Our Lady of Light
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Our Lady of Light
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This FAQ page is intended to provide some help and information for those enquirers to wish to find out more about the Catholic Faith and what it actually means to be a Practicing Catholic. Table of Contents
How do we know God according to the Catholic Church?The Catholic Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of reason. Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God’s revelation . Man has this capacity because he is created ‘in the image of God’” (Genesis 1:27) By reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.” (Hebrews: 1:1) How do we know the purpose of our human life according to the Catholic Church?
The Church teaches that ‘God made me’ and that ‘God made me to know him, love him and serve him in this world, and to be happy with him for ever in the next’. All of Christ’s faithful, no matter what their rank or station, have a vocation to the fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of charity and that this sanctity results in the promotion of a more humane way of life even in society on earth. The faithful must exert all the strength they have received, in the measure in which Christ makes his gift, so that they may acquire this perfection. They must follow Christ’s footsteps, be moulded to his likeness, be attentive to the will of the Father in all things, be whole-heartedly devoted to the glory of God and the service of their neighbour.What part to the sacraments play in our salvation according to the Catholic Church?
A Sacrament is an outward sign of inward grace ordained by Jesus Christ, by which grace is given to our souls. The sacraments always give grace to those who receive them worthily. What is grace? Grace is a supernatural gift of God , freely bestowed upon us for our sanctification and salvation. We must obtain grace chiefly by prayer and the holy sacraments. The sacraments have the power of giving grace from the merits of Christ’s Precious blood We ought, therefore, a great desire to receive the Sacraments, because they are the chief means of our salvation. How many Sacraments are there?
There are seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, the Annointing of the Sick, Holy Order, and Matrimony. The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice (the Mass) and the sacraments. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) taught that ‘adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions and to the consenus…of the Fathers’, the Catholic Church teaches that ‘the sacraments of the new law were…all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus’ words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ’s life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for ‘what was visible in our Saviour has passed over into his mysteries. Sacraments are ‘powers that comes forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are ‘the masterworks of God’ in the new and everlasting covenant.
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