GENERAL OUTLINE OF CATHOLIC
BELIEF
To gain the happiness of heaven we
must know, love, and serve God in this world. Man must know, love and serve God in a
supernatural manner in order to gain happiness of heaven. Man is raised to the
supernatural order only by grace, a free gift of God.
We learn to know, love, and serve God
from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.
- For the Catholic Church salvation engages
the depth of the human heart. Faith is of course necessary for salvation, but the
necessary corollary of faith is baptism, the sacrament that initiates believers into the
life of Christ. In baptism, the Church includes those who, while not formally baptized,
have given their lives for Christ (called baptism of blood), and those who die before
being baptized, but with a sincere desire for baptism along with charity and repentance
for their sins (called baptism of desire). (cf. CCC nos. 1258-1259) Nevertheless, it may
well be that God has other provisions for some, because the ways of God's grace and
infinite mercy remain a mystery to the finite mind of man.
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 no. 1257)
Every man who is ignorant of
the Gospel of Christ and his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in
accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such
persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.
(CCC no. 1260, cf. no. 1258 on baptism by desire)
By the Blessed Trinity we mean one
and the same God in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
By the Incarnation is meant that the
Son of God, retaining His divine nature, took to Himself a human nature, that is, a body
and soul like ours.
The Church is the congregation of all
baptized persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the same
sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops in communion with
him.
We find the chief truths taught by
Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church in the Apostles' Creed.
THE COMMANDMENTS
Besides believing what God has
revealed, we must keep His law.
THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS OF
JESUS
You shall love the Lord your God with your whole
heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength
- You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
I am the Lord your God; you shall not have
strange gods before me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your
God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord's day
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
You shall not covet you neighbor's goods.
THE CHIEF LAWS OF THE CHURCH
To assist at Mass on all
Sundays and holy days of obligation.
- To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
- To confess our sins at least once a year.
- To receive Holy Communion during the Easter
time.
- To contribute to the support of the Church.
- To observe the laws of the
Church concerning marriage.
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