dogmas, all of which mean that the truth itself, as well as the very words chosen for expressing the truth, must be accepted as infallible and unchangeable, that is, permanently fixed as stated.

• defined dogma
• definitive dogma (definitive means made with absolute certitude)
• definitive formulation
• definitively determined
• definitively formulated
• divinely revealed
• ex cathedra pronouncements
• formally revealed truths
• infallible dogma
• revealed doctrines
• revealed dogma
• solemn declaration
• solemn definition
• solemnly defined
• solemnly defined truth

As we have seen, what the Church teaches as dogma must be revealed by God in Divine Revelation. All dogmas are doctrines; but not all doctrines become dogmas. In fact, only a relatively few solemn definitions or dogmas have been made in the life of the Church. Why? Because when the Church sees that people are changing critical terminology or adulterating the meaning of some fundamental truth, She then intervenes with a solemn definition of the truth as a dogma. Dogmas are intended by the Church to emphasize, in certain circumstances, a doctrine that is absolutely fundamental if we are to understand clearly other teachings of the Church. They are foundational truths or teachings. Indeed, it is through solemnly defined dogmas that we come to grasp the content of the teaching. This is what is so crucial with dogmas: we cannot fully understand the meaning unless we accept the exact wording and the exact sequence of words or, that is to say, the definitive formulation.

A brief list of dogmas:

1. Articles of the Creed
2. Marian dogmas – Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, Divine Maternity, and her Assumption
3. Christ’s Institution of the Sacraments and Their Efficacy to Impart Grace
4. Real Presence
5. Sacrificial Nature of the Mass
6. Divine Foundation of the Church
7. Primacy and Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff
8. Existence of Original Sin
9. Inerrancy of Holy Scripture
10. Existence and Eternity of Hell
11. Existence of Purgatory

Those doctrines of the Faith that have not been drawn into question and have not necessarily been solemnly defined as dogmas are still necessary for belief. Whether the Church has proclaimed a truth of the Faith to be a dogma or an infallible doctrine (which is explained in the following paragraphs), the necessary level of belief is actually the same. The only difference is that the level of belief for dogmas is based directly on faith in the authority of the Word of God; and for doctrines the belief is based on faith in the Holy Spirit’s assistance to the Magisterium and on the Catholic doctrine of infallibility of the Magisterium (cf. Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei 8). It is important to note that even though the necessary level of belief is the same, since dogmas are a higher level of teaching, the penalty for denial and disobedience is more severe.

Infallible Doctrines

The next level of Catholic teaching is infallible doctrines. (Infallible means that the doctrines are protected from error by the Holy Spirit.) Doctrines are infallible teachings that must be believed,just as dogmas are infallible teachings that must be believed, but these doctrines do not have the specific and exact words and sequence of words that are found in dogmas.  Only the meaning or content of the teaching is absolutely decided upon in doctrines. In addition, the teaching may be divinely revealed in Sacred Scripture or Sacred Tradition, or it may be a truth that is in some way connected to this Divine Revelation. The Church is capable of infallibly teaching certain things that are connected with Divine Revelation but that are not  divinely revealed.

Definition of Infallible Doctrine

Infallible doctrines are teachings, presented to the faithful for unconditional belief, whose content is definitively fixed, but whose formulation is not definitively fixed; the formulation is still to be determined. Each italicized word in this definition of infallible doctrines is examined below.

• Unconditional belief means that we believe these truths unconditionally and that we firmly accept and definitively hold them. Firmly accept and definitively hold means that we steadfastly and confidently accept the teaching, and believe with absolute certainty and trust, that the Church’s teaching is true. These truths MUST be believed. The faithful cannot pick and choose what they want to believe. “Whoever denies these truths would be in a position of rejecting a truth of Catholic doctrine and would therefore no longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church” (Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei 6). Not being in full communion means that the person is unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion and may be in serious mortal sin due to his actions against these truths. Ignorance of the truths of Catholic teaching can lessen the gravity of the sin but it does not remove it. The reason there is always some sin involved, even with ignorance, is that all Catholics have the obligation to seek out and learn what the Catholic Church teaches and conform their lives to it. Not to do so is a sin of presumption, implying that we are in no need of the saving truths given to us by God through His Church. All the measures taken by the Church are for the salvation of souls.
• Content is definitively fixed means that the teaching is presented with absolute final certainty or certitude. The Church, using its authority, has decided exactly what this truth rightly means. Truths that have a fixed definitive content are infallible.
• Formulation is not definitively fixed means that the exact words and the exact order of the words are not set, therefore, there is some leeway and it is acceptable to explain the truth of the Faith in other terms so long as the doctrine is not changed or denied.
• Formulation is still to be determined means that it is possible that, in the future, this doctrine could be further defined by the Church by fixing the exact words and the exact order of the words, thus, raising it to a dogma.

Strictly speaking, 99% of the Church’s teachings are infallible doctrines; they have an exact or definitive teaching but without the exact wording or sequence of words found in definitive formulations. In fact, the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church is an example of this; its contents are all infallible Catholic doctrines, only some of which have been solemnly defined as dogmas. (The Catechism does not include theological opinion, which is covered under the next topic.)

Non-infallible Doctrines 

There are also non-infallible doctrines, which are called theological opinions. Theological opinions are non-infallible and have a content that is not definitively fixed which means that the content is not permanently set and the teaching can change. The teaching is said to be “reformable.” In other words, the teaching is not intended to be the last word on the matter. The core teaching is true but the individual details influenced by the circumstances at the time may need further modification. For example, the Church teaching may have a current pastoral use; it may recommend a particular course of action for a current issue, however, additional experience and study must occur before the issue would be formulated as a doctrine.

These non-infallible doctrines or theological opinions that are not fixed in meaning (the content), or in the wording and sequence of wording (the formulation), are presented to the faithful for religious submission of will and intellect. This means the willingness to submit loyally to the teaching of the Church on matters which may be changed and which also forbids the faithful from publicly contradicting the teaching. We submit our will and intellect because we believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Catholic Church for the good of all souls.

An illustration of this occurred during one period of Church history when a fallible doctrine or theological opinion for many great theologians was Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception. Theologians like Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure held it to be a false theological opinion, though they did not deny the possibility of her Immaculate Conception being a true revealed doctrine if, at some point, the Church would so define it. Blessed John Duns Scotus held the contrary.  The view of Scotus, that Our Lady was immaculately conceived,  eventually was solemnly defined as a revealed truth and, hence, it became heresy to deny it. Generally, theological opinions are fallible doctrines, which can be held provided they do not lead to the denial of infallible doctrines, and they may even assist the Church in reaching a better formulation of infallible doctrines.

Development of Doctrine

Over the centuries, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church has come to see more meaningfully and more clearly what has always been believed and taught. The Church’s teaching remains always true and constant but truths can become more clear under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Church continues to gain a deeper understanding and a greater ability to definitively determine the content and formulation of doctrines. This is called development of doctrine.

Indeed, all the truths of the Catholic Faith had been revealed by the end of the Apostolic Age, with the death of Saint John the Apostle. No further public revelation has occurred since then. However, part of Christ’s wisdom in founding the Catholic Church was to enable the Church to explain and even define in specific language the truths that God had revealed. But our understanding of the truths of the Faith involves a certain process of learning, a process that is protected by the Holy Spirit. The development of doctrine broadens the Church’s understanding of these revealed truths, always under the protection of the Holy Spirit which was guaranteed by Christ. (For Advanced Course lessons 7 & 13.)

Catechists will study and understand the validity needed in the administration of the Sacraments. The validity of a Sacrament makes all the difference in whether we truly received the Sacrament or not.

In theology we distinguish between the valid and the licit (lawful) administration of the Sacraments. A Sacrament is administered validly when it is administered in such a way as to effectively confer the graces which Christ intends to confer through the sacramental sign. Validity, then, has to do with the actual conferral of grace through the administration and reception of a particular Sacrament.

Liceity goes beyond validity, though the licit administration assumes a Sacrament’s prior validity. (If the Sacrament is invalid then it cannot be licit.) A Sacrament is administered licitly when the liturgical conditions established by Christ and the Church for the Sacrament’s administration are faithfully observed. The proper conditions for administering the Sacraments are given in the Code of Canon Law. It is possible for a Sacrament to be administered validly but not licitly, as when a layperson confers Baptism in the absence of urgent necessity. Questions about validity should be studied carefully and researched in Canon Law.

Liceity and Validity 
Excerpt from Revised Basic Manual (p. 116) 
The proper administration of a Sacrament requires that its conferral be at once licit and valid. The word licit means lawful, or legitimate. A Sacrament is administered licitly when the liturgical rites set forth by the Church for its conferral are faithfully observed, that is, when it is performed according to the laws of the Church. It is illicit when performed otherwise.

The validity of a Sacrament refers to its effectiveness. In a validly administered Sacrament, the grace that is signified is actually conferred through the required conditions of proper matter (or in some cases quasi-matter), form (the prescribed words), and circumstances. “Proper matter” is the material symbol (such as water, oil, bread, wine or physical gestures like imposition of hands). “Quasi-matter” is a personal, spiritual act (such as sin, sorrow and repentance) to be manifested or made sensible or like matter (as in the confession of sins). In order to administer it validly, the minister of a Sacrament must have the intention of doing what the Church desires.

A Sacrament can only be conferred licitly if it is conferred validly. For example, a priest may have every intention of confecting the Holy Eucharist at Mass, but if improper matter such as grape juice is used instead of wine, the Sacrament is not valid. In this case, because the Sacrament is not valid, neither can it be licit. (For Advanced Course lessons 17 to 24.)

In speaking about Jesus Christ assuming a human nature, Father Hardon uses the term “human being” for “man.” Some people associate the word “human being,” with “human person” and mistakenly conclude that Jesus is a human person.  Jesus is not a human person; he is a DIVINE PERSON. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, while retaining His divine nature, assumed a human nature and became man but He remained ONE Divine Person. He possesses two real and distinct natures, one human like ours and one divine (or of one substance with God the Father); yet the two natures are united in such a way that Christ is one Divine Person, and that each nature remains unchanged. Christ became truly man while remaining truly God. He is God from all eternity, and became man in time. Moreover, Christ will remain truly man for all eternity, just as He will remain truly God for all eternity; the hypostatic union will never cease. 

Since Jesus assumed a human nature, He possessed the following:

1. Human body.
2. Human soul – with a human intellect and human will, capable of rational thought and voluntary decisions due to having a free will. Christ’s human intellect and human will are perfectly attuned and subject to His divine intellect and divine will.
3. Human emotions, feelings and human affections.
4. Human actions (He ate, slept, walked, talked, etc.).
5. Human growth.

Christ in His human nature was like us in all things except sin. However, in saying this we must keep two things in mind. 1) The human nature of Christ, unlike ours, was united with His divine nature in one Divine Person. 2) Moreover, when we say He was like us in everything but sin, we mean much more than meets the eye. Since Christ’s human nature was united with a divine nature in the Second Person of the Trinity, His humanity was constantly under the influence of His divinity. Whatever He did as man, like speaking or walking or dying, was simultaneously the action of God.

As God, Christ possesses a divine intellect and a divine will. When we say that Christ has one divine will we affirm:

1. Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity has one divine will because He is God.
2. The three Persons in the Trinity have one divine nature and one divine will.
3. This one divine will of Jesus Christ is both a necessary and a free will. It is one necessary will because the three Persons have only one divine nature. However, whenever the three Divine Persons do anything outside themselves, they exercise their one divine will with freedom. (This is called the unity of the divine operation ad extra (outside Himself), more commonly known as the divine economy.)

Does it matter that Christ has a human soul? It is imperative that we know why Christ had to have a human soul.

1. Unless Christ had a human soul, He could not have a human free will. It was this human will united with His divinity by which Christ offered Himself on the Cross for our salvation.
2. Since He had a human soul, He could die on the Cross when His soul left His human body. After all, human death means the separation of a soul from the body—no soul, no death.
3. Now in Heaven and at the right hand of His heavenly Father, Christ continues to intercede for us through His humanity, which includes His human soul.
4. In the Holy Eucharist, Christ remains present in our midst as true God and true man. In the Blessed Sacrament He has a living human body and blood animated by His human soul.

Does it matter that there are not two persons, one human and one divine, in Christ? Yes, if we believed Christ consisted of two persons it could not be said that God was born, or that God was crucified and died for our sins. The error of claiming there are two persons in Christ was the error of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who was condemned in 431 A.D. by the Council of Ephesus. According to the Nestorians, Christ had the divinity dwelling in Him. He might even be called “divine” but He was also a human person with a human individuality. A logical corollary of claiming that Christ was two persons, was to deny that Mary is the Mother of God. According to the Nestorians, she was only the Mother of Christ, the man, but not the Mother of God. What the Council of Ephesus brought out was that Christ is only one individual, who is divine. He is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who assumed a human nature, but He was not a human person.

By the end of the first century of the Christian era, false teachers had arisen who denied the divinity of Christ. One of the main reasons why Saint John wrote his Gospel was to refute these errors and to prove Christ’s divinity is united with a truly human nature. Saint John recorded narratives in which Christ explicitly and unambiguously professed that He and the Father are one. Since Saint John wrote his Gospel especially to prove Christ’s divinity united with a truly human nature, the Evangelist gives us an insight into how truly Christ was both God and man. Thus, Saint John recalls the episode when the Jews picked up stones to kill Christ. When Christ asked them why they wanted to kill Him, they answered, “It is because you who are a mere man, claim to be equal to God.” Again when Christ wept at the grave of Lazarus, He revealed His complete and authentic humanity.

Even with Saint John’s Gospel, Arius (256-336 A.D.), a priest of Alexandria, denied that Jesus Christ is true God. According to Arius, Christ did not exist from all eternity and, since there was a time when He did not exist, Christ is just another creature and so He could not be God. Therefore, what Arius denied was the everlasting coexistence of the Second Person of the Trinity with God the Father. If Christ was created and not divine, then God did not become man and, hence, could not have redeemed the world with His perfect sacrifice on the Cross.  Only God could make this perfect sacrifice to remit our sins.  If Christ was not God, then all of the consequent mysteries of the Faith are dissolved. Arius was condemned in 325 A.D., by the First Council of Nicea, but Arius laid the groundwork for all future errors in Christology.

See also Catechism of the Catholic Church 461-483.

See also Modern Catholic Dictionary definitions for: Human nature; Hypostatic union; Incarnation.

 (For Advanced Course lesson 6. Added in 2019.)

Other resources that are listed for Advanced Course:
Human Nature
From Fr. Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary: HUMAN NATURE. The nature of humankind considered abstractly and apart from its elevation by grace to a supernatural state with a heavenly destiny. It is the human as such, having a body and soul, capable of rational thought and voluntary decision. Actually human nature has never existed independent either of a supernatural destiny or of free acceptance or rejection of the supernatural invitation of God’s grace.

Hypostatic Union
From Fr. Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary: HYPOSTATIC UNION. The union of the human and divine natures in the one divine person of Christ. At the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) the Church declared that the two natures of Christ are joined “in one person and one hypostasis” (Denzinger 302), where hypostasis means one substance. It was used to answer the Nestorian error of a merely accidental union of the two natures in Christ. The phrase “hypostatic union” was adopted a century later, at the Fifth General Council at Constantinople (A.D. 533). It is an adequate expression of Catholic doctrine about Jesus Christ that in him are two perfect natures, divine and human; that the divine person takes to himself, includes in his person, a human nature; that the incarnate Son of God is an individual, complete substance; and that the union of the two natures is real (against Arius), no mere indwelling of God in a man (against Nestorius), with a rational soul (against Apollinaris), and the divinity remains unchanged (against Eutyches).

Incarnation
From Fr. Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary: INCARNATION. The union of the divine nature of the Son of God with human nature in the person of Jesus Christ. The Son of God assumed our flesh, body, and soul, and dwelled among us like one of us in order to redeem us. His divine nature was substantially united to our human nature. Formerly the Feast of the Annunciation was called the Feast of the Incarnation. In the Eastern Churches the mystery is commemorated by a special feast on December 26. (Etym. Latin incarnatio; from in-, in + caro, flesh: incarnare, to make flesh.) (2019)

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated on earth re-presents Calvary by continuing Christ’s perfect Sacrifice. In the Mass, no less than on Calvary, Jesus really offers His life to His heavenly Father. This is possible because, in the Holy Mass, it is the same Priest (Jesus Christ) whose human life, united to the divine, offers Himself; furthermore, it is the same Victim (Jesus Christ) whose human life, united with the divinity, is sacrificed.

The Holy Mass is a memorial of Christ’s Death and Resurrection. Although the word memorialusually refers to a remembrance, or a recollection, or a bringing back to mind, the Eucharistic Sacrifice is infinitely more! It literally re-presents Christ’s Death on Calvary. Moreover, it is the risen Christ Who now offers Himself in the Mass. The Sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice offered by Christ on Calvary, except that Our Lord’s Crucifixion and Death was a bloody sacrifice, while the Mass is an unbloody sacrifice.

Our Savior offers Himself in the Sacrifice of the Mass precisely so that His sacrifice may be accessible to the Church and the faithful. He is present immediately in a sacrificial way, offering and being offered. The difference is that, now, we can offer His sacrifice to the Father with Him, and offer ourselves united with Him in reparation. We can now share the fruits of the sacrifice.

In the Mass we find ourselves not simply close to Heaven, but over the threshold into Heaven. The sacrifice in Heaven, the worship in Heaven, the Liturgy in Heaven is the same Liturgy in which we participate on earth in the Holy Mass. In other words, the Liturgy of Heaven is identical with that of earth; the two are not parallel ceremonies, but one; it is a heavenly sacrifice in both Heaven and on earth. All those in Heaven, the angels and the Saints, and all those Holy Souls in Purgatory are participating, and we participate with them in the ONE Liturgy of Heaven.

How can it be that all the Masses celebrated on earth, until the end of time, are one Liturgy in Heaven? This is possible because God, Who created time, is outside of time. It is said that He is in the “eternal now.” Everything is “present” to Him.  He sees the past, the present and the future all at once. Thus, He sees the Redemptive Sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, as a constant “now.” Since there is no sequence of time in Heaven, the earthly Masses are all taking place “now.” On earth, we experience time which is always changing; it has a past, a present, and a future. Therefore, Holy Masses are offered at different times, places and by different priests but, even so, all the Masses offered on earth are one in Heaven. Consequently, because we live “in time,” and Jesus uses the ministerial priesthood to offer Himself in the Mass so that people of every time and place can actively participate in it, we can legitimately say that Masses on earth can be countedand individual intentions can be prayed at each of those Masses being offered. Thus, for example, we can say five Masses were offered at our parish, or 100 were offered in our city, or 1000 were offered in Rome today. In the case of concelebration, all of the concelebrating priests offer the ONE same Mass, even though each has a proper intention. (For Advanced Course 20-13.)

Member Question: I am a Consecrated Marian Catechist and in need of your assistance in clarifying Church teaching about Our Blessed Mother Mary’s sinlessness. Many disagree that Mary “could not” sin. Some say that Mary was exactly the same as Eve before the Fall. They say, that we cannot say, that “Mary could not sin” and we cannot say that the “saints in Heaven cannot sin,” but that we can say that “Mary would not sin” and that the saints in Heaven would not sin. They believe that if one “cannot sin” or “could not sin,” then one lacks a free will and is nothing more than a puppet. This has caused quite a debate.

Questions about Mary’s sinless in Father Hardon’s Basic Catholic Catechism Course are 3-32, 3-37 and 5-57; in the Advanced Catholic Catechism Course 7-63, 7-67.

Answer:

Laudetur Iesus Christus!

One of the effects of original sin is that the freedom with which God created man, the freedom of a creature created in God’s own image and likeness, is tainted, so that it no longer corresponds to the truth and needs the help of God’s grace, so that in a moment of temptation, the soul chooses what is true rather than the falsehood presented by Satan, ‘the Father of Lies’ (Jn 8, 44). By the singular grace of her Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived with her freedom intact, with her heart one with the Divine Heart, with her will perfectly conformed to the will of God. She received, in anticipation, the grace of the Redemption, so that no stain of sin touched her soul. For that reason, although she witnessed the temptation to sin and acts of sin, she herself was not subject to concupiscence and could not sin. Her perfect freedom would not permit her to do anything even minimally contrary to the divine will. In this way, her condition, in virtue of the Mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation, is superior to that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were by a special grace exempt from concupiscence, but they were subject to sin, that is, the transgression of the precept of their probation: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gen 2, 16-17). From their sin [original sin], concupiscence which, in the words of the Council of Trent, “originates in and inclines [man] to sin” (Conc. Trid., Sess. V, can. 5) entered the world. The Blessed Virgin Mary, by the grace of the Redemption in which she shared in anticipation, was subject neither to concupiscence nor to sin. I refer you to no. 412 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

There is the tendency to define freedom in terms of choosing between good and evil, and thus to see the Blessed Virgin Mary’s perfect freedom as a negation of her freedom. Hence, the claim that the fact that Mary could not sin renders her a robot. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in no. 1732, states: “As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning.” In no. 1733, the Catechism of the Catholic Church continues: “The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to ‘the slavery of sin’ (Rom 6, 17).” But Mary’s heart, in virtue of her Immaculate Conception, was, from the beginning and forever, bound definitively to the Divine Heart. Therefore, there could not be in her the movement toward sin, called concupiscence, as Ludwig Ott, in his Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma [Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1974] writes: “It would be incompatible with Mary’s fullness of grace and her perfect purity and immaculate state to be subject to motions of inordinate desire” (p. 202).

At the same time, she was not a robot. Her countless acts of love of God and neighbor were free and, therefore, won many merits for the Church, for those who would come to life in her Divine Son, Our Lord. Ludwig Ott writes: “Mary’s merits are no more prejudiced by her freedom from concupiscence than are the merits of Christ, since concupiscence is indeed an occasion, but not an indispensable pre-condition of merit. Mary acquired rich merits, not by any struggle against sensual desire, but by her love of God, and by other virtues (faith, humility, obedience).” Ludwig Ott refers us to the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas, III, question 27, no. 3, ad 2. If the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception, then she was also free from the inclination to sin; she could not sin. I refer you to nos. 491-493 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

 The Servant of God Father John A. Hardon, S.J., in his book, The Catholic Catechism: A Contemporary Catechism of the Teachings of the Catholic Church (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co) writes:

“Christ’s redemptive merits operated on his mother by anticipation. This preredemption is commonly taught to have consisted in the infusion of sanctifying grace into her soul at the moment of its creation, which was simultaneous with infusion into her body.

“Exemption from original sin carried with it two corollary consequences: From the time of her conception, Mary was also free from all motions of concupiscence, and also (on attaining the use of reason) free from every personal sin during the whole of her life.

“Like her divine Son, Mary was subject to the ordinary limitations of human nature, except those that involve moral defect. She was therefore free from the effect of inherited sin, which is the unreasoning drive of the appetites (sensual and spiritual), which are irrational precisely because they anticipate the dictate of reason and tend to perdure in spite of reason and free will telling a person that the urge in question is wrong. True, there is no actual sin in concupiscence unless a person consents to an inclination that he knows is morally bad. Nevertheless, concupiscence is incompatible with Mary’s fullness of grace because, even without consent, it implies excitation to commit acts that are materially against God’s will”(pp. 158-159).

 Father Hardon continues by indicating how the Virgin Mother’s acts are meritorious, making reference to the two principal documents of the Magisterium in the matter: the Council of Trent and Blessed Pope Pius XI’s Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus (8 December 1954).

Father Hardon concludes by explaining how the Virgin Mary’s incapacity to sin was different from the incapacity to sin of her Divine Son:

“Was the Blessed Virgin free from stain because she did not offend God, or because she was impeccable and incapable of sin?  The latter is common teaching in Catholic Tradition, while distinguishing it from the impeccability enjoyed by Christ.  His may be called absolute and derived from the union of his human nature with the divinity.  He could not sin because he was God, and God is infinitely holy.  Mary could not sin by reason of an inherent quality, which some place midway between the state of souls in the beatific vision and that of our first parents before the fall.

“Concretely this quality may be identified with perseverance in grace as regards grave sin, and confirmation in grace for lesser sins. In either case, however, her incapacity for sin differed radically from that of Christ. Where his was based on the fact that he is a divine person, hers was an added prerogative. It was absolutely necessary that he could not sin, since God is sinless. It was a free gift of God’s mercy that Mary could not sin, but only because she was protected by divine favor” (pp. 159-160).

At the bottom of much of the confusion regarding Mary’s incapacity to sin is a catechesis which has failed to teach sufficiently the great mysteries of the cooperation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Redemptive Incarnation. The distinct privileges of the Virgin Mother are not sufficiently understood because her singular place in the work of the Redemption is not taught.

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.
May 1, 2019 (For Basic Course lessons 3 & 5. For Advanced Course lesson 7.)

At this point, it would be a good idea to clearly distinguish how Catholic theology understands three closely related words from the way they are used in everyday conversation. The three words are: mystery, understand, and comprehend.

In everyday conversation, the word “mystery” is used to indicate that something is secret and unknown (such as the mysterious origins of Stonehenge), and the words “understand” and “comprehend” are used as synonyms. However, these three words have different meanings in Catholic thought.

• A mystery is a truth that we cannot know unless God directly reveals it to us through supernatural revelation.
• A mystery is understandable, which means that the human mind finds the truth reasonable and is able to mentally grasp it as intelligible.
• However, comprehend, in Catholic theology, means to fully understand. Therefore, even though a mystery is understandable, it is not fully understandable, which is to say, using Catholic vocabulary, that we cannot comprehend it or, in other words, it is incomprehensible. (For Advanced lesson 3.)

Natural intercourse means a conjugal act which is suitable in itself for the procreation of offspring.  Though all contraceptive measures, including chemical and physical barriers, are intrinsically evil, the use of condoms or vaginal sheaths and coitus interruptus also prevent consummation. Other methods of artificial birth control/contraception do not prevent consummation because consummation is, in essence, the conjugal act with the deposit of the semen in the vagina. See canon 1061. (For Basic Course lesson 14. For Advanced Course lesson 24. Added 2019.)

2020 For Basic Course lesson 12; for Advanced Course lesson 20.

Is the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the Eucharist, necessary for salvation? Is that what Jesus meant when He said, “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you?” (John 6:53) In a word, yes; it is necessary but not in the same way as Baptism. God wills that Baptism is an absolute necessity for salvation but that reception of Holy Communion is not, instead it is a moral necessity for salvation.

It will be helpful to begin this study by learning the Church’s definition of “necessary.” The Modern Catholic Dictionary definition of necessary, as given by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., is as follows:

“Necessary. Whatever must be or cannot not be and should be. Various kinds of necessity are the basis for all others.

• Something may be necessary because it cannot not exist; its essence is to exist. It is in this sense that God is necessary Being. This is a necessity of being.
• Or something may be necessary in order to verify something else, as a rational soul is necessary to human nature, or four equal sides are necessary to have a square. This is a necessity of essence.
• Or something may be necessary in order to attain a given purpose or achieve a given end, as it is necessary to eat in order to live. This is a necessity of means.
• Or something may be necessary because God wills it so and wants humanity to do it, as it is necessary to pray in order to be saved. This is a necessity of obligation or moral necessity” (p. 372).

The Sacrament of Baptism falls under the category of a necessity of means. As Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, Baptism “is the door which gives access to the other sacraments” (1213). Moreover, the Catechism further explains:

“The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized ‘are reborn of water and the Spirit.’ God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments” (CCC 1257).

Hence, the Church teaches us that, though not Sacraments in themselves, one may also be saved by Baptism of Desire or Baptism of Blood.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion falls under the category of a necessity of obligation or moral necessity. Due to the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism, the baptized incur a moral obligation to receive the Holy Eucharist. Those baptized who are below the age of reason are temporarily excused from this implicit obligation but they are not permanently excused and once they reach the age of reason they must receive Holy Communion. God wills that we receive Him in this Sacrament and therefore, He has ordained that Holy Communion is necessary to sustain the life of grace in a baptized person who has reached the age of reason. Holy Communion is the spiritual food of souls and man cannot long sustain his supernatural life without this food of eternal life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains God’s plan of the importance of the Holy Eucharist: “The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’ The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and work of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch” (1324).  The Eucharist IS Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is the incarnate God, living in our midst. The Eucharist is “the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ’” (CCC 1405).

However, there are those who, through no fault of their own, cannot receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion; for example, the well-meaning Protestant who is truly ignorant of the fullness of truth, the baptized Catholic who does not have access to Holy Mass or the baptized infant who dies before reaching the age of reason.  Is a participation in the life of God’s grace attainable for such souls?  Yes. For those who, through no fault of their own, do not realize the necessity of receiving Holy Communion, they can receive the necessary grace to remain in God’s friendship through other means. The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, of the Second Vatican Council explains this situation:

“Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience–those too may achieve eternal salvation” (n. 16).

For those baptized Catholics who have no access to Holy Mass and for those infants who are baptized but die before reaching the age of reason, Saint Thomas Aquinas provides an explanation in his Summa Theologica, in the section titled, “Whether the Eucharist is Necessary for Salvation.”[1] Simply stated, he says that it is possible for those who cannot receive Holy Communion sacramentally to receive it by desire. Those who receive the Sacrament of Baptism incur an obligation to receive the Holy Eucharist; however, if for valid reasons, they are not able to physically receive the Holy Eucharist before death, through the unity of Christ’s Mystical Body, they are still partakers of this Sacrament.

Saint Thomas Aquinas goes on to explain that young children who have not yet reached the age of reason cannot receive Baptism by desire; they must receive the Sacrament of Baptism itself. Therefore, there is a grave duty incumbent upon parents to baptize their children as soon as possible. “Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the Church” (CCC 1269). Thus, to ensure that they are not deprived of Holy Communion to which they have an obligation and a right in Church law, the Code of Canon Law prescribes the following for children who have been baptized:

“It is primarily the duty of parents and of those who take their place, as it is the duty of the parish priest, to ensure that children who have reached the use of reason are properly prepared and, having made their sacramental confession, are nourished by this divine food as soon as possible” (canon 914).

We have a great necessity and privilege in receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion. Saint Peter Julian Eymard understood this well and urges us daily to receive Our Lord:

“Yes, we were present at the Last Supper, and Jesus stored up for us not one Host but a hundred, a thousand, one for every day of our life. Do we realize that? Jesus wanted to love us superabundantly. Our Hosts are ready; let us not lose a single one of them” (Eymard Library, The Real Presence, (Cleveland, OH: Emmanuel Publishing, 1938), Vol. l, pp. 35-36).

[1] “Whether the Eucharist is Necessary for Salvation? . . . On the contrary, Augustine writes (Ad Bonifac. Contra Pelag. I):  Nor are you to suppose that children cannot possess life, who are deprived of the body and blood of Christ. I answer that, Two things have to be considered in this sacrament, namely, the sacrament itself, and what is contained in it. Now it was stated above (q. 73, a.1, obj. 2) that the reality of the sacrament is the unity of the mystical body, without which there can be no salvation; for there is no entering into salvation outside the Church, just as in the time of the deluge there was none outside the Ark, which denotes the Church, according to 1 Peter 3:20-21. And it has been said above (q. 68, a. 2), that before receiving a sacrament, the reality of the sacrament can be had through the very desire of receiving the sacrament. Accordingly, before actual reception of this sacrament [of the Holy Eucharist], a man can obtain salvation through the desire of receiving it, just as he can before Baptism through the desire of Baptism, as stated above (q. 68, a. 2). Yet there is a difference in two respects. First of all, because Baptism is the beginning of the spiritual life, and the door of the sacraments; whereas the Eucharist is, as it were, the consummation of the spiritual life, and the end of all the sacraments, as was observed above (q. 63, a. 6): for by the hallowings of all the sacraments preparation is made for receiving or consecrating the Eucharist. Consequently, the reception of Baptism is necessary for starting the spiritual life, while the receiving of the Eucharist is requisite for its consummation; by partaking not indeed actually, but in desire, an end is possessed in desire and intention. Another difference is because by Baptism a man is ordained to the Eucharist, and therefore from the fact of children being baptized, they are destined by the Church to the Eucharist; and just as they believe through the Church’s faith, so they desire the Eucharist through the Church’s intention, and, as a result, receive its reality. But they are not disposed for Baptism by any previous sacrament, and consequently before receiving Baptism, in no way have they Baptism in desire; but adults alone have: consequently, they cannot have the reality of the sacrament [of Baptism] without receiving the sacrament [of Baptism] itself. Therefore, this sacrament [of the Holy Eucharist] is not necessary for salvation in the same way as Baptism is.” (ST III, q.73, ad 3).

Saint Thomas also referred to Saint Augustine’s Epistle to Saint Boniface concerning those who depart this life before receiving Holy Communion:

“Reply Obj. 1. As Augustine says, explaining John 6:54, This food and this drink, namely, of His flesh and blood: He would have us understand the fellowship of His body and members, which is the Church in His predestinated, and called, and justified, and glorified, His holy and believing ones. Hence, as he says in his Epistle to Boniface (Pseudo-Beda, in 1 Cor. 10:17): No one should entertain the slightest doubt, that then every one of the faithful becomes a partaker of the body and blood of Christ, when in Baptism he is made a member of Christ’s body; nor is he deprived of his share in that body and chalice even though he depart from this world in the unity of Christ’s body, before he eats that bread and drinks of that chalice” (ST III, q.73, ad 3).

In Catholic theology we define a person as an individual intelligent being. We further identify three kinds of persons in existence: God, angels, and men. In all creation, they alone possess intellectand will.

• Angelic persons are individual intelligent beings with a mind and a will, each existing as different and distinct from all other angels that God created. Angels are persons without bodies; they are pure spirit.
• Human persons are likewise distinct and different individuals. Unlike the angels, we have not only our own unique soul, with our own mind and will, we also have our own different and distinctive body which is ours alone. Man is a body-soul composite; his soul does not merely inhabit his body.
• Totally unique, however, are the Divine Persons. The Persons of the Holy Trinity are not created. They existed from all eternity. They cannot not exist. Moreover, each of the three Divine Persons is true God. The three Persons in God are not merely three personifications, or three ways of describing God, or three metaphors to distinguish God’s activity as Creator, as Redeemer, and as Sanctifier. The Father is not the Son, and Father and Son are not the Holy Spirit. They are, in the deepest sense, three Individuals. So true is this, that we may simply identify personality as individuality. (For Advanced Course lesson 5.)

See Modern Catholic Dictionary: Accidents. 
See Supplemental Vocabulary: Accidents, material and spiritual physical properties; Properties; Species.

The ordination of a Bishop requires a pontifical mandate, that is, the official approval of the Pope. This requirement is a way of securing the unity of the Bishops with and under the Pope. Without such unity, the well-being of the entire Church is directly threatened. This papal mandate, a requirement of Canon Law (canon 1013), is so important that a Bishop who consecrates another Bishop without it, along with the one who is consecrated, is automatically excommunicated.

Even though the ordination of a Bishop requires the official approval of the Pope, an ordination of a Bishop without a pontifical mandate is valid; that is, the rank of episcopacy is conferred, but the ordination is illicit because it has not been carried out according to the prescriptions of Church law. 

Only one Bishop is required for the valid ordination (or consecration) of a Bishop. Three Bishops are required for the licit consecration of a new Bishop, unless the Holy See dispenses from this as, for example, in countries where violent persecution of the Church is in progress. The requirement of three Bishops for licit ordination is a means of making clear the unity of the episcopate under Christ as present in each single consecration.

Bishops possess their power to ordain in virtue of their episcopal ordination; this means that every validly ordained Bishop, including those separated from union with Rome, has the power to ordain deacons, priests and Bishops, even in defiance of the Pope’s directives. When this happens, the Sacrament of Holy Orders confers rank and power in the name of Jesus and by His authority, and the Sacrament is valid. However, those Bishops who exercise their episcopal powers without the required pontifical mandate act illicitly. The unfortunate circumstances under which the Pope’s directives have been ignored have had historic consequences for the unity of the Catholic Church. Thus, the millions of Eastern Orthodox, as they call themselves, have for centuries ordained priests and Bishops without dependence on the Bishop of Rome. This, too, was the heart of the crisis since the Second Vatican Council, where the followers of Archbishop Lefebvre had Bishops ordained contrary to the expressed wishes of Pope Saint John Paul II.

There are some Churches separated from Rome whose priestly orders are questionable. The historic case of the Anglican Orders is worth noting here. In the document Apostolicae Curae(September 13, 1896), Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican Orders to be “absolutely null and utterly void.” The grounds for the declaration were twofold: the formula used in the ordination ceremony and the intention of the one performing the ordination. Not long after the Anglicans broke with Rome, they denied that the Mass is a sacrifice and, therefore, those whom they ordained were not ordained as priests to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass. (For Advanced Course lesson 23.)

Laudetur Iesus Christus!

I offer a counsel for Marian Catechists regarding the promotion of private revelations. Private revelations are those “supernatural manifestations by God of hidden truths made to private individuals for their own spiritual welfare or that of others,”[1] many of which are a source of inspiration and can be spiritually beneficial.

The Servant of God Father John A. Hardon, S.J., was totally opposed to the involvement of the Marian Catechist Apostolate in promoting private revelations. It is not at all that he doubted that there are private revelations or that he thought that they were harmful, but he rightly saw that the Marian Catechists, who by nature are devout Catholics, could easily lose their focus, if the direction of the Apostolate became involved in promoting private revelations of which, as I am sure you know, there are many, some of which have been studied and approved, and some of which have not. The different private revelations are spiritually helpful to individuals, but they do not attract all. But, when the Marian Catechist Apostolate begins to promote one or another private revelation, it loses energy in doing its main work, catechesis, which, when properly done, is attractive to all. In other words, we must daily set again our focus on the mission which God gave to the Servant of God Father Hardon and to us who are his spiritual children.

The world has never needed more the solid teaching and direction which Our Lord, in His immeasurable and unceasing love of man, deemed to pass on through His Church.  Though it is not my intention to discourage the study of approved, private revelations and their possible use as a tool in catechesis, I wish to convey that the focus of the Marian Catechist Apostolate is on teaching and spreading the doctrines of the Catholic Faith in a time when the majority of Catholics are poorly catechized and in a world in which atheistic materialism and relativism continue to promote confusion and division in the Church and to ravage the cultures of many nations, to the detriment of countless souls.

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.
March 25, 2019

[1] Modern Catholic Dictionary, John A. Hardon, S.J. (Bardstown, KY: Eternal Life, 1999), p. 451.

The “properties” or “accidents” of bread and wine are their size, shape, texture, color and taste. After Consecration, the accidents of the bread and wine (and therefore, of gluten and of alcohol) adhere in a mysterious way to the substance which is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Precious Blood still looks and tastes like wine, and the consecrated Host still looks and tastes like bread. Even in the commonly-called “gluten-free” hosts there is some gluten–otherwise they would be invalid matter and, therefore, could not be used for Consecration. The proper name for these hosts is “low gluten hosts.” (For Advanced Course lesson 20.)

Reordination is the repetition of an ordination ceremony for a Bishop, priest, or deacon because there are serious grounds for doubting the validity of a previous ordination. The term is inaccurate, since Sacred Orders, once conferred, cannot be repeated.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Holy Orders is not repeated for a validly ordained priest who repents after being a schismatic, a heretic, a grave sinner or an apostate. The contrary teaching was promoted by the Donatists in the late second and early third centuries. According to the Donatists, if a man denied his Catholic Faith under persecution and later repented, he had to be reordained. This same error has penetrated into some circles of the Eastern Orthodox Churches which are separated from Rome. Behind this error is a denial that some Sacraments confer an indelible character on those who receive them.

To clarify, once a person is baptized, or confirmed, or ordained, he cannot be rebaptized, reconfirmed, or reordained. This is why the now common term “laicization of priests” is erroneous. A priest is never reduced to the lay state no matter what happens in his life. He may lose his faith, or lapse into a life of immorality, or become a sworn enemy of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, even though the term “laicized” is commonly used to refer to a priest who has left the ministry of the priesthood, he remains a priest for all time and into eternity. (For Advanced Course lesson 23.)

The Sacraments of Character are Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. Each of these Sacraments confers a special indelible mark on the soul. Because this mark, called the sacramental character, is permanent and remains even in a person who is not in the state of grace, none of these three Sacraments can be repeated; neither can they be conferred ‘temporarily.’ This indelible character can never be lost, not even through grievous sin. The sacramental character can be described as a spiritual mark which indicates that the person belongs to Christ. Through Baptism, the Christian is first sealed with this sacramental character. Similarly, Confirmation, which completes Baptism, is given but once. It imprints on the soul a second character, a sign that a Christian is sealed with the Holy Spirit and clothed with those supernatural powers which enable him to give witness to the Savior. Holy Orders, too, is administered but once, for it also confers an indelible character and hence cannot be repeated or received only for a limited period of time. Consequently, it is impossible to become un-baptized, un-confirmed, or un-ordained. For the same reason, a person cannot be re-baptized, re-confirmed or re-ordained. A person is baptized, confirmed and ordained for all time and, we may say, into eternity.

Sacred Chrism

Sacred chrism, a consecrated mixture of olive oil and balsam, is used in each of the Sacraments of Character. It is the valid matter for the Sacrament of Confirmation and, although sacred chrism is not absolutely essential in the administration of Baptism and Holy Orders, it is part of the sacramental ritual of both, symbolizing the conferral of grace from the Holy Spirit. It is interesting to note that sacred chrism is used in the administration of the three Sacraments that confer an indelible sacramental character.

Baptism

The Catholic Church recognizes no other Baptism as a valid Sacrament except one in which natural water (not juice or a water-based substitute) somehow flows on a person’s head, while the minister of the Sacrament pronounces the essential Trinitarian Formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The same person applies the water and pronounces the invocation of the Trinity. The baptized person takes a baptismal name which should be related to our Catholic Faith. It need not be a Saint’s name, but the name of a Saint is highly recommended.

The Code of Canon Law stipulates that specially blessed natural water must be used for the licit conferral of Baptism, although the use of unblessed water in emergency Baptisms is valid. We cannot baptize with water that is mixed with other substances, nor with another natural liquid, like milk or fruit juice that is composed mainly of water. Even in an emergency, there can be absolutely no substitute for natural water because we do not have the authority to change what Jesus requires. Note well that, if blessed water were necessary for validity, then it would have to be used also in emergency Baptism.

Baptism conferred by sprinkling, known as aspersion, is valid, provided the drops of water flow a bit once they touch the person being baptized. Sometimes it is not certain this happens; hence, to avoid all possibility of doubt about validity, the Church now holds aspersion to be valid, but illicit, and to be used only in rare emergencies.

In the 1917 Code of Canon Law, Baptism by aspersion was both valid and licit (cf. canon 758). Under canon 854 of the present Code of Canon Law, only two modes of Baptism are mentioned: pouring (infusion) and immersion. Aspersion is not mentioned, even to declare it illicit. In principle, however, it remains valid provided water flows over the recipient, and will remain so even if explicitly declared illicit.

Any person over the age of reason who approaches the Catholic Church for Baptism must have the proper disposition. This means that he must have the intention and the desire to receive the Catholic Faith. He must have received instruction, and he must believe the basics of the Faith. In addition, an adult desiring Baptism must have at least imperfect contrition for sins, that is, sorrow for sins out of fear of God and His just punishments. For those under the age of reason (e.g., infants), the intention and desire for the Faith are supplied by the Catholic parent or guardian, who is also responsible for the child’s future instruction in the Catholic Faith.

Faith is the precondition for the valid conferral of the Sacrament of Baptism. We may ask, “Why is faith necessary for valid Baptism?” The reason is written on every page of the New Testament. Baptism is not magic; Baptism is not a sleight of hand. Baptism is the conferral of grace by God, but conditionally. This is dramatically summarized in Christ’s closing directive to His Apostles. He told them, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). What is Christ saying? Christ is telling His disciples, and through them all His followers until the end of time, that the first duty is to teach the Catholic Faith which then must be believed before a person may be baptized.

Saint Peter’s homily on that first Pentecost Sunday restated Christ’s teaching. Saint Peter told the people that they must believe in order to be baptized. He spelled out the necessary essentials of the Faith and “those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).

Faith, which is the assent of the intellect to everything which God has revealed, is divinely commanded and, therefore, the necessary precondition for the Sacrament of Baptism to take its effect. We might remind ourselves that every time we make the Sign of the Cross we are repeating the act of faith that brought us into the Church in the first place. Every Sign of the Cross that we make is a repetition of the act of faith by which we were baptized.

Confirmation & Holy Orders 

The valid reception of Confirmation requires that the recipients be baptized and free of any obex (obstacle), that the sacramental rite be followed, and that the recipients want to receive the Sacrament. It is recommended, but not obligatory, that a name be taken as their Confirmation name (preferably a Saint’s name) and that it be different from their baptismal name. Confirmation is the Sacrament of spiritual strengthening. It does not require spiritual strength before its reception; therefore, the sacramental character is received regardless of the state of a person’s soul. Even if a person is dead spiritually due to mortal sin, he can be confirmed, although he must go to Confession afterward for receiving the Sacrament sacrilegiously. Such a person receives the graces of the Sacrament of Confirmation upon making a good Confession.

It is the same with the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The recipient validly receives the Sacrament even if he is in the state of mortal sin at the time of his ordination. Certainly, the Sacrament of Holy Orders is a Sacrament of the Living. It should be received in the state of grace. Moreover, the state of grace is necessary for the one ordained to obtain from God the graces that he needs to exercise his priestly and episcopal powers according to the will of God.

A Bishop is not required for the valid conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation. In the Eastern Rite, all priests are ordinary ministers of the Sacrament of Confirmation. In the Western Church, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the Bishop and only under certain circumstances may priests, as extraordinary ministers, be granted the faculties (usually by the local Bishop) to confirm. However, any priest is authorized by the Church to administer Confirmation to a Catholic who is in danger of death. It is the desire of the Church that none of Her members, even young children, should leave this world without being perfected by the Holy Spirit and fully assimilated to Christ. Therefore, children under the age of reason can be licitly and validly confirmed when in danger of death (see canons 883, §3; 891).

Under the authority of the Diocesan Bishop, the pastor, as a shepherd of his local flock, has the duty to see that his parishioners are confirmed. He also has the duty, along with the parents, to prepare and instruct these candidates for Confirmation. The Bishop of the Diocese has entrusted the pastor with the pastoral care of the people in his parish. The Bishop expects the pastor to properly teach the principal truths of the Catholic Faith to the confirmandi so that they are ready to take on the responsibilities incumbent on Christ’s followers, especially those responsibilities pertaining to the Sacrament of Confirmation, that is, to be witnesses for Christ in the Church and in the world.

The valid reception of Sacred Orders does not depend on the previous reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. However, the Church’s law requires that a man be sacramentally confirmed. The reason for this is that Confirmation, as the Sacrament of spiritual strengthening, provides supernatural fortitude which the ordained priest so deeply needs for his priestly ministry. The ordination of an unconfirmed man would be valid, but illicit. In other words, the Sacrament would be effected, though not according to the will of the Church.  

Moreover, the valid reception of Holy Orders does not depend on the age of the recipient. Certainly, a man is normally and canonically to have reached the age of reason before having been ordained a priest. But absolutely speaking, the two Sacraments of Character—Confirmation and Holy Orders—can be conferred validly at any time after Baptism. In the Eastern Church it is customary for the priest who baptizes to also confer the Sacrament of Confirmation, even in the case of an infant. During the early Middle Ages, some of the Spanish nobility would have their infant sons ordained shortly after birth. This was totally illicit, but those ordinations were valid.

Furthermore, the valid reception of the Sacrament of Holy Orders does not depend on whether the recipient was previously ordained as a Transitional Deacon (that is, one who is preparing for the ministerial priesthood). If a baptized male, who was not an ordained Deacon, were to be ordained as a priest, the ordination would be valid but illicit.

Therefore, a valid and licit ordination to the priesthood requires that a candidate for Holy Orders be a validly baptized, confirmed male who is suitable for the rigors of ordained ministry. He must freely consent to Holy Orders and be free of any impediments or irregularities, in keeping with the requirements of Canon Law.  Additionally, a candidate for the Transitional Diaconate must be twenty-three years old prior to Diaconal ordination; and a candidate for the priesthood must be twenty-six years old and have served as Transitional Deacon for at least six months.

Age of Reason and Consent

It is important to note that once the age of reason is reached, a person must want to receive the Sacraments of Character, because no one can be sanctified without the consent of their own will. As previously stated, for infants and those who do not have the use of reason, the intention to receive the Sacrament of Baptism is supplied by their parents or guardians, who act on their behalf. This holds true for the Sacrament of Confirmation when received with Baptism in infancy, as was often the case in the past, and still is in parts of the Eastern Church. Consequently, infants can be validly baptized and confirmed, but once they reach the age of reason even children must want to receive Baptism and Confirmation. So, too, no one can be ordained unless they want to be ordained and they, in fact, must also have a clear understanding of the meaning of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The early Church experienced more than one controversy about the necessity of repeating the Sacraments of Character when apostates returned to the Catholic Faith. As a result, the Church has clarified that Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders can only be received once in a lifetime. They cannot be repeated precisely because of the unique, permanent, sacramental character imprinted on the soul when each of these three Sacraments is conferred. The sacramental character signifies that the one baptized, confirmed, or ordained bears a special and unique relationship to Christ. It first assimilates a person to the priesthood of Christ; from this primary function, secondary functions flow, in increasing order of sublimity, from Baptism to Confirmation to Holy Orders.

The impossibility of rebaptizing or reconfirming or reordaining is a testimony to the deep bond that is formed between Christ and those who receive the Sacraments of Character. No matter what they may do, no matter how they may live, no matter how they may have failed in their loyalty to Christ, Christ never fails in His loyalty to them. (For Advanced Course lessons 17, 18, 19 and 23.)

The Sacraments of Initiation are Baptism, Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist. Each one is a stage in the sacramental progress of Catholics. Baptism initiates the one baptized into the Catholic Church founded by Christ, conferring on the person sanctifying grace and the infused virtues. Confirmation strengthens the sanctifying grace received at Baptism, especially the virtue of faith, enabling the one confirmed to live and profess and defend the faith received at Baptism. The Holy Eucharist provides the nourishment of the supernatural life that was received at Baptism and strengthened at Confirmation.

The Sacrament of the Eucharist confers the fullness of Christian initiation. Baptism and Confirmation require the Sacrament of the Eucharist to reach their fullness or fruition in the person, which is why the Holy Eucharist should be received soon after reaching the age of reason.

Both Baptism and the Eucharist are necessary for salvation; Baptism first, then the Holy Eucharist. If a child dies before reaching the age of reason, that child still had the implicit obligation to receive the Holy Eucharist. In other words, the Eucharist is necessary for salvation, even if an individual without blame cannot actually receive it.  In such circumstances this person must, at least in some way, be open to desiring the Eucharist because this desire is implicit in being baptized.  In the Eastern Rite, First Communion is given immediately after Baptism precisely to recognize this need.

What is missing from this discussion is an explanation of the different forms of necessity regarding the obligation to receive a given Sacrament.  Not all of the Sacraments need to be received in order for a person to be saved. The Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, however, need to be received in order to be saved, but in different ways:

• Baptism (or its substitute, Baptism of Blood or Baptism of Desire) must be received in virtue of a necessity of means: without Baptism it is impossible to receive other Sacraments no matter how well-intentioned a person is because the non-baptized is still spiritually dead.  Hence, without Baptism one cannot be saved. 
• The necessity to receive Holy Communion, however, is one of grave moral obligation and, hence, though one may be excused for sufficient reason, they are not permanently excused.  Hence, the need of a believer to receive Holy Communion, or at least to be open to receiving Holy Communion, is necessary to be saved.

The Holy Eucharist is the very center, the very peak, the very basis of the entire sacramental order of the Church. All the other Sacraments are directed to and find their fulfillment in the Eucharist. Not only does the Eucharist confer divine grace, but it contains the Author of divine grace. The Eucharist IS Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is the incarnate God, living in our midst, and the person who receives the Holy Eucharist worthily has one foot on earth and the other foot in Heaven.

The Eucharist is absolutely necessary for salvation. In the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel, Christ Himself declares that, unless we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, we shall not have life in us. The Eucharist is necessary for maintaining the supernatural life originally received in Baptism. It is so important that, since the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, the Church has insisted that, at least once a year between Ash Wednesday and either Pentecost Sunday (Ordinary Form) or Trinity Sunday (Extraordinary Form), every Catholic must receive Holy Communion worthily. This Easter Duty is binding under penalty of mortal sin. (For Basic Course 12-98. For Advanced Course lessons 17 to 20.)

The “species” are the appearances, especially those of bread and wine, after the Eucharistic Consecration. “The term ‘species’ is used by the Council of Trent to identify the accidents, i.e., the size, weight, color, resistance, taste, and odor of bread, which remain exactly the same after transubstantiation. They are not mere appearances as though these physical properties were unreal. But they are appearances because after the Consecration they lack any substance that underlies them or in which they inhere” (Modern Catholic Dictionary). (For Advanced Course lesson 20.)

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is also the Sacrament of the Mass. The Church has a right to prescribe the ceremonies of the Mass, the sacred vessels to be used, the vesture of the priest in offering Mass, and both the Biblical readings and the prayers to be recited at Mass, even though a valid Mass can be said without the observance of what we call the rubrics. However, strict observance of the rubrics, which are written in red in the liturgical books,* is necessary for the licit celebration of Mass. Also, the rubrics have very much to do with disposing the people to not just attend Mass, but to be spiritually disposed to receive the graces which Christ confers through the Holy Sacrifice.
*(The Roman Missal is the liturgical book containing all the texts, together with the norms and rubrics, of the Holy Mass. It provides for and protects the unity of worship for the whole Church, in every part of the world.)

What makes a Mass valid? The Sacrifice of the Mass is valid only if the priest or Bishop offering Mass has been validly ordained in the ministerial priesthood of the Catholic Church. Valid ordination requires that the ordaining prelate traces his episcopate back to the Apostles whom Christ ordained at the Last Supper. Another condition for validity is that the priest or Bishop offering Mass has the intention to do what the Catholic Church understands by consecrating the bread and wine into the living Body and Blood of Christ and offering the sacrifice which Christ made to His heavenly Father by His death on Calvary. Moreover, the priest must pronounce at least the minimum words required for a valid Consecration: “This is My Body,” and “This is My Blood.”

Still another condition for validity is that real bread and wine are used for Consecration, according to the norms set forth in the Code of Canon Law. In the Latin Rite, only unleavened bread is to be used for the Holy Eucharist. In the Eastern Church, leavened bread and unleavened bread are valid matter for the Eucharist. It is, however, illicit to use leavened bread in the Latin Church. At the Ecumenical Council of Florence (1438-1445), it was defined that the Body of Christ becomes really present when the Consecration is made from either leavened or unleavened wheaten bread. The bread must be purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. The wine used must be natural, from the fruit of the grape, pure and incorrupt and not mixed with other substances. It must be stored properly so that it does not turn sour (cf. Redemptionis Sacramentum 48, 50).

In summary, for a valid Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there must be a valid Consecration. Therefore, it is necessary that a validly ordained priest say the correct words of Consecration, use proper matter, (bread purely of wheat and natural, unadulterated grape wine) and have the intention to do what the Church intends when performing the Consecration. The range of licitness in the offering of the Mass covers the whole spectrum of ritual which the Church prescribes for the offering of the Holy Sacrifice. Two further facts should be noted. Even though a priest is in mortal sin or has abandoned his faith in the Holy Eucharist, the Masses offered by him are still valid, provided the conditions mentioned above are fulfilled. (For Advanced Course lesson 20.)

The Western Church is now a tightly organized vast portion of the Catholic Church.  In its origins, it included the foundation of many, diverse local Churches­–Ambrosian, Irish, French (Gallican), Spanish, and Slavic (Cyril and Methodius were the founders, using old Slavic, rather than Latin), each under the authority of the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome. The formation of the Western Church was, therefore, very similar to that of the Eastern Church.

The title “Western Church” developed in a comparable way to the title “Eastern Church.” These titles initially indicated places of origin. The Western Church included all those Churches west of Rome; whereas, the Eastern Churches included all those Churches east of Rome.

The Western Church uses Latin liturgies and has its own distinctive Canon Law (known as the Code of Canon Law). It is in union with Rome and it is often called simply, the “Latin Rite” or the “Roman Rite” although it embraces several Rites:

1. The Latin or Roman Rite and its derivatives, such as the Ambrosian and Mozarabic liturgies, and
2. The Rites of some religious orders, including Carmelite Rite, the Dominican Rite, and the Carthusian Rite.

It is also called: the Church of Rome, the Patriarchate of the West or the Roman Catholic Church.

The term “Roman Catholic Church” may be used in two ways; one is limited and the other is all-encompassing. First, it may be used in a limited way, as noted above, to denote a Western Church or Western Churches united with the Bishop of Rome in his capacity as local Bishop of Rome, * not in his capacity as Vicar of Christ (that is, the Head of the Universal Church). **

Second, in an all-encompassing way, the term “Roman Catholic Church” may be used to denote the Universal Church united in obedience to the Vicar of Christ, the successor of Saint Peter, who also happens to be the local Bishop of Rome and head of various groups of Catholic Churches in the West. When we use the term Roman Catholic Church to designate the Universal Church, then it designates all those Churches, East as well as West, that are united with the Vicar of Christ. 

In the Universal Church, Eastern Rite Churches are not obliged to call themselves “Roman” Catholic if they reserve this term to designate their relationship with Western Catholics. Eastern Catholics commonly use the term “Roman Catholic” to designate a local Church or groups of local Churches in the Western Rite who are subject to the Bishop of Rome. Eastern Catholics too, are subject to their local Bishop and are united in obedience to the Vicar of Christ. Eastern Catholics, then, in confessing their unity in the one Church via obedience to the Vicar of Christ in Rome are genuine “Roman Catholics,” but are not obliged to call themselves “Roman” Catholic to confess this. Schismatic Churches in the East, on return to unity with the Universal Church, commonly call themselves “United,” that is, united with the Pope in obedience to Rome.  United in the East is more or less the equivalent to Roman Catholic in the West.

*When it is said that you are subject to the Bishop of Rome in his capacity as local Bishop of Rome, this means you are in the Latin Church, using liturgical traditions and customs derived principally from Rome.

**When it is said that you are subject to the Vicar of Christ in his capacity as Vicar, this means you may be in the Latin Church or the Eastern Catholic Church, following their customs for ceremonies, liturgical worship, administration of the Sacraments and Code of Canon Law, but you are united in obedience to the Vicar of Christ and are part of the one true Catholic Church. (For Advanced Course lessons 19 and 23.)

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 237-238 (Extension of the Incarnation)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

–#374 (Church’s Missionary Nature)

Scripture

Matthew 28:19-20
Mark 16:15-16
Romans 10:17

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1-10 (The Life of Man – To Know and Love God)
#849-856 (Missionary Mandate)
#1122 (Mission to evangelize)
#1426-1428 (Conversion)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Catechesis
Evangelization
Evangelize

On Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi), Apostolic Exhortation of Blessed Paul VI, December 8, 1975, n. 14-15.

“14. The Church knows this. She has a vivid awareness of the fact that the Savior’s words, “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God,”(Lk 4:43) apply in all truth to herself: She willingly adds with St. Paul: “Not that I boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty that has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it”(1Cor9:16). It is with joy and consolation that at the end of the great Assembly of 1974 we heard these illuminating words: “We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church.” It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.
15. Anyone who rereads in the New Testament the origins of the Church, follows her history step by step and watches her live and act, sees that she is linked to evangelization in her most intimate being:
– The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve. She is the normal, desired, most immediate and most visible fruit of this activity: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations”(Mt 28:19). Now, “they accepted what he said and were baptized. That very day about three thousand were added to their number…. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved”(Acts 2:41, 47). Having been born consequently out of being sent, the Church in her turn is sent by Jesus. The Church remains in the world when the Lord of glory returns to the Father. She remains as a sign – simultaneously obscure and luminous – of a new presence of Jesus, of His departure and of His permanent presence. She prolongs and continues Him. And it is above all His mission and His condition of being an evangelizer that she is called upon to continue. For the Christian community is never closed in upon itself. The intimate life of this community – the life of listening to the Word and the apostles’ teaching, charity lived in a fraternal way, the sharing of bread (Cf. Acts 2:42-2; 4:32-35; 5:12-16) this intimate life only acquires its full meaning when it becomes a witness, when it evokes admiration and conversion, and when it becomes the preaching and proclamation of the Good News. Thus it is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole.”

Catechesis in Our Time (Catechesi Tradendae), Apostolic Exhortation of Saint John Paul II, October 16, 1979.

Saint John Paul II issued Catechesi Tradendae as the most authoritative and up to date explanation of how the Catholic Faith should be taught in our day. It is a complement to Blessed Paul VI’s document on Evangelization in the Modern World. Significantly, Saint John Paul places the responsibility for teaching the faith on every believing Catholic, in every state of life, and in every position of human society. The very title Catechesi Tradendae is in the gerundive, which literally means how catechesis must be passed on to others. One thing stands out in this papal document, namely the obligation we have to share our faith with everyone whose life we touch.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 29-42 (God Speaks Man Listens)
Page 205, paragraph 5
Page 432, paragraph 2

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#13-39 (Divine Revelation)
#40-53 (Divine Faith)
#54-58 (Mysteries of Christianity)
#196-197 (The Incarnation)
#887 (Conscience)
#1004-1006 (Prudence)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 11, paragraph 4-6
Page 22, paragraph 4
Page 26, paragraph 2
Page 31, paragraph 4

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:14
Acts 2:32-33, 41
Ecclesiastes 2:26
James 1:19
Jeremiah 9:24
John  2:11; 20:24-31
Proverbs 8:1; 8:8-9; 19:2
Romans 1:18-21
Wisdom 13:1,5

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1 (The Life of Man – To Know and Love God)
#26-49 (Man’s Capacity for God)
#50-55 (God Comes to Meet Man)
#150 (To Believe in God Alone)
#156 & 158 (Faith and understanding)
#158 (Faith seeks understanding)
#164 (Faith-the beginning of eternal life)
#272-274 (Faith in God’s Power)
#286 (Catechesis on Creation)
#515 (Christ’s whole life was a mystery)
#639-645 (The Resurrection)
#1101 (The Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ)

Father Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Catechism

Page 18, paragraph 1
Page 64, paragraphs 2,3,4.

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary

 Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Conscience
Credibility
Credulity
Divine Faith
Faith, Virtue of
Hope, Virtue of
Knowledge
Mind
Modernism
Motives of Credibility
Mystery
Natural Knowledge of God
Preambles of Faith
Prophecy
Prudence
Reason
Relativism
Understanding
Will

Dr. Fisher’s A Catechetical Dictionary for the CCC

Review the following terms for a clearer understanding of the terms.

Assent
Credentity, Motives of
Credible/Credibility
Love
Mind
Miracles
Motives of Credibility
Mystery/Mysteries/Mysterious
Understanding
Will

Father Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Catechism

Page 18, paragraph 1
Page 19, paragraph 1
Page 64, paragraphs 2-4

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Mystery, Understand and Comprehend

The Real Presence.org Articles

“Christ the Miracle Worker in the Eucharist” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 29-30 (God Speaks Man Listens)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#92-95 (The Apostles’ Creed)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 8-11 (The Creed)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#166-167

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Apostles’ Creed

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Apostle
Apostolate
Article of Faith
Catechesis
Catechism
Credibility
Credo
Credo of the People of God
Faith
Faith, Act of
Nicene Creed
Truth

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 53-68 (The Living God)
Pages 69-78 (Creation)
Page 78 (Divine Providence)
Pages 83-90 (Angels)
Pages 91-102 (The Origin and Nature of Man)
Pages 102-107 (the Human Person)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#92-193 (1st Article, I Believe in God)
#125-127 (Creation and Divine Providence)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 12-20 (First Article)

Scripture

Revelation 12:7-12

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#198-231 (I Believe in One God)
#232-267 (Revelation of God as Trinity)
#268-276 (God’s Power)
#282-301; 337-349 (Creation)
#302-324 (Divine Providence, Scandal of Evil)
#328-336 (Angels)
#355-384 (Creation of Man)
#385-412 (The Fall of Man and Angels)
#1814 (Faith)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Faith, Virtue of

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Adam
Albigenses
Angels
Concupiscence
Creation
Death
Demon
Devil
Divine Attributes
Eve
Evolution
Fall
Freedom
Glory
God
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
Guardian Angels
Man
Manichaeism
Materialism
Original Justice
Original Sin
Person
Preternatural Gifts
Providence
Satan
Trinity, The Holy

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, First Article, pp. 254-262.

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.
Person

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 32, paragraphs 1,2,5
Page 33, paragraphs 2-7
Page 35, paragraphs 3-4
Pages 108-125 (Jesus Christ in the New Testament)
Pages 125-141 (Jesus Christ, Testimony of the Church: Consubstantial, Hypostatic Union, True God True Man)
Page 140, paragraphs 1-2
Pages 142-149 (Adoration of Christ’s Humanity, Jansenist Attitude and the Historical Jesus)
Page 158
Page 210-211
Page 265, paragraph 6
Page 431-432
Page 466, paragraphs 3-5

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#23,
#49-50
#194-225 (2nd Article, Jesus Christ, His only Son)
#203, 206, 209-210
#217-218
#269

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 13 (The Holy Trinity)
Pages 22-24 (The Second Article)
Page 31
Page 143, paragraphs 4-5

Scripture

1 Peter 2:21-24
2 Corinthians 5:21
Acts 1:9-11; 9:4-5
Colossians 1:24
Daniel 7:14
Ephesians 1:19-21; 2:4-7
Hebrews 10:8-10
John 8:46-47; 10:33; 14:9; 19:30; 20:30-31
Luke 24:25-26
Matthew 16:16
Philippians 3:10-11

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#163-164
#464, #466-467, #469-470 (True God and True Man)
#472-474 (Christ’s soul and His human knowledge)
#475 (Christ’s human will)
#480-483 (True God and true man)
#519
#612
#627
#645
#648
#662-664
#1366
#1368
#1372

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Arianism
Christ
Ecumenical Councils
Homoousios
Hypostatic Union
Imitation of Christ
Incarnation
Jesus
Lord
Messiah
Nature
Nestorianism
Person (See also Lesson 5, Supplemental Vocabulary)
Sacred Heart
Savior
Son of God

See also: 
Eternity
Faith, Virtue of
Impeccability of Christ
Mass
Monothelitism
Mystical Body
Original Sin
Restored Nature
Resurrection of Christ
Sinlessness

Dr. Fisher’s A Catechetical Dictionary for the CCC

Review the following terms for a clearer understanding of the terms.

Beatific Vision
Council of Ephesus
Faith as a Theological Virtue
Hypostatic union
Incarnation
Nestorian Heresy
Person

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Second Article, pp. 262-265.

Father Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Catechism

Page 65, paragraph 4
Page 100, paragraph 3
Page 101, paragraph 1
Page 104, paragraph 1
Page 149, paragraphs 2-6
Page 150, paragraphs 1-2
Page 152-153

Supplemental Vocabulary:

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Human Being (Man)

Second Vatican Council:

Pastoral Constitution On The Church In The Modern World (Gaudium Et Spes) Pope Paul VI, December 7, 1965, #22. (One of four constitutions from the Second Vatican Council.)

Encyclical:

On Reparation to the Sacred Heart (Miserentissimus Redemptor) Pope Pius XI, encyclical promulgated 8 May 1928, #14.

“[T]he expiatory passion of Christ is renewed and in a manner continued and fulfilled in His mystical body, which is the Church. For, to use once more the words of St. Augustine, ‘Christ suffered whatever it behoved Him to suffer; now nothing is wanting of the measure of the sufferings. Therefore the sufferings were fulfilled, but in the head; there were yet remaining the sufferings of Christ in His body’ (In Psalm lxxxvi). This, indeed, Our Lord Jesus Himself vouchsafed to explain when, speaking to Saul, ‘as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter’ (Acts ix, 1), He said, ‘I am Jesus whom thou persecutest’ (Acts ix, 5), clearly signifying that when persecutions are stirred up against the Church, the Divine Head of the Church is Himself attacked and troubled. Rightly, therefore, does Christ, still suffering in His mystical body, desire to have us partakers of His expiation, and this is also demanded by our intimate union with Him, for since we are ‘the body of Christ and members of member’ (1 Corinthians xii, 27), whatever the head suffers, all the members must suffer with it (Cf. 1 Corinthians xii, 26)” (#14).

The Real Presence.org article:  

“Christ the Miracle Worker in the Eucharist” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 150-171 (Blessed Virgin Mary)
Pages 297-298 (Adoration, Prayer and Sacrifice)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#226-260 (3rd Article, Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary)
#291 (Did Christ ascend alone)
#553 (What is adoration?)
#573-574 (Worship and Veneration)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 24-29 (Third Article)
Pages 58-59

Scripture  –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Mark 12:28-30
Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-23
Luke 1:26-80; 2:1-52
John 2:1-12

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#358
#456-483 (The Son of God Became Man)
#484-511 (Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit)
#2113 (Idolatry)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Adoration
Death
Latria
Mary, The Blessed Virgin
Mother of God
Mystical Union
Mysticism
Nestorianism
Precept
Protoevangelium
Sinlessness
Sinlessness of Mary
Worship

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Assumption
Blessed Virgin Mary
Fatima, Our Lady of the Rosary of
Guadalupe
Imitation of Christ
Immaculate Conception
Lourdes
Marian Art
Marian Literature
Mariolatry
Mariology
Mary, Name of
Mary’s Death
Mary’s Sinlessness
Mary’s Virginity
Mary, Blessed Virgin

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Third Article, pp. 266-269.

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions:

Dogmas and Doctrines
Mary’s Sinlessness

Read Also:

Also see Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pp. 202-203

“The Council of Trent declared: ‘No justified person can for his whole life avoid all sins, even venial sins, except on the ground of a special privilege from God such as the Church holds was given to the Blessed Virgin….’ Pope Pius XII says in the Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi of the Virgin Mother of God, that ‘she was immune from all sin, personal or inherited.’ Mary’s sinlessness may be deduced from the text: Luke 1:28: ‘Hail, full of grace!’, since personal moral defects are irreconcilable with the fullness of grace.”

Also see The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, Ia Q 100, art. 2, “Confirmation in Grace” IIIa, Q 18, art. 4

“For the rational creature is confirmed in righteousness through the beatitude given by the clear vision of God; and when once it has seen God, it cannot but cleave to Him who is the essence of goodness, wherefrom no one can turn away, since nothing is desired or loved but under the aspect of good. I say this according to the general law; for it may be otherwise in the case of special privilege, such as we believe was granted to the Virgin Mother of God.”

Also see The Mother of the Savior and Our Interior Life, Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Rockford: Tan Publishing, 1993, pp. 63-65

“Was Mary Exempt from Every Fault, Even Venial? The Council of Trent has defined that ‘after his justification a man cannot avoid, during the whole course of his life, every venial sin, without a special privilege such as the Church recognizes was conferred on the Blessed Virgin.’ The soul in the state of grace can therefore avoid any venial sin considered separately, but cannot avoid all venial sins, taken together by keeping itself always free from them. Mary however avoided all sin, even the least grave. St. Augustine affirms that ‘for the honor of her Son who came to remit the sins of the world, Mary is never included when there is a question of sin.’ The Fathers and theologians consider, to judge from their manner of speaking, that she is free even from every voluntary imperfection, for, according to them, she never failed in promptness to obey a divine inspiration given by way of counsel. …Mary had therefore impeccantia (the term is parallel to inerrantia) or freedom from sin, and even impeccability. Her title to these endowments is not however the same as her Son’s. In her case it was a matter of preservation from every sin through a special privilege. This privilege includes first of all a very high degree of habitual grace and charity, which gives the soul a strong inclination to the act of love of God and withdraws it from sin. …Far from diminishing her liberty or free will, the effect of this preservation from sin was to confer on her full liberty in the order of moral goodness, with no inclination to evil (just as her mind never tended to error). Hence her liberty, following the example of that of Jesus, was a faithful and most pure image of God’s liberty, which is at once sovereign and incapable of sin.”

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 124, 1st paragraph
Pages 431-432 (Redemptive suffering)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#261-278 (4th Article, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and was buried)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 29-30 (Fourth Article)

Scripture

Matthew 27:1-66
Mark 15:1-47
Luke 23:1-56
John 18:28-40; 19:1-42

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#595-598 (The Trial of Jesus)
#599-604 (Christ’s Redemptive Death in God’s Plan of Salvation)
#606-623 (Christ Offered Himself to His Father for Our Sins)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Moral Evil
Physical Evil

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Agony in the Garden
Cross
Crucifix
Crucifixion
Gethsemane
Judas
Passion
Passover
Pilate, Pontius
Stations of the Cross
Suffering

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Fourth Article, pp. 269-273.

On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering (Salvifici Doloris),

Apostolic Letter of Saint John Paul II, February 11, 1984. Especially the fifth chapter, “Sharers in the Suffering of Christ.”

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Absolute Evil

He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#279-289 (5th Article, Descended into Hell, Rose Again from the Dead)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 31-32 (The Fifth Article)
Pages 33-34 (The Ascension of Christ and His Glorified Existence)

Scripture –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Matthew 28:1-20
Mark 16:1-18
Luke 24:1-44
John 20:1-30
Philippians 3:20-21

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#624-630 (Jesus Christ Was Buried)
#631-637 (Christ Descended into Hell)
#638-658 (He Rose from the Dead)
#663 (Glorified Body)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Blessed Sacrament
Eucharist

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Descent into Hell
Glorified Body
Limbo
Magdalene, Mary
Resurrection of Christ
Soul

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Fifth Article, pp. 273-278.

He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#290-298 (6th Article, He ascended into Heaven)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 33-35 (Sixth Article)

Scripture  –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Matthew 28:16-20
Mark 16:19-20
Luke 24:50-52
Acts 1:6-11

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#659-667 (He ascended into Heaven)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Ascension
Heaven

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Sixth Article, pp. 278-280.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 254-258 (Human Destiny)
Pages 258-260 (The General Judgment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#299-329 (7th Article, Judge the living and the dead)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 35-40 (He Shall Come to Judge)

Scripture  –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Mark 13:32-37
Matthew 24:29-51; 25:1-46
Luke 12:35-40
Revelation 22:17-21

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#668-677 (He will come in Glory)
#678-682 (To Judge the Living and the Dead)

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Seventh Article, pp. 281-284.

Supplemental Vocabulary

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions:

Consciousness of the Human Soul at the Moment of Death

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 200-205 (Gifts of the Holy Spirit)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#330-340 (8th Article, I believe in the Holy Spirit)
#1020-1025 (Seven Gifts or Instincts of the Divine Indwelling)
#1026-1032 (Twelve Fruits or Benefits of God’s Friendship)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 40-41 (The Holy Spirit)
Pages 130-131(Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit)

Scripture  –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

John 14:15-26
Acts 1:4-11; 2:1-4

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#253-255 (The dogma of the Holy Trinity)
#683 (I believe in the Holy Spirit)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Filioque
Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Indwelling
Pentecost
Spirit
Spiritual Life

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Eighth Article, pp. 284-286.

The Real Presence.org articles:

“The Indwelling of the Holy Trinity” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Article by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

• The Two Bodies of the Pope: the body of the man and the body of the Vicar of Christ.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 22, last paragraph
Pages 37-39
Page 212, paragraph 1(first full paragraph)
Pages 214-217 (Holiness in Purpose, Means, and Fruitfulness)
Page 229, paragraph 1
Pages 234-236 (Sacrament of Salvation)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#341-436 (Holy Catholic Church)
#437-447 (Communion of Saints)
#1033-1035 (Holiness)

#356-362 (Explanation of the meaning of “unity of faith and communion” stated in Lumen Gentium)
#376-388 (Explanation of the handing-on of apostolic power by the Apostles)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 43-50 (Holy Catholic Church, Communion of Saints)
Page 146, paragraph 2
Page 192, paragraph 1

Scripture –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Matthew 16:17-19
John 21:15-17

Catechism of the Catholic Church (#748-975)

#156 (Faith and understanding)
#682 (Judging the living and the dead)
#771, 780 (The Church, visible and spiritual)
#774 (Universal Sacrament of Salvation)
#812, 816 (The Church is One)
#824-827 (The Church is Holy)
#846 (Outside the Church there is no salvation)
#1036 (Teachings on Hell)
#1396 (Fruits of Holy Communion)
#2012-2016 (Christian Holiness)

Code of Canon Law

#750-751

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Apostolicity
Catholicity
Credibility
Destiny
Ex Cathedra
Fifteen Marks of the Church
Hell
Holiness, Moral
Holiness, Subjective
Judgment, Particular
Merit
Pharisees 
Prophecy
Reason
Sacrament of Salvation
Sanctification
Sanctity

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Christian Church
Church
Code of Canon Law
Collegiality
Doctor of the Church
Doctrine
Ecclesiastical Law
Ecumenism
Episcopal Conference
Fathers of the Church
Infallibility
Koinonia
Lay Apostolate
Magisterium
Magisterium, Extraordinary
Magisterium, Ordinary
Marks of the Church
Memorization
Mother of the Church
Mystical Body
Peter
Peter, Epistles of
Pontiff
Roman Catholicism
Roman Primacy
Roman See
Rome
University of the Faithful

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Ninth Article, pp. 287-290.

Second Vatican Council: 

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church(Lumen Gentium)Blessed Paul VI, November 21, 1964. Read #18

“18. For the nurturing and constant growth of the People of God, Christ the Lord instituted in His Church a variety of ministries, which work for the good of the whole body. For those ministers, who are endowed with sacred power, serve their brethren, so that all who are of the People of God, and therefore enjoy a true Christian dignity, working toward a common goal freely and in an orderly way, may arrive at salvation. This Sacred Council, following closely in the footsteps of the First Vatican Council, with that Council teaches and declares that Jesus Christ, the eternal Shepherd, established His holy Church, having sent forth the apostles as He Himself had been sent by the Father (cf. Jn. 20:21) and He willed that their successors, namely the bishops, should be shepherds in His Church even to the consummation of the world. And in order that the episcopate itself might be one and undivided, He placed Blessed Peter over the other apostles, and instituted in him a permanent and visible source and foundation of unity of faith and communion.(1*) And all this teaching about the institution, the perpetuity, the meaning and reason for the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and of his infallible magisterium, this Sacred Council again proposes to be firmly believed by all the faithful. Continuing in that same undertaking, this Council is resolved to declare and proclaim before all men the doctrine concerning bishops, the successors of the apostles, who together with the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ,(2*) the visible Head of the whole Church, govern the house of the living God. (1*) Cfr. Conc. Vat. I, Sess. IV, Const. Dogm. Pastor aeternus. Denz. 1821 (3050 s.). (2*) Cfr. Conc. Flor., Decretum pro Graecis: Denz. 694 (1307) et Conc. Vat. I, ib.: Denz. 1826 (3059)

Pastoral Constitution On The Church In The Modern World (Gaudium Et Spes) Blessed Paul VI, December 7, 1965.

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Dogmas and Doctrines

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 481 (Sacrament of Penance)
Page 506 (Baptism: Remission of Sins)
Page 542, paragraphs 3-4 (Effects of the Sacrament of Anointing)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#459-463 (10th Article: Forgiveness of Sin)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 48 (The Communion of Saints)
Page 51 (Tenth Article: Forgiveness of Sins)

Scripture

John 20:19-23

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#976-980 (One Baptism for the Forgiveness of Sins)
#981-987 (Power of the Keys)
#953 (Communion in Spiritual Goods)
#1469 (Effects of this Sacrament)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Atonement
Attrition
Contrition
Expiation
Forgiveness
Fundamental Option
Guilt
Penance
Reconciliation
Reparation
Repentance
Sin

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Tenth Article, pp. 290-293.

The Real Presence.org articles:

“Practice of Penance – Friday Penance” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

“Penance and Reparation” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 265, paragraphs 1-4 (Qualities of the risen body)
Page 272, paragraph 1

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#464-477 (11th Article, Resurrection of the Body)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 36, paragraph 4
Page 37, paragraph 5
Pages 51-52 (Resurrection of the Body)

Scripture  –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

1 Corinthians 15:1-58
Job 19:25-26
John 5:25-29; 6:49-51; 11:21-35
Matthew 10:18; 22:13; 25:13, 26-46
Revelation 9:6

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#998-1019 (Christ’s Resurrection and Ours)
#998 (Who will rise?)
#1038 (The Last Judgment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Agility
Bodily Immortality
Bodily Resurrection
End of the World
Final Consummation
Glorified Body
Immortality
Impassibility
Parousia
Resurrection, Bodily
Subtility

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Eleventh Article, pp. 293-295.

Father Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Catechism

Page 96, paragraph 4
Page 98, paragraph 4
Pages 100-104

;;;;3, 25-13;Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 260-268 (Life Everlasting)
Pages 268-273 (Eternal Loss-Hell)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#478-491 (12th Article, Life Everlasting)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 52-53 (Life Everlasting)

Scripture  –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

1 Corinthians 2:9; 15:53
1 John 3:2
Hebrews 13:13-15
Job 19:25-26
John 5:25-29; 6:49-51; 11:21-35; 14:2-3; 16:20-24; 17:3
Matthew 10:18; 22:13; 25:26-36
Philippians 1:21; 3:20-21
Revelation 9:6; 21:1-4; 22:3-4, 22:12

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1020-1022 (Particular Judgment)
#1023-1032 (Heaven and Purgatory)
#1033-1037 (Hell)
#1038-1041 (Last Judgment)
#1042-1060 (New Heaven and New Earth)
#1061-1065 (Amen)
#2796 (Citizens of Heaven)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Purgatory

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Beatific Vision
Eternal Life
Eternal Punishment
Eternity
Heaven
Hell

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Twelfth Article, pp. 296-298.

The Real Presence.org article:  

“I Believe In Life Everlasting” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

 
Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 513 (Confirmation-Sacraments of Initiation)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1104-1139 (The Sacraments in General)
#1191 (Confirmation)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 111-112 (An Overview of the Sacraments)
Page 113 (Institution by Christ)
Page 115  (The Recipient of a Sacrament)
Page 117 (Focus)
Page 132 (Recipient of Confirmation)
Page 177 (Sacramental Marriage)

Scripture

John 3:3-8

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Glossary, Confirmation
#1117-1121 (Sacraments of the Church)
#1127-1129 (Sacraments Necessary for Salvation)
#1212-1213; 1226; 1233 (Sacraments of Initiation)
#1285 (Confirmation)
#1401 (In grave necessity, Sacraments to other Christians) 
#1514; 1528-1529  (Anointing of the Sick)

Code of Canon Law

#844
#885
#890
#1004-1007

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Valid Form

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Ex Opere Operantis
Ex Opere Operato
Extraordinary Minister
Licit
Matter of a Sacrament
Ministries
Rite
Sacrament
Sacramental
Sacramental Character
Sacramental Dispositions
Sacramental Grace
Sacramental Matter and Form
Sacramental Sign
Sacramentary
Sacraments of the Dead
Seven Sacraments
Validity

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Can and May
Canon Law
Liceity/Validity
Sacraments of Character
Sacraments of Initiation

The Real Presence.org articles:  

“The Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

“The Sacraments: Divine Channels of Grace” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

“I Believe in Life Everlasting” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 505-510 (Baptism)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1140-1187 (Sacrament of Baptism)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 117-118 (The Sacrament of Baptism, Meaning and Conferral)
Page 119 (Sanctifying Grace)
Pages 122-126 (Baptism)

Scripture –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Matthew 28:19
Titus 3:3-7
Mark 16:15-19
John 3:5

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#846-848 (Necessity of the Church)
#1124-1127,  1236, 1253-1255 (Sacrament of Faith)
#1214-1215 (What is this Sacrament Called?)
#1256 (Who can Baptize?)
#1257-1261, 1277, 1281 (Necessity of Baptism)

Code of Canon Law

#865
#878

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Aspersion
Baptism
Baptism, Matter and Form
Baptism of Blood
Baptism of Desire
Baptismal Water
Sacrament
Valid Matter

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.
Sacraments of Character

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 513-520 (Confirmation)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1188 – 1211 (Confirmation)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 128-133 (The Spiritual Effects of Confirmation)

Scripture

Luke 12:12
John 16:7-14
Acts 1:8; 2:1-4

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1285 (Sacrament of Initiation)
#1313-1314 (Minister of the Sacrament of Confirmation)
#1595 (Priests: Bishops’ prudent co-workers)

Code of Canon Law (879-896)

#528
#882-885
#890-891

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Confirmation Rite
Faculties
Faith, Virtue of

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Eastern Churches
Sacramental Character
Sacraments of Initiation
Western or Latin Catholic Church 

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 119 (First two paragraphs)
Page 457-481 (The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#191 (Remedy for Original Sin)
#195 (Who is Jesus Christ?)
#204 (Why did God become man?)
#216 (Why did Jesus assume a human nature?)
#252 (How does Jesus act as our mediator with God?)
#1104 (What is a Sacrament?)
#1107 (What is a sensible sign?)
#1119 (Are the Sacraments necessary for salvation?)
#1212-1260 (The Real Presence)
#1261-1295 (The Mass)
#1295-1317 (Holy Communion)
#1324 (What did Christ mean by this?)
#1374-1377 (Sin, Confession and Holy Communion)
#1407 (Indulgences)
#1695-1696 (Mass in Latin)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 38-39 (Debt of Sin)
Page 136 (The Real Presence: The Sacrament of Presence)
Page 138 (Second paragraph)
Page 139 (Substance and Accidents, Transubstantiation)
Page 141 (The Holy Mass: The Sacrament of Sacrifice)
Page 145 (The Institution Narrative and Double Consecration addition by Cardinal Burke in 2018.)
Page 145 (The Holy Eucharist: The Sacrament of Communion)
Page 147 (The Corporeal and Spiritual Effects of Holy Communion)
Pages 148-149 (An Increase in Sanctifying Grace)
Pages 150-151 (Freedom from Mortal Sin)

Scripture

John 6:48-58

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1211 (The Sacrament of Sacraments)
#1324 (The Source and Summit)
#1374 (A Substantial Presence)
#1395 (Preserves us from future mortal sins)
#1407 (The Heart and Summit)

Code of Canon Law (897-958)

#844
#897-906
#916
#924
#928
#934
#937-946
#948
#952-953
#1338

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Accident
Accidents
Blessed Sacrament
Bread
Celebrant
Concelebrant
Double Consecration
Eucharistic Elements
Holy Communion 
Hypostatic Union
Leavened Bread
Mass
Mystery of Faith (liturgy)
Real Presence
Sacrament
Sacramental Sign
Sacrifice
Species
Stipend
Subsistence
Substance
Synoptics

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Accidents, material and spiritual physical properties
Concelebration of Mass
Liturgy of Heaven
Necessity of the Sacrament of Holy Communion
Properties or Accidents
Species
Valid Mass

Documents and Articles

See Article: The Holy Eucharist – The Triple Sacrament – The Triple Source of Grace, by Father John A. Hardon, S.J. link.

See Mediator Dei (Mediator between God and Men) Encyclical Letter by Pope Pius XII, 20 November 1947

“67. Christ the Lord, ‘Eternal Priest according to the order of Melchisedech’ (Psalm109:4), ‘loving His own who were of the world’ (John 13:1), ‘at the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, wishing to leave His beloved Spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice such as the nature of men requires, that would re-present the bloody sacrifice offered once on the cross, and perpetuate its memory to the end of time, and whose salutary virtue might be applied in remitting those sins which we daily commit, . . . offered His Body and Blood under the species of bread and wine to God the Father, and under the same species allowed the Apostles, whom He at that time constituted the priests of the New Testament, to partake thereof; commanding them and their successors in the priesthood to make the same offering’ (Council of Trent, Sess. 22, c. 1).

“70. Likewise the victim is the same, namely, our divine Redeemer in His human nature with His true body and blood. The manner, however, in which Christ is offered is different. On the cross He completely offered Himself and all His sufferings to God, and the immolation of the victim was brought about by the bloody death, which He underwent of His free will. But on the altar, by reason of the glorified state of His human nature, ‘death shall have no more dominion over Him’ (Romans 6:9), and so the shedding of His Blood is impossible; still, according to the plan of divine wisdom, the sacrifice of our Redeemer is shown forth in an admirable manner by external signs which are the symbols of His death. For by the ‘transubstantiation’ of bread into the Body of Christ and of wine into His Blood, His Body and Blood are both really present: now the Eucharistic Species under which He is present symbolize the actual separation of His Body and Blood. Thus the commemorative representation of His death, which actually took place on Calvary, is repeated in every Sacrifice of the Altar, seeing that Jesus Christ is symbolically shown by separate symbols to be in a state of victimhood.”

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 481-500 (Penance)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1318-1339 (Institution, Necessity and Forms)
#1340-1400 (Requirements of Penitent)
#1401-1417 (Indulgences)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 114 (Sacraments of the Living and Sacraments of the Dead)
Pages 155-171 (The Sacrament of Penance)

Scripture

John 20:19-23

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1440-1443 (Sin: an offense against God)
#1443-1445 (Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.)
#1467, 2490 (Sacramental Seal)
#1451-1453 (Perfect and Imperfect Contrition)

Code of Canon Law (959-991)

#966
#983

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 
Purpose of Amendment
Seal of Confession

On Reconciliation and Penance(Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia),

Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Saint John Paul II,  2 December 1984.

 Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 540-547 (Anointing)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1505-1533 (Anointing of the Sick)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 197-201 (The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick)

Scripture

James 5:14-15
Mark 6:12-13

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1525 (Sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage)
#1530 (Ministers of the Sacrament of Anointing)

Code of Canon Law (998-1007)

#847
#999-1000
#1007

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Anointing
Anointing of the Sick
Death
Extreme Unction
Healing Ministry
Oil of the Sick

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 222 (Start at the 2nd paragraph) 
Page 421 (Elements in the Religious state of life)
Page 502 (First paragraph)
Pages 520-531 (Ordination)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#369-371 (Grave sins: apostasy, heresy and schism)
#590-593 (Vows)
#1124, 1128 (Conditions for valid reception of a Sacrament)
#1464-1504 (Sacrament of Holy Orders)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 188-195 (The Sacrament of Holy Orders)

Scripture

Luke 22:19-20
John 20:21-23

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Glossary, Celibacy
#877 (Bishops and Priests)
#1569, 1596 (Deacons)
#1579-1580, 1599 (Celibacy)
#1582 (Indelible character)

Code of Canon Law (1008-1054)

#230
#273
#276–277
#495
#500
#1009
#1013-1014
#1025
#1029
#1032
#1036
#1040-1042
#1382

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Apostasy
Celibacy
Deacon
Dimissorial Letters  
Episcopate
Incardination
Laicization
Mass
Orders, Sacrament of
Priest
Priests’ Council
Reordination

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Celibacy of the Priest
Dimissorial Letters for Ordination
Eastern Church
Pontifical Mandate
Reordination
Sacraments of Character
Western or Latin Catholic Church

Read the following article and use these revised questions for Lesson 24.

ARTICLE: Sacrament of Holy Matrimony by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., revised and updated by Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
PRINTABLE ARTICLE: Printable PDF of article
QUESTIONS:  Printable PDF of revised questions for Lesson 24

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 531-540 (Marriage)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1113-1114 (Sacraments instituted by Christ)
#1417-1463 (Marriage)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 176-185 (The Sacrament of Matrimony)

Scripture

Mark 10:6-9
Matthew 19:4-9

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#1603 (Marriage in the order of creation)
#1625-1629,  1639-1640, 1662 (Marital consent and bond)
#1652-1653 (Procreation and education of children)

Code of Canon Law (1055-1165)

1057
1062
1073-1079
1091-1092
1104
1108
1111-1112
1116-1117
1124
1127
1130
1137-1139

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Affinity
Casti Connubii
Chastity
Conjugal Chastity
Conjugal love
Consent
Contract
Diriment impediment
Indissolubility
Indissoluble marriage
Invalid
Legitimate marriage
Marriage
Ratified marriage
Sanation

On Christian Marriage, (Casti Connubii)

Encyclical of Pope Pius XI, December 31, 1930. Addresses Catholic teaching on marriage and procreation.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 325 (3rd paragraph)
Page 234 (Sacrament of Salvation)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#517- 535 (Divine and Human Law)
#536-544 (The Decalogue)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 56 (The Perfection of the Old Law)
Pages 99-101 (Actual Poverty, Poverty of Choice, Poverty of Spirit)

Scripture –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

Matthew 28:20
Mark 16:16
Luke 12:48
John 13:34
1 Corinthians 13:4

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#142-143 (Man’s Response to God)
#153-154 (Faith)
#1967, 1982-1984 (The Law of the Gospel)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Celibacy
Precept

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 283-285 (Determinants of Morality)
Pages 285-287 (Degrees of Imputability-Ignorance)
Pages 288-290 (Concepts and Kinds of Law)
Pages 290-293 (Conscience in Christianity)
pages 293-295 (Objective Principles of Conduct)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#492-516 (Human Responsibility)
#838-875 (The Beatitudes)
#884-901 (Conscience)
#934-935 (Temptation from the world)
#936 (Temptation of the flesh)
#940
#947

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 10 (Human Nature/Intellect (mind) and will)
Page 58 (The Worship of God: The Virtue of Religion)
Page 97 – 109 (The Beatitudes)

Scripture –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

James 1:13
John 15:20
Matthew 5:28

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#142-143(Man’s Response to God)
#530
#1716-1729 (Our Vocation to Beatitude)
#1749 (Morality of Human Acts)
#1809, 1816
#2339
#2515-2519 (Purification of the Heart)
#2548-2549

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Apparent Good
Beatific Vision
Beatitudes
Capital sins
Capital virtues
Cardinal virtue

Chastity
Concupiscence
Conscience
Correct Conscience
Courage
Custody of the Senses
Damnation
Desire
Detachment
Distributive justice
Evil

Evil Desire
Evil Habits
Fortitude
Good
Habit
Happiness
Hell
Human Act
Involuntary
Justice
Meekness
Moral Evil
Pain
Passion
Persecution
Physical Evil
Purity of Intention
Religion
Sin
Soul
Suffering
Temperance
Temptation
Theological virtue
True Conscience
True Good
Will

Supplemental Vocabulary –

Read the following terms in the Supplemental Vocabulary Definitions.

Absolute Evil

The Real Presence.org Articles

“The Will of God, Christian Morality” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before Me.

The following “Updates” effect this lesson:

Advanced Course Manual, pp. 180-181, insert the following underlined words and delete the crossed out words. It should read:

1. The highest form of prayer is adoration.
2. The highest form of adoration is sacrifice.

Prayer. The highest form of prayer is adoration adoration is prayer. Again, with the coming of Christ, our prayer of honor and praise of God can be addressed to the Redeemer, who is our God. Our prayer of gratitude for blessings received, of mercy for pardon because we have offended the Divine Majesty, and of petition in asking for everything we need—all can be directed to Jesus Christ…
Sacrifice. The highest form of adoration prayer is sacrifice. Why? Because when we sacrifice we not only address God in word and thought, but we offer up to Him something that is precious to us to acknowledge Him as our First and Final Cause. With the coming of Christ, sacrifice reached a sublimity that was never seen before. We believe that God became man in order that, as man, He might be able to sacrifice Himself to the heavenly Father for the redemption of the world…

If you have the Pocket Catholic Catechism (this book is no longer given with the Advanced Course), on p. 228, insert the following underlined words: Sacrifice. The highest form of the prayer of adoration is sacrifice. This is the willing surrender of something precious to God. As with adoration, there are two basic forms of sacrifice. There is the sacrifice of submission.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 296, paragraph 3
Pages 298-305 (First Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#545-578 (First Commandment)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 58-63 (First Commandment)

Scripture

1 Corinthians 11:27-30
Acts of the Apostles 8:18-24
Exodus 6:7

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2083-2141 (The First Commandment)
#2111
Glossary: Superstition

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Adoration
Blasphemy
Fortune-telling
Idolatry
Sacrifice
Sacrilege
Satanism
Simony
Superstition
Tempting God

See Dr. Fisher’s, A Catechetical Dictionary for the CCC.

Review the following terms for a clearer understanding of the terms.

Self-Sacrifice

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 297 (Last paragraph)
Pages 305-313 (Second Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#579-600
#1607-1609

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 4, paragraph 6
Pages 63-65
Page 206 (Expressions of Prayer)

Scripture

James 3:2-1
John 17:9
Leviticus 22:2; 24:16
Mark 16:17-18
Matthew 5:33-37; 12:17, 21; 14:22-23; 26:41
Philippians 2:10

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#436, #695
#1756
#2142-2167 (The Second Commandment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Adjuration
Blasphemy
Christ
Cursing
Exorcism
Jesus
Messiah
Oath
Perjury
Promise
Neglect of Prayer
Rite of Exorcism
Sacrament
Savior
Vocal Prayer
Vow

World Book Dictionary

“Swear. 1) to make a solemn statement, appealing to God or some other sacred being or object; take an oath. 2) to promise solemnly; vow–The knights swear to be true to their king. 3) to testify under oath; make a declaration under oath–to or against. 4) to use profane language; curse.

The Real Presence website article: Abridged article follows.
Retrieved 6-7-2019 from: http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Commandments/Commandments_017.htm

“The Second Commandment and the Vows” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Our first question therefore, what is a vow?

A vow is a free, deliberate promise made to God to do something which is possible, good, and better, that is, more pleasing to God than its omission would be. A vow, properly speaking, is made only to God. A vow then is a promise made to God to do something better than its opposite or its omission. That word better is critical to the understanding of what a vow is.

Let’s explain a little more this something better. It need not be, objectively better. It is enough if considering all the circumstances, it is better for the person who is taking the vow. To illustrate, the married state is not better than celibacy or consecrated chastity, objectively. For the obvious reason that celibacy or consecrated chastity imply a greater sacrifice—that is, the sacrifice of marriage, of family and all the wonderful things that God promises those who enter the married state. Yet in any given case marriage can be better for a particular individual. And over the years of my priesthood I’ve told many people, look I think it is God’s will for you to marry. I don’t think I’ve ever told a person to bind him or herself under vow to get married. But I could.

A vow then is always a promise made to God to do something which is either objectively better in itself or at least subjectively better for the individual who makes the vow. The one vowing must realize that a special sin is committed by violating the vow. It is a sin against the virtue of religion to consciously and deliberately break a vow. The reason is that a vow is an act of the virtue of religion. This virtue is the virtue of justice towards God. He has a right to our total submission of will and our whole-hearted love. To break a vow is to fail in giving God what is His due.

Every vow is an oath which calls upon God to witness to the sincerity of the one making the vow. Moreover, every vow, by definition, is also a covenant, on several counts:

• It is a covenant because the nature of the vow is such as the Church approves in making a promise to God.
• It is a covenant because the one making the vow intends to bind himself before God to keep the vow.
• It is, finally, a covenant because God binds Himself to give all the supernatural graces necessary for us to remain faithful to the vow.

How are the vows to be observed?

The vows are to be observed prayerfully, confidently and cheerfully. . . .Finally, those who undertake a vowed life should live this life cheerfully. Cheerfulness is the external witness of interior joy. I think I should repeat. “Cheerfulness is the external witness of interior joy.” Observing the vows is not easy. So what? But it should be enjoyable. “Come, come. You mean (you can’t mean) you mean I can be happy in doing what I don’t like? Well, that contradicts everything in Webster’s dictionary.” So much for words in Webster’s dictionary. Ah, there is happiness and THERE IS HAPPINESS. There is true joy and true joy is reserved only for those who sincerely strive to conform their wills to the will of God. And the key word is wills. My body may complain. Well, tell the body, “Keep complaining.” Emotions will be upset. Wake up, tell the emotions, “This is the will speaking I am in charge.”

Hence, those who live the vowed life are not only to be happy but to be cheerful in order to give evidence of their interior happiness. This cheerfulness is a powerful testimony to everyone who sees us that true joy comes from total self-sacrifice to Jesus Christ. Every day in my priesthood, every soul that God puts into my life keeps adding to the evidence, incontestable evidence, our happiness depends on the measure of our giving ourselves to God. And nobody but nobody either cheats or deceives anyone. Living then, a vowed life with cheerfulness provides, and I mean it, a foretaste of Heaven here on earth. God wants us to be happy. That’s why He gave us the Eight Beatitudes. But then you finish each Beatitude and you sigh, “Yes Lord, I want to be happy, but Lord, did you see the price tag?” He replies, “Yes. Not only did I see the price tag, I made the price tag. It’s high. And the price is self-sacrifice.”

Copyright © 1999 Inter Mirifica

 Luke 6:31Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 313-317 (Third Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#601-616

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 65-67

Scripture

Deuteronomy 5:15
Exodus 20:11
Malachi 4:2
Matthew 12:8

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2168-2195 (The Third Commandment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Corpus Christi
Didache
Mass Obligation
Servile Work

Honor your father and your mother.

 Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 317-323 (Fourth Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#617-627 (Fourth Commandment)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 70-71 (The Fourth Commandment)

Scripture

Acts of the Apostles 5:29
Ephesians 6:1-3
Luke 6:31
Matthew 7:12; 28:19-20
Proverbs 30:17
Romans 13:1-2

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2196-2257 (The Fourth Commandment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary

Family
Parental Obedience
Piety

See Dr. Fisher’s, A Catechetical Dictionary for the CCC.

Review the following terms for a clearer understanding of the terms.

Filial Piety
Principle of solidarity

You shall not kill.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 324-351 (Fifth Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#466 (What is death?)
#628-692 (Fifth Commandment)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 19 (Loss of Preternatural Gifts)
Pages 71-77 (Fifth Commandment)
Pages 75-76 (Suicide)
Page 120 (The Theological Virtues)

Scripture

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Romans 13:4
Titus 2:12

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#877
#1005
#1899
#2258-2330 (The Fifth Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Catechism

Page 263 (Capital Punishment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Indirect Suicide
Infanticide

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Abortion
Addiction
Alcoholism, Morality of
Anger
Bioethics
Brain Death
Capital Punishment
Death
Drug Abuse, Morality of
Drunkenness
Eugenics
Eugenic Sterilization
Euthanasia
Extraordinary Means
Feticide
Just War
Life
Murder
Mutilation
Ordinary means
Pacifism
Peace 
Penal Sterilization
Self-Defense
Sterilization
Suicide
Therapeutic Sterilization
Transplantation of Organs

Second Vatican Council:

Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes) Blessed Paul VI, December 7, 1965.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: 

Declaration on Procured Abortion, 1974.
Declaration on Euthanasia, 1980.
Respect for Human Life,1987.

Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life),

by Saint John Paul II, 25 March 1995, 
#15—“Threats which are no less serious hang over the incurably ill and the dying. In a social and cultural context which makes it more difficult to face and accept suffering, the temptation becomes all the greater to resolve the problem of suffering by eliminating it at the root, by hastening death so that it occurs at the moment considered most suitable.

“Various considerations usually contribute to such a decision, all of which converge in the same terrible outcome. In the sick person the sense of anguish, of severe discomfort, and even of desperation brought on by intense and prolonged suffering can be a decisive factor. Such a situation can threaten the already fragile equilibrium of an individual’s personal and family life, with the result that, on the one hand, the sick person, despite the help of increasingly effective medical and social assistance, risks feeling overwhelmed by his or her own frailty; and on the other hand, those close to the sick person can be moved by an understandable even if misplaced compassion. All this is aggravated by a cultural climate which fails to perceive any meaning or value in suffering, but rather considers suffering the epitome of evil, to be eliminated at all costs. This is especially the case in the absence of a religious outlook which could help to provide a positive understanding of the mystery of suffering.

“On a more general level, there exists in contemporary culture a certain Promethean attitude which leads people to think that they can control life and death by taking the decisions about them into their own hands. What really happens in this case is that the individual is overcome and crushed by a death deprived of any prospect of meaning or hope. We see a tragic expression of all this in the spread of euthanasia-disguised and surreptitious, or practised openly and even legally. As well as for reasons of a misguided pity at the sight of the patient’s suffering, euthanasia is sometimes justified by the utilitarian motive of avoiding costs which bring no return and which weigh heavily on society. Thus it is proposed to eliminate malformed babies, the severely handicapped, the disabled, the elderly, especially when they are not self-sufficient, and the terminally ill. Nor can we remain silent in the face of other more furtive, but no less serious and real, forms of euthanasia. These could occur for example when, in order to increase the availability of organs for transplants, organs are removed without respecting objective and adequate criteria which verify the death of the donor.”
#56—“This is the context in which to place the problem of the death penalty. On this matter there is a growing tendency, both in the Church and in civil society, to demand that it be applied in a very limited way or even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity and thus, in the end, with God’s plan for man and society. The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is “to redress the disorder caused by the offence”(CCC 2266) Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her freedom. In this way authority also fulfils the purpose of defending public order and ensuring people’s safety, while at the same time offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her behaviour and be rehabilitated (CCC 2266).

“It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.

“In any event, the principle set forth in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church remains valid: “If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person” (CCC 2267).”

#57—“The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and charity. ‘Nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action’(Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia, 1980).

“As far as the right to life is concerned, every innocent human being is absolutely equal to all others. This equality is the basis of all authentic social relationships which, to be truly such, can only be founded on truth and justice, recognizing and protecting every man and woman as a person and not as an object to be used. Before the moral norm which prohibits the direct taking of the life of an innocent human being ‘there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the poorest of the poor on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal’(Veritatis Splendor #96).”

Explanation of “brain death”

Excerpt from Life Guardian Foundation booklet

(Revised Third Edition, September 2012) by Paul A. Byrne, M.D.
“Organs must be healthy to be transplanted. Healthy organs are taken from living donors. Every organ donor is living; after true death, organs are so damaged that they cannot be transplanted. . . .

“After circulation and respiration have stopped, within 4-5 minutes, the heart and liver are corrupted to such a degree that they are not suitable for transplantation. For kidneys this time is about 30 minutes. After true death; skin, bones, cornea, veins, heart valves and connective tissues can be transplanted. Note that these are tissues, not organs. . . .

“‘Brain death’ revolves around cessation of neurological functioning while heartbeat, circulation and respiration continue, although supported by a ventilator. ‘Brain death’ was concocted to get beating hearts for transplantation. The Harvard Criteria, developed in 1968, was the first set of criteria for determining ‘brain death’ in order to get beating hearts for transplantation. This is called donation by ‘brain death’ (DBD). Many more sets of criteria have been developed since then. A person can be declared ‘brain dead’ by one set but still be deemed alive by other sets. The declaration of ‘brain death’ legally is ‘in accordance with accepted medical standards’ (Uniform Determination of Death Act). ‘Major differences exist in brain death guidelines among the leading neurologic hospitals in the United States’ (Neurology January 2008).There is no consensus as to which set of criteria is used. Criteria to declare ‘brain death’ are not evidenced-based (Neurology July 2010). Thus, there are no ‘clearly determined parameters commonly held by the international scientific community, for the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity’ as postulated by Pope John Paul II (Address to International Congress of Transplantation Society, August 29, 2000) . . . .

“No one should be declared dead unless there is separation of the soul from the body. When this separation occurs, what is left is the remains, a cadaver, a corpse, an empty body. The absence of life in the remains is manifest by destruction, disintegration, dissolution and putrefaction. The minimal legal and medical requirement recommended for the protection of the life of unconscious, unresponsive persons ought to be: ‘No one shall be declared dead unless respiratory and circulatory systems and the entire brain have been destroyed.’ (Gonzaga Law Review 18/3, 429-516, 82/83 at 515). The separation of the soul is true death. When this occurs is God’s secret and one of the many mysteries we must defend by faith. We can know this only after it has occurred.”

Excerpt from Homiletic & Pastoral Review

“May We Donate Our Organs?” (October 29, 2014) by Drs. Jay Boyd and Paul A. Byrne. (www.hprweb.com)
“Our Faith tells us that the moment of separation of the soul from the body is the moment of true death (CCC §1005). Since we cannot observe the separation of the soul from the body, we must rely on other, visible means of determining death.

“There are a number of indisputable signs that death has occurred. After death, the body does not respond to stimuli, and it shows significant physical changes observable at the microscopic and gross levels of pathology, manifested by absence of functioning, and in structural alteration. These signs are sufficient to indicate that the life-body unity no longer exists. After death, these pathologic changes continue. They cannot be stopped—only slowed or delayed by cooling, embalming, mummifying, salting, etc.

“Prior to advances in organ transplantation, the definition of death was simple, direct, and sensible, as indicated in an article from the New England Journal of Medicine: ‘Before the development of modern critical care, the diagnosis of death was relatively straightforward. Patients were dead when they were cold, blue, and stiff.’

“But these observable signs are not the indications the medical community currently looks for, due to a “redefinition” of death over the last several decades—a redefinition that is due primarily to the fact that ‘organs from these traditional cadavers (i.e., those bodies that are cold, blue, and stiff, without circulation and respiration) cannot be used for transplantation.’ In order for organ transplantation to occur in a legitimately moral sense, death would have to be redefined and the law changed.

“Traditionally, the cessation of heartbeat and breathing were regarded as the signs of death. Black’s Law Dictionary defined death as: ‘The cessation of life; the ceasing to exist; defined by physicians as a total stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and a cessation of the animal and vital functions consequent thereon, such as respiration, pulsation, etc.’

“In contrast to the definition of a traditional cadaver, currently there are two basic criteria for determining death:

1. a neurological criterion (in the USA: nonfunctioning of the whole brain, including the brain stem; in the UK: nonfunctioning of the brain stem); and
2. a cardiopulmonary criterion (irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions).

“Let’s consider the cardiopulmonary criterion first. For the physical life of a person to continue, the person must take in oxygen, water, and nutrients. Carbon dioxide is exhaled and waste products are passed in urine and stool. Therefore, ventilation and respiration are required; ventilation is simply the movement of air, while respiration is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs, and via circulation in all tissues. Heartbeat, or pulse, is intrinsic to the heart, which has its own nerves that cause heart muscle to contract and stop contracting; the heart beats without impulses from the brain.

“If breathing and circulation stop, chest compressions must be initiated quickly, in order for life to continue. Sometimes a ventilator, commonly mislabeled as a respirator, is used. Chest compressions and a ventilator can support respiration in a living person, but not in a cadaver. When such efforts at ventilation and respiration are successful, it is only because the person is living, not dead. In a dead body, air can be forced into the airways and lungs, and elastic recoil might push air out for a few cycles; but then compliance and elastance are lost, and air cannot get in or out. After true death, neither chest compressions, nor a ventilator, can be effective to support ventilation, respiration, and circulation.

“Without respiration and circulation, the health of the person deteriorates, and death will occur, unless breathing and circulation are restored quickly. This deterioration is manifest in cessation of vital activities and pathologic changes, such as disintegration, dissolution, lysis, destruction, corruption, decay, and putrefaction of cells and tissues of organs and systems. Thus, the truly dead body cannot be an organ donor, as the vital organs are quickly compromised and begin to deteriorate. On the other hand, a person whose vital organs are functioning, cannot be considered to be truly dead, according to the traditional definition. It is this fact that made it necessary to create a neurological criterion for death—which essentially changes the definition of death.

“The history of the ‘redefinition’ of death is rather chilling, when one considers that such redefinitions began evolving as organ transplants became more and more possible and successful. The redefinitions stem from a desire to make use of the organs of someone labeled as ‘recently deceased,’ in order to save the lives of living patients desirous of vital organs as transplants. But as we noted above, a truly deceased person cannot be a suitable organ donor, as his organs no longer have circulation and respiration.

“This is where—and why—the neurological definition of death—or ‘“brain death’—comes into play. A patient with heartbeat, respiration, and/or circulation cannot rightly be called a cadaver, a corpse, a dead body. Not coincidentally, prior to true death, patients are sometimes labeled ‘brain dead’ (or sometimes ‘apparently dead’ or ‘as good as dead’), especially when there is an interest in converting such patients into organ donors. If the label, ‘probably dead,’ or ‘apparently dead,’ (mors apparens) is applied to a potential donor who is not truly dead, he will certainly be truly dead after the beating heart is cut out! As we can see from the Catechism, to take action that will cause death, based on the mere probability that death is about to occur, is a violation of justice.
“[T]he organ transplant ‘industry’ has found words to obscure the real condition of donor patients; they have simply ‘redefined’ death (that is, they have changed the criteria to declare death) to suit their desires. These new ‘definitions of death’ are contortions of the truth.”

Excerpt from Catholic World Report

“Are Organ Transplants Ever Morally Licit?” (March 1, 2001) by Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz and Bishop Robert F. Vasa. 
“On August 29, 2000. Pope John Paul II delivered an address to the XVIII International Congress of the Transplantation Society. While we are grateful for his teachings, we believe that certain points need further clarification.

“Some members of the medical profession have interpreted the Holy Father’s address as a tacit unconditional approval for organ transplantation. We believe this interpretation of the Pope’s teaching is profoundly wrong. In fact, we read the Pope’s address as a strong condemnation of the inhumane procedures and violations of natural moral law that presently occur with the transplantation of certain organs. We further argue that all men of good will must properly understand and explicitly follow the applicable theological and moral laws.

“These laws are:

1. No unpaired vital organ can morally be removed from a living human person;
2. There should be no commercial traffic in human organs;  
3. People – especially the young – must fully comprehend that when they agree to be organ donors, they give transplant surgeons a license to terminate their lives. . . .

“The donor is treated and prepared for surgery in a way similar to any other living patient going to the operating room. After the removal of healthy vital organs, what is left is an empty corpse. Such removal is ethically unacceptable. It is the removal of the organs that changes the living person to a dead one.

“Anyone familiar with the moment of death knows that once death has occurred, there is no more breathing, moving, grimacing, or squirming and that there is no longer a heartbeat or blood pressure. The argument of some physicians—that such movements in an organ donor are caused by “leftover energy” in the body—has no scientific validity. It is, therefore, unethical for transplantation surgeons to continue performing such procedures that mutilate a living human body. These procedures treat the donors as if they were artificially sustained biologic entities, rather than human persons worthy of dignity and respect. . . .

“‘To be properly informed,’ the consent offered by an organ donor must include proper education about the process whereby a vital organ is taken for transplantation. The donor should be aware that an unpaired organ (that is, a heart or whole liver—as opposed to one of two kidneys or a lobe of a liver, without which the donor can continue to live) is taken while his heart is still beating, and his circulation and respiration are normal. He should understand that his heart will be stopped just prior to its removal. He should understand that paralyzing drugs may be used to suppress his bodily reactions to the transplant procedure, and to ward off the possible objections of medical personnel who might wonder whether he is truly dead. Finally he should realize that the removal of a healthy unpaired vital organ suitable for transplantation from someone who has been legally declared ‘brain dead,’ but is not truly biologically dead, is not ethically acceptable. Again, evil may not be done that good might come of it. . . .

“The Holy Father clearly emphasizes the evil of intentionally causing death to the donor in disposing of his organs. Therefore, to sacrifice the life of a donor in order to obtain an organ for someone else violates the Fifth Commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’. . .

“Pope John Paul II is pointing out that the signs of death ‘should not be understood as the technical-scientific determination of the exact moment’ of death, but that there are undeniable biological signs that appear after death has, in fact, taken place. We would add that the biological signs which should be observed before a declaration of death ought to include destruction of the circulatory and respiratory systems, as well as the neurological system.”. .

“In an address entitled ‘Brain Death & Euthanasia,’ Dr. Josef Seifert notes: ‘We must also remind ourselves of an empirical proof of the uncertainty of our knowledge concerning the time of death. Think of the life after life experiences of people who were declared clinically dead and still had all sorts of experiences associated with their body. Could not brain dead persons be in a similar state prior to the occurrence of actual death? The actions of organ-harvesting are based on the assumption that the event of death has occurred prior to a certain  moment and can be determined with certainty by the medical profession before the natural phenomenon of death with all its obvious features has set in.’ Dr. Seifert continues: ‘Death in this classical sense does not just involve irreversible cardio-pulmonary arrest but is accompanied by the many other well-nigh indubitable signs: from the cessation of all vital functions to the frigor (coldness) of death to the rigor mortis of the corpse to the actual decomposition of the body. Even when faced with the whole body death, one should wait for some time after actual death sets in before one dissects a corpse.”

You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not covert your neighbor’s wife.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 351- 382 (Sixth and Ninth Commandments)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#693-747 (Sixth and Ninth Commandments)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 78-84 (Sixth and Ninth Commandments)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2331-2400 (The Sixth Commandment)
#25142533 (The Ninth Commandment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Adultery
Artificial Insemination
Biorhythm
Birth Control
Casti Connubii
Celibacy
Chastity
Conjugal Chastity
Conjugal Rights
Continence
Contraception
Contraceptive Sterilization
Decency
Family
Fornication
Homosexuality
Impurity
Incest
Latency Period
Lust
Masturbation
Modesty
Natural Family Planning
Natural Family Planning (Practice)
Natural Sins
Obscenity
Purity
Rape
Sex Education
Sodomy
Unnatural Sins
Venereal Pleasure

On the Regulation of Birth (Humanae Vitae)

Encyclical Letter by Blessed Paul VI, 25 July 1968.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics, 1975.
On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 1986.

letter;;;You shall  not steal.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 383-399 (Seventh and Tenth Commandments)
Page 386, paragraph 4 (From apostolic to modern times)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#748-788 (Seventh and Tenth Commandments)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 85-90 (Seventh and Tenth Commandments)
Page 87 (Justice and Private Property)
Page 89, paragraph 1 (Main Violations of the Seventh Commandment)

Scripture –

For Matching Section: Match Scripture passages by using a Bible Concordance (book or online concordance).

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
1 Timothy 6:10-17
Deuteronomy 5:19
Exodus 20:15
Hebrews 13:5
Luke 12:33-34; 16:9-13; 18:23
Mark 10:22
Matthew 6:19-24; 19:22

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2401-2463 (The Seventh Commandment)
#2354-2557 (The Tenth Commandment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Ownership
Restitution

On Social Concern (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis)

Encyclical letter by Saint John Paul II, December 30, 1987. For the Twentieth Anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, On the Development of Peoples (Populorum Progresso).

On Atheistic Communism (Divini Redemptoris)

Encyclical letter by Pope Pius XI, 19 March 1937.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Pages 399-418 (Eighth Commandment)

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#789-837 (Eighth Commandment)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 90-95 (The Eighth Commandment)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2464-2513 (The Eighth Commandment)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”). 

Listed in Advanced Course Manual:
Calumny
Detraction
Inter Mirifica
Lying
Mental Reservation
Morality in Media
Perjury
Prejudice
Proclamation
Rash Judgment
Revealing Secrets
Revelation
Seal of Confession
Slander
Truth

Second Vatican Council:

Decree on the Media of Social Communications (Inter Mirifica) Blessed Paul VI, 4 December 1963.

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

The following “Updates” effect this lesson:
Advanced Course Manual, pp. 180-181, insert the following underlined words and delete the crossed out words. It should read:

1. The highest form of prayer is adoration.
2. The highest form of adoration is sacrifice.
   Prayer. The highest form of prayer is adoration adoration is prayer. Again, with the coming of Christ, our prayer of honor and praise of God can be addressed to the Redeemer, who is our God. Our prayer of gratitude for blessings received, of mercy for pardon because we have offended the Divine Majesty, and of petition in asking for everything we need—all can be directed to Jesus Christ…
   Sacrifice. The highest form of adoration prayer is sacrifice. Why? Because when we sacrifice we not only address God in word and thought, but we offer up to Him something that is precious to us to acknowledge Him as our First and Final Cause. With the coming of Christ, sacrifice reached a sublimity that was never seen before. We believe that God became man in order that, as man, He might be able to sacrifice Himself to the heavenly Father for the redemption of the world…

If you have the Pocket Catholic Catechism (this book is no longer given with the Advanced Course), on p. 228, insert the following underlined words:
Sacrifice. The highest form of the prayer of adoration is sacrifice. This is the willing surrender of something precious to God. As with adoration, there are two basic forms of sacrifice. There is the sacrifice of submission.

Father Hardon’s Catholic Catechism

Page 297-298

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1602-1654 (Prayer: Motives, Vocal and Mental)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Page 58, paragraphs 4-5 (The Worship of God: The Virtue of Religion)
Page 60, paragraph 5
Pages 203-211 (Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#2084
#2096-2097
#2628
#2650-2662 (At the Wellsprings of Prayer)
#2725-2745  (The Battle of Prayer)

Modern Catholic Dictionary

Adoration 
Worship

Read the following references to further clarify the central ideas of this lesson. Look in other places as well as these; this is not an exhaustive list of the resources needed to answer the questions.

Father Hardon’s Question and Answer Catechism

#1615-1629 (The Lord’s Prayer)

Revised Basic Course Manual

Pages 33-34 (The Ascension of Christ and His Glorified Existence)
Page 102, paragraph 6
Pages 207-211 (The Lord’s Prayer)

Catechism of the Catholic Church

#405
#418
#1264
#1374
#2634
#2755
#2759-2865 (The Lord’s Prayer)

Modern Catholic Dictionary Vocabulary –

Review the following terms in your Modern Catholic Dictionary reference book (or online version at TheRealPresence.org – go to the bottom of the page, click on “Dictionary”).

Adoration
Beatific Vision
Concupiscence
Gladness
Heaven
Intercession
Real Presence
Sadness
Temptation

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom

by Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Saint Teresa of Avila’s Reflections on the Lord’s Prayer, pp. 437-484.

The Real Presence website article.

Abridged article follows. Recommended reading for questions 28-11, 28-12, 28-13, 28-15, 28-16; 36-103.
“The Second Commandment and the Vows” by Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Our first question therefore, what is a vow? A vow is a free, deliberate promise made to God to do something which is possible, good, and better, that is, more pleasing to God than its omission would be. A vow, properly speaking, is made only to God. A vow then is a promise made to God to do something better than its opposite or its omission. That word better is critical to the understanding of what a vow is.

Let’s explain a little more this something better. It need not be, objectively better. It is enough if considering all the circumstances, it is better for the person who is taking the vow. To illustrate, the married state is not better than celibacy or consecrated chastity, objectively. For the obvious reason that celibacy or consecrated chastity imply a greater sacrifice—that is, the sacrifice of marriage, of family and all the wonderful things that God promises those who enter the married state. Yet in any given case marriage can be better for a particular individual. And over the years of my priesthood I’ve told many people, look I think it is God’s will for you to marry. I don’t think I’ve ever told a person to bind him or herself under vow to get married. But I could.

A vow then is always a promise made to God to do something which is either objectively better in itself or at least subjectively better for the individual who makes the vow. The one vowing must realize that a special sin is committed by violating the vow. It is a sin against the virtue of religion to consciously and deliberately break a vow. The reason is that a vow is an act of the virtue of religion. This virtue is the virtue of justice towards God. He has a right to our total submission of will and our whole-hearted love. To break a vow is to fail in giving God what is His due.

Every vow is an oath which calls upon God to witness to the sincerity of the one making the vow. Moreover, every vow, by definition, is also a covenant, on several counts:

• It is a covenant because the nature of the vow is such as the Church approves in making a promise to God.
• It is a covenant because the one making the vow intends to bind himself before God to keep the vow.
• It is, finally, a covenant because God binds Himself to give all the supernatural graces necessary for us to remain faithful to the vow.

How are the vows to be observed? The vows are to be observed prayerfully, confidently and cheerfully. . . .Finally, those who undertake a vowed life should live this life cheerfully. Cheerfulness is the external witness of interior joy. I think I should repeat. “Cheerfulness is the external witness of interior joy.” Observing the vows is not easy. So what? But it should be enjoyable. “Come, come. You mean (you can’t mean) you mean I can be happy in doing what I don’t like? Well, that contradicts everything in Webster’s dictionary.” So much for words in Webster’s dictionary. Ah, there is happiness and THERE IS HAPPINESS. There is true joy and true joy is reserved only for those who sincerely strive to conform their wills to the will of God. And the key word is wills. My body may complain. Well, tell the body, “Keep complaining.” Emotions will be upset. Wake up, tell the emotions, “This is the will speaking I am in charge.”

Hence, those who live the vowed life are not only to be happy but to be cheerful in order to give evidence of their interior happiness. This cheerfulness is a powerful testimony to everyone who sees us that true joy comes from total self-sacrifice to Jesus Christ. Every day in my priesthood, every soul that God puts into my life keeps adding to the evidence, incontestable evidence, our happiness depends on the measure of our giving ourselves to God. And nobody but nobody either cheats or deceives anyone. Living then, a vowed life with cheerfulness provides, and I mean it, a foretaste of Heaven here on earth. God wants us to be happy. That’s why He gave us the Eight Beatitudes. But then you finish each Beatitude and you sigh, “Yes Lord, I want to be happy, but Lord, did you see the price tag?” He replies, “Yes. Not only did I see the price tag, I made the price tag. It’s high. And the price is self-sacrifice.” Copyright © 1999 Inter Mirifica

Petitions in The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer is composed of an introductory clause and seven petitions. The first three petitions acknowledge God’s greatness and give Him praise. Only after glorifying God may we concern ourselves with our own needs. The last four petitions address our human needs.

Introductory Clause: Our Father, Who art in Heaven
First Petition:      Hallowed be Thy Name
Second Petition: Thy Kingdom come
Third Petition:    Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
Fourth Petition: Give us this day our daily bread
Fifth Petition:     Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
Sixth Petition:     Lead us not into temptation
Seventh Petition: Deliver us from evil

By using the words “Our Father” and “deliver us from evil” rather than “My Father” and “deliver me from evil,” Jesus emphasized the communal aspect of prayer. From the opening words, to the closing pleas, He stressed the importance of praying with and for others. As members of the Communion of Saints, we can be assured that our prayer is united with the prayer of the whole Church.

Our Father (English and Latin)

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 us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and 
Lead us not into temptation but
Deliver us from evil. Amen.

Pater noster (Latin)
PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, 
Sanctificetur nomen tuum. 
Adveniat regnum tuum; 
Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie;
Et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; 
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
Sed libera nos a malo. Amen.