I believe in the communion of saints
194. What is the meaning of the communion of saints?
946-953
960
This expression indicates first of all the common sharing of all the members of the Church in holy things (sancta): the faith, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, the charisms, and the other spiritual gifts. At the root of this communion is love which does not seek its own interests (1 Corinthians 13:5) but leads the faithful to hold everything in common (Acts 4:32), even to put ones own material goods at the service of the most poor.
195. What else does the communion of saints mean?
954-959
961-962
This expression also refers to the communion between holy persons (sancti); that is, between those who by grace are united to the dead and risen Christ. Some are pilgrims on the earth; others, having passed from this life, are undergoing purification and are helped also by our prayers. Others already enjoy the glory of God and intercede for us. All of these together form in Christ one family, the Church, to the praise and glory of the Trinity.
Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church
196. In what sense is the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of the Church?
963-964
973
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church in the order of grace because she gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God, the Head of the body which is the Church. When he was dying on the cross Jesus gave his mother to his disciple with the words, Behold your mother (John 19:27).
197. How does the Virgin Mary help the Church?
965-970
974-975
After the Ascension of her Son, the Virgin Mary aided the beginnings of the Church with her prayers. Even after her Assumption into heaven, she continues to intercede for her children, to be a model of faith and charity for all, and to exercise over them a salutary influence deriving from the superabundant merits of Christ. The faithful see in Mary an image and an anticipation of the resurrection that awaits them and they invoke her as advocate, helper, benefactress and mediatrix.
198. What kind of devotion is directed to the holy Virgin?
971
It is a singular kind of devotion which differs essentially from the cult of adoration given only to the Most Holy Trinity. This special veneration directed to Mary finds particular expression in the liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and in Marian prayers such as the holy Rosary which is a compendium of the whole Gospel.
199. In what way is the Blessed Virgin Mary the eschatological icon of the Church?
972
Looking upon Mary, who is completely holy and already glorified in body and soul, the Church contemplates in her what she herself is called to be on earth and what she will be in the homeland of heaven.
I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
200. How are sins remitted?
976-980
984-985
The first and chief sacrament for the forgiveness of sins is Baptism. For those sins committed after Baptism, Christ instituted the sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance through which a baptized person is reconciled with God and with the Church.
201. Why does the Church have the power to forgive sins?
981-983
986-987
The Church has the mission and the power to forgive sins because Christ himself has conferred it upon her: Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:22-23).
I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
202. What is the meaning of the term body (or flesh) and what importance does it have?
990
1015
The resurrection of the flesh is the literal formulation in the Apostles Creed for the resurrection of the body. The term flesh refers to humanity in its state of weakness and mortality. The flesh is the hinge of salvation (Tertullian). We believe in God the Creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem flesh; and we believe in the resurrection of flesh which is the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.
203. What is meant by the resurrection of the body?
990
This means that the definitive state of man will not be one in which his spiritual soul is separated from his body. Even our mortal bodies will one day come to life again.
204. What is the relationship between the Resurrection of Christ and our resurrection?
998
1002-1003
Just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and now lives forever, so he himself will raise everyone on the last day with an incorruptible body: Those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29).
205. What happens to our body and our soul after death?
992-1004
1016-1018
After death, which is the separation of the body and the soul, the body becomes corrupt while the soul, which is immortal, goes to meet the judgment of God and awaits its reunion with the body when it will rise transformed at the time of the return of the Lord. How the resurrection of the body will come about exceeds the possibilities of our imagination and understanding.
206. What does it mean to die in Christ Jesus?
1005-1014
1019
Dying in Christ Jesus means to die in the state of God's grace without any mortal sin. A believer in Christ, following his example, is thus able to transform his own death into an act of obedience and love for the Father. This saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him (2 Timothy 2:11).
I BELIEVE IN LIFE EVERLASTING
207. What is life everlasting?
1020
1051
Eternal life is that life which begins immediately after death. It will have no end. It will be preceded for each person by a particular judgment at the hands of Christ who is the Judge of the living and the dead. This particular judgement will be confirmed in the final judgment.
208. What is the particular judgment?
1021-1022
1051
It is the judgment of immediate retribution which each one after death will receive from God in his immortal soul in accord with his faith and his works. This retribution consists in entrance into the happiness of heaven, immediately or after an appropriate purification, or entry into the eternal damnation of hell.
209. What is meant by the term heaven?
1023-1026
1053
By heaven is meant the state of supreme and definitive happiness. Those who die in the grace of God and have no need of further purification are gathered around Jesus and Mary, the angels and the saints. They thus form the Church of heaven, where they see God face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). They live in a communion of love with the Most Blessed Trinity and they intercede for us.
True and subsistent life consists in this: the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, pouring out his heavenly gifts on all things without exception. Thanks to his mercy, we too, men that we are, have received the inalienable promise of eternal life. (Saint Cyril of Jerusalem)
210. What is purgatory?
1030-1031
1054
Purgatory is the state of those who die in Gods friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.
211. How can we help the souls being purified in purgatory?
1032
Because of the communion of saints, the faithful who are still pilgrims on earth are able to help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage for them, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.
212. In what does hell consist?
1033-1035
1056-
1057
Hell consists in the eternal damnation of those who die in mortal sin through their own free choice. The principal suffering of hell is eternal separation from God in whom alone we can have the life and happiness for which we were created and for which we long. Christ proclaimed this reality with the words, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire (Matthew 25:41).
213. How can one reconcile the existence of hell with the infinite goodness of God?
1036-1037
God, while desiring all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), nevertheless has created the human person to be free and responsible; and he respects our decisions. Therefore, it is the human person who freely excludes himself from communion with God if at the moment of death he persists in mortal sin and refuses the merciful love of God.
214. In what does the final judgment consist?
1038-1041
1058-1059
The final or universal judgment consists in a sentence of happiness or eternal condemnation, which the Lord Jesus will issue in regard to the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15) when he returns as the Judge of the living and the dead. After the last judgment, the resurrected body will share in the retribution which the soul received at the particular judgment.
215. When will this judgment occur?
1040
This judgment will come at the end of the world and only God knows the day and the hour.
216. What is the hope of the new heavens and the new earth?
1042-1050
1060
After the final judgment the universe itself, freed from its bondage to decay, will share in the glory of Christ with the beginning of the new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13). Thus, the fullness of the Kingdom of God will come about, that is to say, the definitive realization of the salvific plan of God to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:10). God will then be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28) in eternal life.
Amen
217. What is the meaning of the word Amen with which we conclude our profession of faith?
1061-1065
The Hebrew word Amen, which also concludes the last book of Sacred Scripture, some of the prayers of the New Testament, and the liturgical prayers of the Church, expresses our confident and total yes to what we professed in the Creed, entrusting ourselves completely to him who is the definitive Amen (Revelation 3:14), Christ the Lord.
Part Two
The Celebration of the Christian Mystery
Section One
The Sacramental Economy
218. What is the liturgy?
1066-1070
The liturgy is the celebration of the mystery of Christ and in particular his paschal mystery. Through the exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ the liturgy manifests in signs and brings about the sanctification of humankind.
The public worship which is due to God is offered by the Mystical Body of Christ, that is, by its head and by its members.
219. What place does the liturgy occupy in the life of the Church?
1071-1075
The liturgy as the sacred action par excellence is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed and it is likewise the font from which all her power flows. Through the liturgy Christ continues the work of our redemption in, with and through his Church.
220. In what does the sacramental economy consist?
1076
The sacramental economy consists in the communication of the fruits of Christs redemption through the celebration of the sacraments of the Church, most especially that of the Eucharist, until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).
CHAPTER ONE
The Paschal Mystery in the Age of the Church
THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
221. In what way is the Father the source and the goal of the liturgy?
1077-1083
1110
Through the liturgy the Father fills us with his blessings in the Word made flesh who died and rose for us and pours into our hearts the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Church blesses the Father by her worship, praise, and thanksgiving and begs him for the gift of his Son and the Holy Spirit.
222. What is the work of Christ in the liturgy?
1084-1090
In the liturgy of the Church, it is his own paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. By giving the Holy Spirit to his apostles he entrusted to them and their successors the power to make present the work of salvation through the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments, in which he himself acts to communicate his grace to the faithful of all times and places throughout the world.
223. How does the Holy Spirit work in the liturgy of the Church?
1091-1109
1112
The very closest cooperation is at work in the liturgy between the Holy Spirit and the Church. The Holy Spirit prepares the Church to encounter her Lord. He recalls and manifests Christ to the faith of the assembly. He makes the mystery of Christ really present. He unites the Church to the life and mission of Christ and makes the gift of communion bear fruit in the Church.
THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
224. What are the sacraments and which are they?
1113-1131
The sacraments, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, are efficacious signs of grace perceptible to the senses . Through them divine life is bestowed upon us. There are seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
225. What is the relationship of the sacraments to Christ?
1114-1116
The mysteries of Christs life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church.
What was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries. (Saint Leo the Great)
226. What is the link between the sacraments and the Church?
1117-1119
Christ has entrusted the sacraments to his Church. They are the sacraments of the Church in a twofold sense: they are from her insofar as they are actions of the Church which is the sacrament of Christs action; and they are for her in as much as they build up the Church.
227. What is the sacramental character?
1121
It is a spiritual seal bestowed by the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders. It is a promise and guarantee of divine protection. By virtue of this seal the Christian is configured to Christ, participates in a variety of ways in his priesthood and takes his part in the Church according to different states and functions. He is, therefore, set apart for divine worship and the service of the Church. Because this character is indelible the sacraments that impress it on the soul are received only once in life.
228. What is the relationship between the sacraments and faith?
1122-1126
1133
The sacraments not only presuppose faith but with words and ritual elements they nourish, strengthen, and express it. By celebrating the sacraments, the Church professes the faith that comes from the apostles. This explains the origin of the ancient saying, lex orandi, lex credendi, that is, the Church believes as she prays.
229. Why are the sacraments efficacious?
1127-1128
1131
The sacraments are efficacious ex opere operato (by the very fact that the sacramental action is performed) because it is Christ who acts in the sacraments and communicates the grace they signify. The efficacy of the sacraments does not depend upon the personal holiness of the minister. However, the fruits of the sacraments do depend on the dispositions of the one who receives them.
230. For what reason are the sacraments necessary for salvation?
1129
For believers in Christ the sacraments, even if they are not all given to each of the faithful, are necessary for salvation because they confer sac
ramental grace, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children of God, conformation to Christ the Lord and membership in the Church. The Holy Spirit heals and transforms those who receive the sacraments.
231. What is sacramental grace?
1129, 1131
1134, 2003
Sacramental grace is the grace of the Holy Spirit which is given by Christ and is proper to each sacrament. This grace helps the faithful in their journey toward holiness and so assists the Church as well to grow in charity and in her witness to the world.
232. What is the relationship between the sacraments and everlasting life?
1130
In the sacraments the Church already receives a foretaste of eternal life, while awaiting in blessed hope, the appearing in glory of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus (Titus 2:13).
CHAPTER TWO
The Sacramental Celebration of the Paschal Mystery
CELEBRATING THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH
Who celebrates?
233. Who acts in the liturgy?
1135-1137
1187
In the liturgy it is the whole Christ (Christus Totus) who acts, Head and Body. As our High Priest he celebrates with his body, which is the Church in heaven and on earth.
234. Who celebrates the heavenly liturgy?
1138-1139
The heavenly liturgy is celebrated by the angels, by the saints of the Old and New Testament, particularly the Mother of God, by the Apostles, by the martyrs, and by the great multitude which no one could number from every nation, race, people, and tongue. (Revelation 7:9). When we celebrate the mystery of our salvation in the sacraments we participate in this eternal liturgy.
235. How does the Church on earth celebrate the liturgy?
1140-1144
1188
The Church on earth celebrates the liturgy as a priestly people in which each one acts according to his proper function in the unity of the Holy Spirit. The baptized offer themselves in a spiritual sacrifice; the ordained ministers celebrate according to the Order they received for the service of all the members of the Church; the bishops and priests act in the Person of Christ the Head.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Page 7
